The Affiliate Program
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Affiliate Program |
| Creator: | |
| Date(s): | unknown, reprinted in April 1989 in Passages #12 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | multi |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Affiliate Program was an essay/article about Viewers for Quality Television, a fan activism organization The focus of that group was how to keep favorite shows on the air by utilizing fan letters, influence, and sharp mobilization.
The Essay
As you know, VQT formed from the momentum of the successful campaign to resurrect "Cagney & Lacey." Thousands of letters to the network from all over the country, combined with critical acclaim, remarkable summer ratings and an Emmy caused a network to respond. As an organization, VQT combined with others to save "Designing Women." The network responded.
But to quote a recent letter from a television producer friend of VQT, "the marketplace is fractionalized and television will never be the same."
We learned this lesson with the unsuccessful "Year in the Life" and "Frank's Place" campaigns. Both should have succeeded, but they didn't; the networks disregarded the letters and the critical outcry, and read only the incomplete bottom line of ratings and economics.
So where do we go if the three monoliths won't listen? We go to the market place to the local level—to the affiliates and independent stations who do business with the networks and have much influence. And here is why this is so important. Producers will no longer make a "St. Elsewhere" or "Cagney & Lacey" or any quality show if it can't be successfully sold in the syndication marketplace. That is where the investors get a return on their capital. To assure producers that it is safe to invest in something profound and enlightening, we must support our quality shows in their network afterlife, in syndication, where money reaches the people who support those shows in the first place.
This won't replace writing to the networks, but it WILL supplement it. We will deal at a local level with local stations. They may be affiliate with the network or they may not, but we must become acquainted with our local station managers AND our local TV editors. If "Cagney & Lacey" or "St. Elsewhere" or "Hill Street Blues" is not playing, let's ask why not, and if it's in a time period that is not working, let's suggest changing it. Positive mail congratulating and/or thanking is also recommended. Ditto pressure on LOCAL advertisers. We believe that local affiliates and VQT can and must combine to preserve quality television. Quality series can be repackaged and rebroadcast countless times. But someone has to find a way to make it profitable for the people who make the shows, and this mission is now high on VQT's agenda.
The Affiliate Program is in its infancy; but here is what it means to you and what you can do now:
- If you are concerned that your favorite quality program might not be renewed ("Tour of Duty"? "Beauty & the Beast"? "TV 101"? "The Wonder Years"? others?) we will supply you with the names & addresses of people to contact at your local level.
- If you watch a series that has been sold into syndication ("Cagney & Lacey", "Hill Street Blues", "Star Trek", whatever) and it is continually pre-empted or moved or finally removed, we will supply you with the names & addresses of people to write at your local level.
- As current series prepare for the syndication market, we will supply you with the people to contact-to insure that YOUR LOCAL AREA presents "Kate & Allie" or "Designing Women" or "Newhart" or "Wiseguy" or whatever.
- If your favorite program consistently gets pre-empted for local news or sports or specials, well tell you who to write to.
In short, we will give you the information necessary to affect your local area and ultimately have a national impact. With the help of Affiliate Captains and Sponsor Chairpersons throughout the country, we will supply you with the means to change television from the local level up. 30,000 letters to a network no longer make a difference; but a few hundred letters to a powerful affiliate in New York or Miami or Dallas or Chicago (and all over) and that station manager demanding that the network supply the product his or her viewers want (whether it be "Frank's Place" or "Beauty & the Beast" or whatever) WILL make a difference!
Two examples of the power of affiliates was reported recently. In the Washington, DC area, WUSA (very strong, with a history of independence) is the network affiliate for CBS. When CBS offered the new "Pat Sajak Show" to its markets, WUSA chose to run it later than its network airing. If you, as a VQT member, lived in the DC area and wanted the opportunity to receive the "Pat Sajak Show" when the rest of the country saw it, the VQT Affiliate Program would supply you with the information needed in order to voice your opinion. In New York, WWOR dropped Cagney & Lacey due to low ratings, and soon WNEV in Boston will do the same thing. Supplied with information, VQT members in New York and Boston could write to the affiliates there and perhaps affect a change.
We are in the very early stages of this major change of focus within VQT. With the help of volunteer Affiliate Captains throughout the country, we are already compiling the necessary information. It can be yours for only a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope [SASE] (to help us bear the cost of this additional program). Please contact us if you would be willing to be the person in your area to compile the names & addresses of local stations. And start sending your envelopes now if you would like information on your local stations.
We demand and deserve a voice and a vote in what we watch on television-and if the networks won't heed our letters, we will change tactics and come at them from the economic line of affiliates and sponsors. We will keep you informed and welcome your assistance and/or your comments.