Shoe by Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly for February 17, 2022

Just send ’em some money…..

They never have anything on that interests me except during pledge drives!

And the Super Bowl is commercials interrupted by tackles.

Why should I make pledges to support programming when they take off all the programming I like and put on programming I have no interest in ????

the best sleep aid around…

Don’t make it go away. I love NOVA.

My station relies on their viewers to be responsible adults. Haven’t needed to have a pledge drive in years.

PBS = Parasitic Broadcast Service

The last time I watched anything on PBS, I was on the phones for a pledge drive. That was about 30 years ago.

Just like most if not all broadcast stations, PBS has good shows and shows that should never see the light of day, or night for that matter. Just boils down to one’s own personal choice.

I used to live in NY and remember the horrible pledge drives on the Long Island station. it was insulting when they talked about a program they clearly didn’t watch. but it reached a peak during a drive featuring the brit com “keeping up appearances” and had Jeffery Hughes (Onslow) as a guest and you could see him getting steadily more upset. by the 3rd pledge break he lost it.

When they declared “WE brought him here at great expense…”He exploded at them, in character. The phones were manned by coast guard cadets and they were caught up in it “Great expense? You sent me a leaky row boat and one oar! This lot had to come rescue me half way! I’ve seen more authentic…” It was the best thing all night. the coast guard people were laughing and the host just had to stand there and take it with a plastic smile on his face as Hughes lit into him.

And sometimes the pledge breaks actually include programming.

Interrupting pledge breaks with pseudo programming, imo.

Very few ads on commercial radio and TV are as annoying as NPR & PBS pledge drives. I listen to NPR in the car but I switch to the local news station or my recorded music during the pledge periods.

Good shows for the kiddies, though.

Precipitously Blatant Salespeople.

That would be nice, they have some great programming!

I’m sure if the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (the tax-funded parent of PBS) didn’t get its budget zeroed out in 2017, there wouldn’t be quite so many drives. Maybe it’s funded again by now.

Reminds me of this item, from one of Kermit Schafer’s “Blooper” albums:

“We interrupt this bulletin to bring you a program!”

It’s kind of like how other stations keep interrupting commercials with programs.