Dead Men are NOT equal

Ever hear the phrase: Death is the great equalizer? That may be true in general, but when you're talking about "dead guy concerts" being run to raise money for your PBS station... The king of all in our neck of the woods is: Followed closely by:

(But I think JD's rights may be out)

I returned today from being out on Friday (field trip to St. Augustine) and sick on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (result of holding sick child all day on Friday) to discover that our program schedule for Wednesday night had been changed. I had been promoting the Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison program rather heavily, so when this change showed up on my computer, I went upstairs to ask about it.

Poor Johnny. He just doesn't raise the kind of money stations need right now. With the economy as down as it is, we need blockbuster programs to bring in the pledges. Johnny Cash just isn't it. Roy Orbison, however, brings in the bucks - every. single. time. And every time I see him pop up in the schedule, I think "This is it. This is the run that kills Orbison." And it never is. Absolutely amazing. Sorry, Johnny - Roy's burying you.

While I was up there, we also discussed Celtic Woman. The station has many sets of tickets to sell to see the girls up close and personal (floor seats! Meet & Greet!) in March. We sold out of the "Meet & Greet" tickets as there were only two sets of those to start with (with the possibility of more), but the rest of the seats are moving slowly. How, how can we prompt our viewers to purchase Celtic Woman tickets in this economy???

I had an idea. I don't know if it will fly, but it will definitely be attention-getting and possibly award-winning. We still have to work out the logistics of accomplishing it, but I think it has real promise. I do know that it left our Membership Director howling with laughter as we pushed the idea to somewhat ridiculous reaches. Still, it could be good.

If you've got a little extra dough this year, how about pledging some of it to your local public television station? They need the money to keep that great programming coming. The recent downturn has hit us as well - so if you're able, please support your station!