ISGC on RFDTV!!!!!

[Wayne Baker]

I called an exec at RFDTV to see if they would do a special on the ISGC. They didn't return my call. If RFDTV would do a special, it would be great for alot of non musician folks that love steel guitar, and would probably open the steel guitar world up and boost steel sales and cd's. No, I don't sell either, but I know that when I was trying to learn steel, all I had was me. I didn't know any steel players; I didn't know where to get steel guitar stuff.... This would be a great opportunity for us and RFTV. Does anyone smell what I'm steppin' in????

Go dawgs,
Wayne Baker
America's most handsome steel guitarist

[Nick Reed]

Wayne,
I'd love to see that myself, but I don't think RFD would be willing to drop any of the HORSE SHOWS to open up a space for the convention during labor day weekend. RFD needs to have 2 networks, one for the horse & ag stuff and another for the country music shows.

Nick

[Del Bonn]

" but I know that when I was trying to learn steel, all I had was me. I didn't know any steel players; I didn't know where to get steel guitar stuff.... This would be a great opportunity for us and RFTV."

That was my experience also. Yesterday I attended a luncheon party, and the host admitted to me that he had no knowledge of a "steel guitar." Oh, he did admit to hearing a Hawaiian guitar, but he considered that condfined to music from the mid-Pacific.
Yep, he lives right here in the St.Louis superbs....
-Delb

[Joe Casey]

Better to have Crook and Chase tape a show from there...

[John Floyd]

[Jerry Lee Newberry]

I contacted RFDTV a while back about something too and never got a reply at all.

Donna

[Ben Elder]

To a network programming executive, even one from the most esoteric of esoteric channels--RFD-TV, the likely number of interested viewers would be disastrously low. Network audiences, even in these days of diversity of services and fractionalized attention are measured in numbers of viewers ranging from the five figures-up (my guess) for a tiny and specialized service like RFD-TV to millions in prime-time for CBS (my employer) and the Big 4 networks. The name of the TV game is not to cater to viewers' hearts' desires, but to GET WARM ASSES IN THE FRONT OF THE SET. (Sorry if that's rough, but that's the time-honored and preferred terminology.)

As passionate as we all are about steel guitar, the viewing audience would be absurdly minuscule and not in anyone's most manic imagination a financially viable proposition. As minorities go, there aren't many minorities more minor in numbers than ourselves. Lacking huge numbers and prime demographics (get real: we're preponderantly middle-aged-and-older guys. The coveted women 18-49? Maybe three on the SGF...) to entice spot advertisers, what single sponsor could pop for the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to underwrite such a show? (Even a 30- or 60-minute highlights presentation.) Scotty? Bobbe Seymour? Any of your favorite psg manufacturers? Your local steel guitar club (or even any ten clubs chipping in together)? Do you imagine that Peavey's steel amps constitute such a significant percentage of their annual gross that Hartley and Mike Brown would write a six-figure check (and expect a commensurate return) for basically a fleeting few minutes of steel guitar culture (that the majority of the world could...not...care...less about)?

That's why there's the Forum, YouTube and the Internet. Use them and support them.

[John P. Phillips]

As a former radio exec, I have to agree with Ben. I wish it were different. (wishful thinking)

[Gary Ball]

John & Ben...I've yet to see much of a Commercial Spot, other than a plug for someone's CD or Copies of Opry shows, on any of the RFD Country Music Shows. Who pays for those?

Throwing RFD Commercial requirements in with the Major Networks is a bit of a stretch don't yuh think?

The approach to RFD, IMO, should be with a pre-recorded show similar to MidWest Country. I doubt if RFD is equipped to produce much of a live show.

I don't think its a question of commercial sponsorship.
At least it doesn't seem to be with the other RFD shows.

[Ben Elder]

The point is: in terms of acceptable-size audiences--even on the very modest RFD-TV scale--no...one...cares. Except the few dozen of us who don't amount to a tenth of a percent of a viable viewing audience. (And don't think for a minute that anything you see on RFD-TV isn't financed somehow. It's not a charity or public access. And probably not a Mafia tax shelter or money-laundering front.)

How many of us would pony up, say, $250 for pay-per-view?

Didn't think so.

[Jeff Hyman]

I'd take the approach of contacting their larger advertisers on the show. Money talks and BS walks as they say.... or simply ask them how much advertising dollars it would take to make a show of the show. If a station like RFD won't do it then its sad. What a great opportunity for them.