confused about public affairs programming

[bobdavcav]

Does anyone know what the FCC's official policy is on this? The part that confuses me is that not every station in the market runs any sort of talk programming. Here's what I know about Portland, the market I'm currently in.
92.3 Classic Rock usually, runs talk programming at 7:00 Sunday morning.
94.7 Alternative, also runs talk Sunday mornings.
95.5, CHR all the way, no sign of breaking that format.
97.1 Variety Hits, talks on Sunday morning.
98.7, Country all the way.
99.5 also country all the way.
100.3 seems to run a local talk program Sunday mornings.
101.1 Westwood1 Weekend Review, though this is a news station, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they went above and beyond for public affairs programming.
101.9 don't remember now, but I think they're AAA all the way, no break in format.
103.3 used to be a station that played music on Sunday mornings, but now has a local show, followed by the same syndicated show that's on 92.3.
105.1 Hot AC all the way.
105.9 Classic Rock all the way, though it had a talk program Sunday mornings a few years ago.
106.7 Classic Hits, with some sort of talk on Sunday mornings.
107.5 gold-leaning Rhythmic CHR playing music.
What's the policy here? It seems to me like a company has to provide s certain number of hours a week that can be divided however it wants. The Hot AC and the all news in Seattle are under common ownership, and the Hot AC doesn't break format.

 

[DavidEduardo]

What's the policy here? It seems to me like a company has to provide s certain number of hours a week that can be divided however it wants. The Hot AC and the all news in Seattle are under common ownership, and the Hot AC doesn't break format.

Public Affairs and "other" programming can also be done in capsule form, such as 60" capsules or even issue-oriented segments on a morning show.

 

[Iwanna Learnmore]

Would this be the reason that many station air the commercials that are for veterens and child safety issues? I always thought this was because they needed to fill that airtime when there were not any paying commercials.

If I read you clearly, are you saying that instead of one or two hour talk programs they can comply with any federal laws they have on programming? If I got that correct, I like it this way.

I think I get more from a couple of commercials than I would from a talk program on a music station. The reason for this is that I hear them when I am listening to the radio, at regular times through the week. I rarely listen to the radio very early on a Saturday or Sunday mornings, so I am hearing not the message or issue being discussed as opposed to not getting any benifit for a program that is on when I'm not there to hear it.

In other words, the message reaches me as intended. Do you think that doing it this way reaches more people than an early weekend program would, or is this just my experience?

Does this also cross over to TV? On weekend mornings many news or information channels along with many of the old time TV networks run childrens programming that I find hard to believe children are really watching.

Does a network like Me TV or Retro TV have a certain amount of time each week that has to go to these type of programs? I always found it odd that a station that children would likely not be watching would have 2 hours of these programs on.

An example would be many side channels on regular television, not cable, that run weather stations that break the weather programming on Saturday mornings for travel and educational programs that remind me of things that used to be shown in grade school.

I understand this on a station that plays cartoons or shows for younger people, I never understood why a weather station that I use to check the current conditions would break from that for childrens programs.

Is this mandated on all stations? This seems backwards to me because many times they are not running weather when a storm is in the area. Would this station not better serve the public with relevant news and weather information than some type of animal or safari program? If this is a law or rule the station has to follow, it seems to have the opposite effect of what is intended.

Another thing I wonder is if the fact they all seem to have the same programming on at the same time on weekend mornings. Are there any children even around to watch these shows? As I am posting this I am thinking that the reason for this practice is to fulfill the obligations at a time when few people are watching or listening. Did I just answer my own question?

Maybe they should amend whatever rules are in place so these programs would reach the target audience for which they are intented. Would this not be better for the public good?

As my name says, I am not very savvy on these things, I am strictly a consumer and have little knowledge of how the inner workings of the airwaves work. Thank you for reading this posting, I hope I did this properly, this is my first time posting a message.

 

[Carmine5]

You're asking about two different things; public affairs programming and children's programming. For television; only full service and Class A stations are required to run both types of programming. LPTV is not. There are no required amount of hours for public affairs programs but stations are required to air a minimum of core "E/I" children's programs at three hours per week. This includes any and all subchannels a station might have. There are also limits on the amount and types of commercials that are run during those programs.

While networks like MeTV and Retro TV are not required to run public affairs or children's core programming, nearly all such networks do run core children's programming as a way of helping affiliates comply with the requirement. Stations I've worked for usually run a combination of PSAs and local news as a way of complying with public affairs programs. They might also sponsor a community event or drive once in a while and air coverage of it on their news program.

 

[bobdavcav]

Hmm you may be on the right track Iwanna Learnmore. David, can you confirm about the PSAs? I'm not sure what capsole form means. As I understand it, many, if not all, channels are required to run 3 hours a week of childrens programming. I'm not sure what percentage of kids actually watch this programming, but I do know my cousin used to watch our local CW outlet on Saturday mornings.

 

[b-turner]

Working in radio, I can tell you everybody does some sort of public affairs programming. The typical is a 30 minute weekly program that airs early Sunday morning. At some stations it might be a part-timer, say a college student, that handles the program, arranges guests and such.

This is not to say stations don't care about the programming but the listeners generally leave the station in droves when the programming is aired. As a result, many place the programming at the lower listening times during the week. This is why the public affairs shows are relegated to times most people are not listening to the radio.

With that said, I worked a small town station where the news director handled public affairs. At that station it was live, generally a 5 minute program inside an hour long news block at noon on weekdays extended to 15 minutes when there was more than one guest. As a result, it was very current and tended to be pretty lively because our news director was fearless, aggressive and could have been on the cover of Cosmopolitan. In short, she always got to the meat of the story and brought up the hard questions.

At another station, public affairs was part of the morning show. At least once a week we had a guest that dealt with one of our community issues. We'd interview the person for 10 to 15 minutes between 7:35 and 8 in the morning. As an example, we had a lady who had studied why kids used drugs and alcohol and why they sought to be a part of a gang. Her research showed that a child who knew their parents and extended family enough to observe their behavior and understand the expectations of the family as a whole had a strong 'identity'. A person with a strong identity could resist peer pressure and felt no need to belong, noting, as she did, the belonging factor was the reason for the drugs, alcohol and gang activity. She suggested parents tell memories of being a child their age on a regular basis to aid in building a strong self image. Ironically she wasn't selling a book or had a 1-800 number to call. Some state agency brought her in to do a presentation on writing your family's history specifically for their children.

Stations are free to take care of the Public Affairs programming as they see fit. Some stations find ways to make it part of what they do. Some look at more 'off air' ways of building awareness of local issues. Some even carry a syndicated public affairs program. Generally speaking the FCC says to figure out the issues each quarter by talking to local officials and develop programming around those issues. That list is composed by the station.

From the FCC perspective, the amount of time devoted, the issues chosen and such are simply determined by the station and generally not questioned. Some stations do a monthly show instead of weekly. This seems to be fine but I gather that if you do this, that monthly program had better have some solid content.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Carmine addressed children's programming, which is a TV issue. And b-turner gave some very concrete specifics about compliance today.

Public service announcements do not count for "Public Affairs". Public affairs is loosely interpreted to be anything that addresses community issues based on the stations ascertainment of community problems, issues and needs. PSA's are a separate metric for station service and since they benefit third parties, are not part of Public Affairs compliance.

Typically, these would turn out to be things like health care, education, public safety, jobs and in specific markets things of a temporal basis like building a new stadium or a bond issue.

In radio, we used to have an unwritten rule of the FCC where FMs needed to devote 6% of air time to news, PA and "other" while AMs needed to go to 8%. That's why Top 40's in the 70's had 10 minute newscasts overnight and Sunday morning blocks.

Today, the FCC seems more concerned with a station identifying the problems than actually doing programming about them. This is, however, one of the required details in the Public File (see "The Public & Broadcasting" on the FCC site http://www.fcc.gov/guides/public-and-broadcasting-july-2008 ).

Many stations now include any discussion of the "issues" in regular programming as part of their PA compliancce

 

[Radio-X]

What about "Community Calendar" -type programs? One of the stations I worked for (FM AOR) had just those as the only "public" programming on-air broadcast 2-3 times/day. No news, no canned show on Sunday AMs...the other had ABC news at TOH and 2 community calendars a day (1 during AM drive time, one during PM drive time).

Even though most of these were for things like school fundraisers, church events, bake sales, etc., does this even count as "public affairs" programming? Or does the FCC really not give a hoot if the public file is in order upon request?

Radio-X

 

[b-turner]

Public Affairs Programming is very specific. To determine what those programs are, you go to public officials, community leaders, school district, police, even community groups at large if you desire. You ask them the problems and issues facing the community. With that list you create programs that address these issues.

I saw where a station was admonished for 60 second Public Affairs 'programs' with the FCC saying the topics needed more than 60 seconds to be adequately covered. Even so, the FCC has no requirement on length.

PSAs are something a station may or may not do. PSAs are not a bad idea especially when they are about local events. PSAs could be bunched together to be termed a community calendar.

PSAs, Community Calendar, Newscasts, weather reports and such are added to the format at various stations but are entirely voluntary and outside the Public Affairs realm.

Many times public stations charge non-profits to air their PSAs. In a typical scenario, the PSA might get a few free announcements and the organization purchases additional airings at a fee per announcement. Not many commercial stations charge for PSAs unless the organization wants a PSA run a specific number of times. Many stations run zero PSAs.

Some stations sell time to ministries and sometimes carry syndicated shows covering many topics free of charge. In every instant it is at the discretion of the station.

 

[b-turner]

I might add that the FCC tends to look at the whole picture. A station with a neat and orderly public file that is up to date is less likely to be questioned on anything. In fact, the more cooperative you are when the FCC walks in the less they think you have something to hide. Appearing nervous is expected but that is offset by being helpful and respectful. The FCC Field Examiner is about like the police officer. When they stop by they have no clue how the folks will react and they're not decked out like a cop. They can feel a bit uneasy too, so, being nice puts them at ease.

I mentioned an admonished station using 60 second programs for public affairs. What got the FCC to pay them a visit was an unrelated serious rules violation. It was serious enough to make the FCC want to look at more than just the rules violation. They found many other things wrong. Had they followed FCC Rules, the public affairs program length would likely never have been noticed or scrutinized.

I will never admit the station publicly but at one station where I worked a salesman from another local station came to work for us. In our many conversations I learned the station he had worked for was run by an alcoholic, something almost everyone in the town knew. The guy would sit in his office and drink whiskey all day. He said he never saw the guy sober. The FCC came in one day and in a no nonsense fairly stern way wanted to see a bunch of stuff and the owner pulled a gun from his desk and pointed it at the FCC guy. The owner told him to leave until he could learn some respect. That scared the you know what out of the salesman and he immediately looked for other employment. As he put it, he wasn't going to find out how long it would take for the guy to pull the gun on him. I never heard what happened but I could imagine the FCC Rep getting back to his car and thinking he doesn't get paid enough to put up with such stuff.