furuta@uw-june (Richard Furuta) (12/12/83)
And so, it went. The financial argument for canceling Overnight has seemed odd to me, given the number of commercials that the local station seemed to have been able to sell on Overnight. On a given night, I'd estimate about half of the commercials on the show were paying (mostly for People magazine and local stores). On the final show, I was a little startled when I realized that all but about one and a half minutes of the show's commercials were paying. There was the standard Preparation H commercial that seems to show up on most of the network newscasts. There was a commercial for Apple Computer. There were several commercials for Radio Shack. There were the People magazine commercials. There were the local commercials for the furniture store (with easy credit) and for the fancy gadget store. What kind of company would benefit from buying commercials on a program like Overnight (he asked rhetorically)? Well, one natural seems to be the computer companies. Many of us have pretty bizarre schedules. There seems to have been lots of discussion and support for the program on Usenet and via electronic mail elsewhere. Apple and Radio Shack seem to have recognized this (Apple showed that commercial with the guy who'd apparently been working all night). Which leads me to a proposal. How about if you guys who are influential in those computer companies which advertise on TV think about contacting NBC and offering to buy some time on the program should it return to the air. Based on the Usenet response, I think a case could be made that the program attracted the kind of person who was most likely to buy a computer. Even if they don't buy your computer, they'll think better of you which will help at recruiting time. And it can't hurt the program's chances of returning if NBC feels it has a chance to pay for itself. --Rick ...decvax!uw-beaver!uw-june!furuta (uucp) ...ucbvax!lbl-csam!uw-beaver!uw-june!furuta or Furuta@Washington (ARPAnet)
furuta%uw-june@itm.UUCP (Richard Furuta) (12/12/83)
References: <199@vortex.UUCP> Relay-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site akgua.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site uw-june Path: akgua!clyde!floyd!harpo!decvax!microsoft!uw-beaver!uw-june!furuta Message-ID: <801@uw-june> Date: Mon, 12-Dec-83 02:55:00 EST Organization: U. Washington, Computer Sci And so, it went. The financial argument for canceling Overnight has seemed odd to me, given the number of commercials that the local station seemed to have been able to sell on Overnight. On a given night, I'd estimate about half of the commercials on the show were paying (mostly for People magazine and local stores). On the final show, I was a little startled when I realized that all but about one and a half minutes of the show's commercials were paying. There was the standard Preparation H commercial that seems to show up on most of the network newscasts. There was a commercial for Apple Computer. There were several commercials for Radio Shack. There were the People magazine commercials. There were the local commercials for the furniture store (with easy credit) and for the fancy gadget store. What kind of company would benefit from buying commercials on a program like Overnight (he asked rhetorically)? Well, one natural seems to be the computer companies. Many of us have pretty bizarre schedules. There seems to have been lots of discussion and support for the program on Usenet and via electronic mail elsewhere. Apple and Radio Shack seem to have recognized this (Apple showed that commercial with the guy who'd apparently been working all night). Which leads me to a proposal. How about if you guys who are influential in those computer companies which advertise on TV think about contacting NBC and offering to buy some time on the program should it return to the air. Based on the Usenet response, I think a case could be made that the program attracted the kind of person who was most likely to buy a computer. Even if they don't buy your computer, they'll think better of you which will help at recruiting time. And it can't hurt the program's chances of returning if NBC feels it has a chance to pay for itself. --Rick ...decvax!uw-beaver!uw-june!furuta (uucp) ...ucbvax!lbl-csam!uw-beaver!uw-june!furuta or Furuta@Washington (ARPAnet)