johnf@apollo.uucp (John Francis) (12/11/85)
Something you might like to bring to the attention of your local PBS station: WENH (the New Hampshire PBS station) has found that Dr. Who is its biggest single fund-raiser. Every pledge time they run Dr. Who "specials" like the 5 (or 3) doctors, and last time we got a "sneak preview" of their forthcoming attractions - they ran "An Unearthly Child" (the first story-line of the first series - but you ALL knew that, didn't you :-). As Dr. Who is their biggest fund-raiser, they listen to what the Dr. Who watchers want, and so we will be getting to see the William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and early Jon Pertwee episodes. In fact they used this as bait - sort of "give us enough money and we promise to buy the early Dr. Who episodes". Now WENH is not a very large PBS station, and a goodly portion of their audience (a portion which includes me) can receive not only WENH but also WGBH (Boston), which IS a large PBS station. WGBH is the station which brings you "Masterpiece Theatre", "Nova", and a whole lot more besides (I think they are now also responsible for "Mystery", although this used to come from the New York station). This means that a lot of the people who COULD contribute to WENH may well contribute to WGBH instead, so WENH have to find something to make them "special". Dr. Who is their answer, and it seems to work! (WGBH are just re-cycling the same old episodes of late Jon Pertwee - Tom Baker - Peter Davison). So - get organized! If enough people are prepared to pledge enough money you should be able to persuade your local PBS station to buy anything you want to see. All you need to do is pay. [Cable Viewers: Just consider PBS to be a premium channel, and put aside $10 a month.] $120 a year is enough to make PBS stations VERY interested - if you can get 500 people to pledge this much I think your PBS station would be prepared to show just about anything - even 150 should be enough to buy a Dr. Who series from Lionheart (the figure $10,000 seems to crop up in my memory), together with enough left over to pay for the electricity and equipment operators. A historical note - I have lived on this side of the Atlantic for over five years now. When I arrived the portion of the PBS viewing audience that contributed was about 13% - it is now over 20% (at least in this area). If your local PBS station is still in the 13% bracket Dr. Who might give them a boost as well!
brown@nicmad.UUCP (12/12/85)
In article <2aa5cd15.917@apollo.uucp> johnf@apollo.uucp (John Francis) writes: [Before I say anything else, the author should have regulated his line length, as they are longer than 80 characters, making it a little hard to read.] >if you can get 500 people to pledge this much I think your PBS station would >be prepared to show just about anything - even 150 should be enough to buy a >Dr. Who series from Lionheart (the figure $10,000 seems to crop up in my >memory), together with enough left over to pay for the electricity and >equipment operators. Our local station, here in Madison, WI, is currently negotiating with Lionheart. Price quoted is $45,000.00. This includes Hartnell/Troughton/ Colin Baker. They say it will carry Dr Who through Feb 1991. So, they must be asking for the complete package, as the Tom Baker stuff has run out. I haven't called to find out for sure, but it is still a lot of money. -- ihnp4------\ harvard-\ \ Mr. Video seismo!uwvax!nicmad!brown topaz-/ / decvax------/
andre@nrcvax.UUCP (Andre Hut) (12/13/85)
I am very happy to say that the PBS station with the
largest geographical area (KUED, Salt Lake City) is
dedicated to Dr. Who. See it @ 10:30 M-F. They
are currently showing the 3rd Doctor's series.
---------------------------------
Andre' Hut Network Research Corp.
ihnp4!nrcvax!nrcutah!andre 923 Executive Park Drive Suite C
ucbvax!calma!nrcvax!nrcutah!andre Salt Lake City, Utah 84121, U.S.A.
{sdcsvax,hplabs}!sdcrdcf!psivax!nrcvax!nrcutah!andre (801) 266-9194djl@gitpyr.UUCP (Dave Lane) (12/13/85)
In article <2aa5cd15.917@apollo.uucp> johnf@apollo.uucp (John Francis) writes: >Something you might like to bring to the attention of your local PBS station: > >WENH (the New Hampshire PBS station) has found that Dr. Who is its biggest single >fund-raiser. Every pledge time they run Dr. Who "specials" like the 5 (or 3) doctors, >and last time we got a "sneak preview" of their forthcoming attractions - they >ran "An Unearthly Child" (the first story-line of the first series - but you ALL >knew that, didn't you :-). As Dr. Who is their biggest fund-raiser, they listen to >what the Dr. Who watchers want, and so we will be getting to see the William Hartnell, >Patrick Troughton, and early Jon Pertwee episodes. In fact they used this as bait - >sort of "give us enough money and we promise to buy the early Dr. Who episodes". >[talks about competing stations] (WGBH are just re-cycling the same old episodes >of late Jon Pertwee - Tom Baker - Peter Davison). >So - get organized! If enough people are prepared to pledge enough money you should >be able to persuade your local PBS station to buy anything you want to see. All you >need to do is pay. [Cable Viewers: Just consider PBS to be a premium channel, and >put aside $10 a month.] $120 a year is enough to make PBS stations VERY interested - >if you can get 500 people to pledge this much I think your PBS station would be >prepared to show just about anything - even 150 should be enough to buy a Dr. Who >series from Lionheart (the figure $10,000 seems to crop up in my memory), together >with enough left over to pay for the electricity and equipment operators. Well, we just finished our WinterFest '85 (i.e., "whine-a-thon") here in Atlanta. We have had to put up with ONLY Baker and Davison episodes for quite some time. During one of the breaks some figures were mentioned--$800 for the episode that aired that night (Castrovalva, if memory serves) [your milage may vary depending on market size] on WETV one of two PBS stations that serve Atlanta. During the afternoon, they showed K9 and company, I think; I don't watch the afternoon show, as it is only one 30 minute block and the evening show is an hour and a half to two hours depending. They also mentioned that Dr. Who fans are some of their better supporters, though no real figures for this were given. WETV considers $120 a year ($10 a month, usually, though they will accept lump sum, if forced :-) as a "major gift". During each of the four? breaks during/just before Castrovalva they got 20-35 "major gifts," and up to 60 pledges each break (they usually go back to the program when they get 60 pledges.) The programming director for the station (who does most of the breaks) announced that the station had just finished negotiations with Lion- heart to carry Dr. Who into 1991, at a cost of around $2.5E5. He did NOT, however, say that they had any "new" (for the station) episodes. Personally, I think that I should be tired of Tom and Peter after 8 years...I hope that at least some Pertwee episodes and some of the earlier or even Colin Baker shows are in this batch.... Does anyone have hard information on just how much we pay for each show? Any other comments? -- Dave Lane, User Assistant, Office of Computing Services, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,masscomp}!gatech!gitpyr!djl ...!{rlgvax,sb1,uf-cgrl,unmvax,ut-sally,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!djl
cej@ll1.UUCP (One of the Jones Boys) (12/13/85)
> In article <2aa5cd15.917@apollo.uucp> johnf@apollo.uucp (John > Francis) writes: > The programming director for the station (who does most of the > breaks) announced that the station had just finished negotiations > with Lionheart to carry Dr. Who into 1991, at a cost of around > $2.5E5. He did NOT, however, say that they had any "new" (for the > station) episodes. Personally, I think that I should be tired of > Tom and Peter after 8 years...I hope that at least some Pertwee > episodes and some of the earlier or even Colin Baker shows are in > this batch.... Does anyone have hard information on just how much we > pay for each show? Any other comments? > > Dave Lane, User Assistant, Office of Computing Services, Our PBS station here in Cleveland (WVIZ - 25) announced a similar sounding purchase during their last drive. They also used the 1991 date. According to their station manager this included ALL the available shows, from the start, through the 23rd season. (Yes 23rd, not 22nd.) They will be starting from the earliest shows as soon as Pertwee "dies", and working, in order, through all the Doctors, with C. Baker showing up in 1991! (I'm not sure that I can wait THAT long to see Colin Baker.) I guess that 1991 figure is based on showing a full adventure each week, as that's how they are showing it now (from midnight to sign-off every Saturday night). What a chance for some long-term video taping! ...ihnp4!ll1!cej Llewellyn Jones