Pledge Accountability Report March 98

Participating stations

This report contains March on–air fundraising results for these 31 PBS stations:

WNET / New York / WETA / Washington, DC / KTCA / Minneapolis / WMFE / Orlando / KCPT / Kansas City
KCET / Los Angeles / KERA / Dallas / WPBT / Miami / WFYI / Indianapolis / WDCN / Nashville
WTTW / Chicago / WTVS / Detroit / KAET / Phoenix / KOPB / Portland, OR / WOSU / Columbus
WHYY / Philadelphia / WGTV / Atlanta / WQED / Pittsburgh / KPBS / San Diego / KUED / Salt Lake City
KQED / San Francisco / KUHT / Houston / KETC / St. Louis / WUNC / Charlotte / KLRN / San Antonio
WGBH / Boston / KCTS / Seattle / KVIE / Sacramento / WCET / Cincinnati / WYES / New Orleans
WKNO / Memphis

Since Pledge Ratings[*] require daily audience ratings, participation in the Pledge Accountability Report is available to each major PBS station in Nielsen’s metered markets (markets for which overnight audience ratings are computed). 31 of these 38 stations participated in the March 98 Pledge Accountability Report.

While included in the rest of this report, the data from WMFE/Orlando, WQED/Pittsburgh and WTVS/Detroit arrived too late to be covered in this summary.

With the exception of some highly efficient external phonebank pledging reported for WNET/New York and WGTV/Atlanta at their request, this report tracks only pledges taken by live volunteers during the evenings and on weekends. All pledges acquired during weekday daytime programs and evening/ weekend non–live–volunteer breaks are not included in this report. However, overflows to 800 numbers during live–volunteer pledging are counted, where available.

March 98 Pledge Dates

PBS scheduled the national March pledge drive for the standard 16 days starting Saturday, March 8 and ending Sunday, March 23. This spring, as in March 1997 and 1996, our 28 major–market participating stations and networks pledged for an average of 18 days, one day fewer than in March 1995 and 1994. Seven stations pledged for 20 days or more (WUNG/North Carolina, 29; WOSU/Columbus, 25; WPBT/Miami, 24; KCET/Los Angeles, 23; WGBH/Boston, 21;WCET/Cincinnati, 21; and WNET/New York, 20). Six stations had relatively short March drives of 15 or fewer days (KETC/St. Louis, 15; KQED/San Francisco, 14; WFYI/Indianapolis, 15; WYES/New Orleans, 15; KUED/Salt Lake City, 13; and WHYY/Philadelphia, 15).

Stations were more likely to start pledging several days prior to the PBS March 8 start of the drive than to continue pledging much later than its PBS March 23 end. Eleven stations began their pledge drive around March 1, while only three pledged after Tuesday, March 25. Eight stations did fundraise one or two days after March 23.

March 98 audience levels

The low 1.5 Nielsen audience rating average for March 98 pledge programs on our stations was in the narrow 1.5-1.8 Nielsen ratings range for pledge drives during the past five years.

March 98 overall pledge results

March 1998 was the first clearly successful pledge drive since December 1996, when Riverdance premiered. For all stations reporting to PBS, total income pledged rose by +10% over March 1997 results, but for our 28 major–market stations the increase was even greater, +16%. This gain was largely due to a higher average gift than last year, rather than a greater number of donors. This March, the average gift for all PBS reporting stations was an impressive $88, a +10% increase; the total number of pledges actually dropped by –1.5%. For our major–market stations, the average gift was an even higher $94.

Top-rated pledge programs

Table 1 shows the top–Pledge–Rated programs this March. Tables 2 through 6 present the top–Pledge–Rated programs for December 1997, August/September 1997, March 1997, March 1996 and March 1995. (Information from WUNG/North Carolina and North Carolina PTV is not included. North Carolina PTV fundraises on–air only once a year, in March, and raised an impressive $2,673,325 this spring from across the state, but the overnight ratings on which Pledge Ratings are also based were available only for the Charlotte market, containing fewer than a third of NCPTV’s reached households, inflating the network’s already outstanding Pledge Ratings. NCPTV’s average Pledge Rating for the top half of its pledged programs was 33.3, compared to 13.3 (KOPB/Oregon) for the second–highest Pledge Rating and an average of 6.2 for the rest of the stations. Including the atypical North Carolina results would not have been representative of the stations’ pledge results.)

As in many other PBS pledge drives, the most successful fundraising program was a new and unexpected special, Nine Steps to Financial Freedom with Suze Orman. Only 18 of the 28 stations included in this summary (including WUNG/NCPTV) pledged it, a total of 49 times. Nine Steps averaged a 13.6 Pledge Rating/204 Pledge Rating Index. Its low audience rating, 0.9, was similar to those for other motivational talk programs.

Having a program’s major personality on the pledge set has been a very good tactic to improve the performance of many programs (Jerry Baker, Helmut Lotti, David Chilton, Jonathan Pond, Deepak Chopra, etc.). Suze Orman, a veteran of the cable television home shopping circuit, bought in–studio personality pledging to a new level. While the final pledge break was unusually long, her formula worked extremely well for most stations. For example, KQED/San Francisco broadcast Nine Steps for 129 minutes, 76 of which were pledging. Similarly, WHYY/Philadelphia aired the program for 128 minutes, 61 of which were pledging. When repeating the program, these stations used “airchecks” (repeats) of the original Suze Orman pledge breaks.

It is likely that Suze Orman’s personal–finance special had a negative impact on Jonathan Pond’s financial specials. In the past three pledge drives(December, August and March 97), one of Mr. Pond’s two specials has been each drive’s most effective program, while the other ranked in the top–eight. This pledge drive, only one Pond special was on the list, Finding Financial Freedom, and it ranked third.

Finding Financial Freedom was pledged by only nine stations, a total of 18 times, for a 8.2 Pledge Rating average/123 Index. (In December, it was the most effective pledge program with a Pledge Index of 185, pledged 24 times by 11 stations. In most recent pledge drives, each Jonathan Pond special is pledged by only 30-40% of the participating major–market stations.)

This March drive, Pond’s second special, Your Financial Future, was pledged by only three stations in six plays with a 3.0 Pledge Rating average/70 Index. In December, 13 stations pledged this special 27 times for a more substantial 5.8 Pledge Rating/136 Index. This drive, Jonathan Pond premiered a new financial special, Jonathan Pond’s Tax Party. While carriage was good (17 stations, 31 plays), pledge results were only fair: 3.6 Pledge Rating/58 Index.

The SIP pledge special Red Green Live ’98 was the second–most–effective pledge program. It was pledged 16 times by 13 stations for a 9.0 Pledge Rating/161 Index, better than the Live ’97 special of last March (24 plays, 13 stations, 4.6 Pledge Rating/108 Index) and much stronger than either August’s special We Can’t Help it, We’re Men (16 plays, 13 stations, 2.3 Pledge Rating, 42 Index) or the comparable performance in the past year of the regular Red Green Show series.

KUED/Salt Lake City had terrific results with the Red Green special, raising over $63,000 (44.4 Pledge Rating/505 Index) with the Saturday, March 14 primetime showing. Pledge minutes accounted for over half the broadcast (70 of 123 total minutes). KCPT/Kansas City (16.3 Pledge Rating/275 Index), WCET/Cincinnati (12.9/345), KERA/Dallas (11.4/188) and KTCA/Minneapolis (11.3/197) also did extremely well with the comedy special.

Michael Crawford in Concert ranked fourth in pledge effectiveness and was the first music program on the list. Practically all our participating stations pledged the new SIP special. It was pledged 68 times by 25 stations for a 6.9 Pledge Rating/116 Index.

St. Patrick’s Day generally occurs during the March pledge drive and stations often look for Irish music specials to celebrate the holiday. Unfortunately, most have not been particularly effective as fundraisers. This drive, Frank Patterson: Ireland’s Golden Tenor was the exception. It was the fifth most effectively pledged program in the March drive. Frank Patterson had a 6.6 Pledge Rating/113 Index. However, it was pledged by only ten stations.

While Andrew Lloyd Weber’s top male singer, Michael Crawford, ranked fourth in pledge success this drive, Weber’s top female singer, Sarah Brightman, ranked sixth. Her new SIP special, Sarah Brightman in Concert, was pledged 32 times by 21 stations for a 5.5 Pledge Rating/102 Index.

A repeat of the celebrated Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s Romanza in Concert was the seventh–most–effective pledge program in March. This drive, it was pledged 39 times by 19 stations for a 6.2 Pledge Rating/96 Index. The most successful stations were WPBT/Miami (15.0/179), WGBH/Boston (13.8/206), WHYY/Philadelphia (12.3/146), and KVIE/Sacramento (11.9/150). In the December 97 pledge drive, Romanza’s premiere ranked third in pledge effectiveness, pledged 54 times by 25 stations with a 6.5 Pledge Rating/122 Index.

The final program on this March “Top Pledge-Rated Programs” was the roll & rock retrospective, “Roy Orbison and Friends.” It was another new SIP special with very good results. Roy Orbison was pledged 51 times by 23 stations for a 5.7 Pledge Rating/95 Index.

Table 1: March 1998 top Pledge–Rated programs
Pledge index / Pledge rating / Stns / Total plays / Aud rtg / Ttl min
Nine steps to Financial Freedom w/Suze Orman / 204 / 13.6 / 17 / 47 / 0.9 / 116
Red Green Live ‘98 / 161 / 9.0 / 13 / 16 / 1.1 / 117
Jonathan Pond Finding Financial Freedom / 123 / 8.2 / 9 / 18 / 0.7 / 98
Michael Crawford in Concert / 116 / 6.9 / 25 / 68 / 1.6 / 95
Frank Patterson: Ireland’s Golden Tenor / 113 / 6.6 / 10 / 14 / 1.1 / 95
Sarah Brightman in Concert / 102 / 5.5 / 21 / 32 / 1.3 / 70
Andrea Bocelli: Romanza in Concert / 96 / 6.2 / 19 / 39 / 1.1 / 89
Roy Orbison and Friends / 95 / 5.7 / 23 / 51 / 1.2 / 93
Table 2: December 1997 top Pledge–Rated programs
Pledge index / Pledge rating / Stns / Total plays / Aud rtg / Ttl min
Jonathan Pond: Finding Financial Freedom / 185 / 8.4 / 11 / 24 / 0.8 / 93
Jonathan Pond: Your Financial Future / 136 / 5.8 / 13 / 27 / 0.7 / 101
Andrea Bocelli: Romanza in Concert / 122 / 6.5 / 25 / 54 / 1.0 / 90
Italian Americans / 117 / 6.5 / 15 / 25 / 1.0 / 89
Yanni Tribute: In Concert at the Taj Mahal / 110 / 5.3 / 27 / 89 / 1.5 / 136
Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters / 99 / 5.0 / 25 / 47 / 2.1 / 89
Helmut Lotti Goes Classic / 92 / 5.5 / 12 / 21 / 1.3 / 92
Fleetwood Mac: The Dance / 90 / 4.7 / 27 / 58 / 1.5 / 110
Table 3: Summer 1997 top Pledge–Rated programs
Pledge index / Pledge rating / Stns / Total plays / Aud rtg / Ttl min
Jonathan Pond: Finding Financial Freedom / 182 / 11.2 / 6 / 8 / 0.9 / 91
Making of Lord of the Dance / 146 / 7.1 / 5 / 8 / 2.3 / 55
Jonathan Pond: Your Financial Future / 141 / 8.1 / 10 / 15 / 0.4 / 123
André Rieu w/Strauss Orchestra from Holland / 136 / 6.6 / 7 / 8 / 1.0 / 87
Riverdance / 131 / 5.3 / 10 / 20 / 2.0 / 115
From Lawrence Welk to America with Love / 127 / 5.3 / 10 / 10 / 1.4 / 121
André Rieu: The Vienna I Love / 117 / 5.8 / 9 / 16 / 1.0 / 93
Lord of the Dance / 119 / 5.7 / 18 / 48 / 2.4 / 117
Table 4: March 1997 top Pledge–Rated programs
Pledge index / Pledge rating / Stns / Total plays / Aud rtg / Ttl min
Finding Financial Freedom w/J. Pond / 148 / 8.5 / 10 / 14 / 0.9 / 99
Riverdance / 130 / 6.4 / 29 / 93 / 2.6 / 117
Lord of the Dance / 126 / 6.6 / 24 / 92 / 2.3 / 112
Lori Line Live! / 123 / 4.7 / 5 / 10 / 0.9 / 118
Making of Lord of the Dance / 120 / 7.0 / 7 / 9 / 2.8 / 55
Finding Financial Future w/J. Pond / 111 / 6.4 / 13 / 27 / 0.8 / 84
From L. Welk to America w/Love / 111 / 5.1 / 21 / 33 / 2.1 / 120
Red Green Show / 111 / 4.7 / 12 / 24 / 1.3 / 109
Table 5: March 1996 top Pledge–Rated programs
Pledge index / Pledge rating / Stns / Total plays / Aud rtg / Ttl min
Great Performances: Les Misérables / 205 / 10.6 / 26 / 100 / 1.3 / 197
Jerry Baker: Houseplants / 134 / 5.9 / 5 / 12 / 1.1 / 53
Wealthy Barber w/David Chilton / 120 / 6.9 / 8 / 11 / 0.9 / 78
Jerry Baker: Garden Magic 1 / 109 / 5.7 / 14 / 19 / 1.2 / 50
Lawrence Welk & American Dream / 105 / 5.3 / 14 / 14 / 2.2 / 121
Jerry Baker: Lawn Problems / 103 / 5.3 / 10 / 17 / 1.1 / 61
Jerry Baker: Lawn & Gardens / 103 / 5.1 / 12 / 27 / 1.0 / 58
Jerry Baker: Garden Magic 2 / 99 / 4.4 / 20 / 28 / 1.1 / 48
Table 6: March 1995 top Pledge–Rated programs
Pledge index / Pledge rating / Stns / Total plays / Aud rtg / Ttl
min
Lawns & Gardens w/Jerry Baker / 143 / 6.0 / 17 / 40 / 1.5 / 57
Mind, Body, Soul w/Deepak Chopra / 138 / 6.1 / 4 / 16 / 1.3 / 96
Eagles-In the Spotlight Special / 116 / 5.1 / 22 / 53 / 1.8 / 118
Yanni in Concert at the Acropolis / 106 / 4.5 / 20 / 32 / 1.3 / 119
John Tesh-Live at the Red Rocks / 103 / 4.8 / 25 / 72 / 1.4 / 117
Glenn Miller’s Greatest Hits / 96 / 4.4 / 25 / 43 / 1.9 / 91
Travels in Europe, Best of / 96 / 5.1 / 5 / 7 / 1.5 / 117
Lawrence Welk-Then and Now / 93 / 4.0 / 23 / 43 / 1.9 / 125

Other pledge programs