“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moment’s notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-17 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see and hear? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Programs from week of September 24, 2017
This Week’s Podcast
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Banned Books Week
Don’t know if you’re aware, but this is Banned Books Week. This last week in September has been set aside for this purpose since 1982. It is sponsored by the folks at the American Libray Association, the American Booksellers Association, The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of American Publishers, the National Association of College Stores and is endorsed by the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.
Whew! That’s a pretty heavy duty set of endorsers. I want to note that not everyone is as big a fan. Critics claim that books are rarely if ever actually “banned” in the United States and that most of the books that make the annual list of “Most Challenged” are just that, challenged but not banned. The majority of those challenges happen at the school district level, where parents will ask for a book to be removed for any of a wide range of reasons.
For me, that leads us to two important points about this week. First, working with a school district to ensure that the books used in class and available in the library are age appropriate is a reasonable desire for a community. Finding materials that will challenge the minds of our young people, and help them develop the important reasoning skills that they will need to function as an adult. As adults, we are regularly faced with unpleasant situations and decisions. Teaching our youth how to deal with that is a both a gradual process and a necessary one.
That brings me to the second point that I believe is crucial in this discussion. While few books are actually banned in our nation, that is because we must be constantly vigilant to keep it that way. Our cherished freedoms can be quickly eroded away if we don’t watch out. When you look at the list of books that have been challenged over the years, it can be stunning. “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “Moby Dick”, “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee”, even dictionaries have all been challenged.
Great books (along with other art forms) almost always challenge us, presenting us with ideas that are new and disturbing to our established worldview. In many ways, it may be the most important thing they can do. An attempt to educate using only materials that are safe and undemanding will result in adults without the ability to deal with complicated and difficult situations.
So do yourself a favor. Look up the various lists of books that have been challenged, censored or banned and read one this week. You’ll be better for the experience, no matter what you think of the book.
News On The Rise
The process of finding stories for this program has its ups and downs. Sometimes a story is just so obvious, other times the story comes with a little surprise. Television has provided a little of both recently.
The folks at Nielsen are always focused on television. They have been the big dog for statistics in this arena since the dawn of television. Each year they do a study to figure out just how many people are actually watching the tube. This number is sometimes called the television universe number. In a day when more people talk about walking away from TV, it may be surprising to know that the number of folks available and the number of households with TVs has both been climbing. Slowly certainly, but surely. The total penetration number is a couple percentage points down from a decade ago, at 96%, down from 98.
If you want some real growth, however, I can supply that easily.
Given the hubbub that began in the media about eighteen months ago, it shouldn’t be at all surprising to hear that the audiences for cable news networks have headed for the heights. At least some of them. Fox News has been the dominant player for a while. And they remain the number one overall cable network. In August, they saw their prime time numbers grow by 6% and overall numbers up by 7%. On a normal day, those numbers might be considered quite good. But as you may have noticed, these are not normal times. CNN has put a big move on, moving into the sixth spot overall for cable networks with growths of 41% in prime time and 22% overall.
All of that pales, however, when compared to what happened at MSNBC in August. They saw a 63% increase in prime time numbers and a 54% growth overall. That moved them into the number two slot for prime time viewing. Those are some pretty amazing numbers.
The big boys at the top aren’t the only networks gaining from our need for more information. Both Fox Business and CNBC showed improvement in their numbers for the month as well.
The reason for this is pretty obvious. The less obvious takes us back to our friends at Nielsen. They show that for the year, we are spending a lot more time watching the news. Up 11% for the first quarter, with the greatest growth in the 50 plus demographic. But even the 18-34 segment is showing an increased interest in TV news.
Now we just need to make good use of all that information.
Star Trek Returns
I hope you will allow me to geek out for a couple minutes. This week marks the return of the Star Trek franchise to the small screen. If you’re not a fan of the series, that probably triggered a massive eye roll. For Trekkies like yours truly, it’s an awe-inspiring moment.
But fan or not, I want to take just a moment to consider this amazing entertainment franchise. You don’t have to like it. But I think you have to respect what it’s done.
Think about this. Starting in 1966 Star Trek has never completely gone away for over fifty years. The Original Series ran for three seasons, from 1966 to 1969. The Animated Series ran for two, 1973 and ‘74. It would five years before the show jumped to the movies. The fandom survived on reruns. Then from 1979 to 1991, the Original Series cast returned for six movies. In 1987 to 1994 Star Trek The Next Generation began a seven season run. That led to four TNG movies through 2002. Deep Space Nine, ran for seven more seasons, from ‘93 to 99. In 1995 Paramount launched another series while DS9 was still on the air. That was Star Trek: Voyager. The show lasted seven seasons but never really lived up to its potential. Star Trek: Enterprise ran for four years to only middling reviews at best. Folks who were tired of boldly going probably believed that the franchise had run out of gas at long last.
They were wrong. Paramount re-launched the entire franchise with three new movies from 2009 to 2016. And now we have Star Trek: Discovery, which launched this past weekend.
It’s amazing when you think about it. Seven separate TV series. Thirteen movies. That doesn’t even touch on the several hundred books. Fifty plus years and at least four different media. Only “Dr. Who” can offer another media franchise like “Star Trek”.
I saw the series premiere this weekend. I will admit to being impressed. At least with the show. CBS’s plan to make the show available only on their streaming channel, CBS All Access, is a less impressive decision. I understand the business decision, they want to quadruple subscriptions. Tapping into a dedicated fandom seems an easy way to do that. But this fandom is a little older than most, and are accustomed to having easy access to network programming. It remains to be seen if even a program as visually beautiful as the newest branch of the Star Trek family tree will make them part with a monthly subscription.
CBS has decided to “boldly go”. The question is will anybody follow them.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2017
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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