University of Southern California



Syllabus CTPR 461

TZ Station Management

Wednesdays from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Robert Zemeckis Center (RMZ) Room 119, Section 18562R

Dick Block

Tel: 310 452 3355

dblock@

Office Hours: Wed 4-6 (by appointment in advance only)

REQUIRED READING:

Print

NAB’s Guide to Careers in Television (To be distributed in class)

Internet



Selected readings as assigned.

CLASS OBJECTIVE & BACKGROUND

The objective is to understand the TV station business from the perspective of a station general manager. While such a person may be a lawyer, MBA, owner, or risen from the ranks, the key word in the title is general, or generalist, with manager close behind, and especially in the high pressure environment of a TV station respect for former G.E. Chair Jack Welch’s admonition that “ They come to work to find meaning and dignity.”

The course plan, subject to change due to the dynamic state of the industry and number of advance speaker commitments, is for the first ninety minutes to be devoted to class discussion while the second half will be taken over by speakers from TV stations, and working professionals in cable, syndication, research, regulation, and the press. Biographies of each speaker will be distributed prior to their appearance.

The routine will vary with two field trips, one to a commercial station and one to a public station.

The background of the course is a recessionary landscape where exponential increases in competition are resulting in diminished viewer levels, loss and cutbacks of traditional revenue sources, staff reductions, and falling asset values. At the same time investments are needed for High Definition, multiple sub-channels, mobile platforms, and the Web, topped-off by the federally mandated sea change to digital transmission in February 2009.

Despite the ostensibly gloomy outlook, the time is also ripe for innovation, reinvention and discovery of new ways to resonate with the public. Times such as these bring to mind such sayings as “Problems are opportunities in work clothes” (Henry J. Kaiser, Industrialist) and “Reports of my death have been exaggerated “(Mark Twain).

.GRADING.

Assignments: 25%

Class Participation: 10%

Midterm 25%

Final 40%

A 91-100%

B 82-90.99%

C 71-81.99%

D 62-70.99%

F Below 62%

Syllabus CTPR 461

TV Station Management

Schedule

NB: While all speakers and field trips have been confirmed, there are possibilities of changes and cancelations .Every effort will be in such cases for equivalent substitutions. By the same token, changes may be made in class topics as industry developments warrant.

Week 1: August 27 6:30-8:00 PM We hit the deck running with some fascinating insights and stats about US TV stations on the eve of the Big Switch (02/17/09) to digital, (2) “A Dozen Items for Stations to Worry About.”(Harry Jessel, Editor, )(3) PowerPoint of Bob Pittman’s sanguine outlook for TV stations. Bob was the founder of MTV.

8:00-9:30 PM Our keynoter is the embodiment of what we’ll be studying in the person of Ray Schonbak, President & General Manager, FOX 5 San Diego, which is in its first month as a Fox affiliate (after a dismal experience with the CW) in the 27th largest market in the U.S. Ray is a true pro having managed TV stations and TV station groups since the mid 80s. He’s also known as a fierce competitor and inspirational leader.

Assignment due September 1st (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice.

Week 2: September 3rd Students report on the “The three most stories” and Speaker observations (2) Screening: “NATPE Student Career Workshops”

800- 930 Research comes to the fore as Rob Yarin, Vice-President, Magid & Associates takes over. To say that every GM and news director in TV broadcasting knows of the Magid firm, which does consulting-based research, is understatement. In fact, Magid has the status of a verb, not unlike Google, e.g., “A newscast has been Magid.” We’re not talking ratings here, which we’ll attack with gusto next week, but rather subjects such as how the audience perceives the anchor, and whether the sequence of stories on the newscast should be reexamined, and the positives and negatives of testing (focus groups, etc) a concept or pilot. Rob is a USC Law School graduate.

Assignment due September 8th (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice (3) Please glance at and bring NAB pp 42-45 PR & Programming Departments

Week 3: September 10th 6:30-8:00(1) Discussion of the three stories and Speaker; (2) “Localism’s National Consequences” B&C 05-12-08.; (3) Introduction to ratings, shares and all that jazz (3) L.A. Market stats.

800-930 For what it’s like being responsible for several key areas at two major L.A. stations (a duopoly) we welcome John Frenzel, Director, Programming & Publicity, KTTV Fox 11 and KCOP MY 13. Among other things, John will guide us through the complicated jungles of today’s Nielsen forest and bane of local broadcasters’ existence, and explain the infamous Personal People Meter, which made mole hills out of mountains when it supplanted overnight HH ratings and viewer diaries a few years ago.

Assignment: Due September 15th: (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice (3) Please glance at and bring NAB Pamphlet Engineering pp 46-50 to class.

Week 4: September 17th 6:30-8:00 (1) Three from last week’s news. (2) Speaker reports; (3) We experiment with a Digital Converter that the Feds say can digitize the 11 or so million USTVHHs that rely on over-the-air broadcast (and 35 million additional “second and third sets” not cabled or satellite fed) f 2009; (3) Finally, we’ll review some financials to see what percentage technical personnel contribute to the total station expenses in big markets such as L.A. and smaller ones such as Omaha DMA # 75.

8:00-9:30: The classic “Chief Engineer,” now a passé title in TV broadcast, comes to us in the person of Richard Westcott, Vice-President of Technical & Broadcast Operations, NBC 4 /Telemundo 52 (39) and Independent 22 (42). As a GM, you’re aware that you’ve recently spent millions preparing for the transition to digital and in many cases HD, and wonder what’ next on the capital expenditures requirements list and personnel requirements.

Assignment due September 23 (1) Select and copy three stories from from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice.

Week 5: September 24th FIELD TRIP# 1 KCBS/KCOP The Broadcast Center, 4200 Radford Avenue ,Studio City 91604, 818 655 2000 “State of The Art” is a term that doesn’t apply for long in our rapidly changing business, but right now where we’re going fits that title to a T (for Television.) It’s only Year 2 in the new digs, built from the ground up to provide “electronic content” to the many platforms served. Our host and guide will be Virginia Hunt, Director of Programming, for the two channels. If all goes well, we’ll also call on the stations’ newest neighbor, “Entertainment Tonight,” and meet fabled Linda Bell Blue, its executive producer. and meet some of ET’s anchors and correspondents.

Assignment due September 29th: (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last week’s station trip. In both cases, a few words will suffice (3) A cursory review of NAB Pamphlet, Sales & Marketing pp 17-21.

Week 5: October 1st 6:30-8:00 The speaker goes first this week.

Would you believe that there’s more money spent in L.A. on TV advertising than in New York? Well, there is--more than a billion dollars annually. And the fellow charged with (and getting) the largest share of those dollars is Spencer McCoy, Vice President-General Sales Manager, ABC 7, tonight’s guest speaker.

8:00-9:30 (1) The three stories & Speaker Reports; (2) Intro “The Very Condensed History of Broadcasting”

Assignment due October 6th (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice. (3) “Local TV News Entering Brave New World” ” 08-05-08 (3) Please glance at and bring to class NAB pamphlet “News” pp 26-36.

Week 6: October 8th 6:30-8:00 (1) Midterm Review (2) The three stories & speaker drill.

8:00-9:30 “And Now the News!” Has the era of the star-driven newscast ended? Jose Rios, VP News, FOX 11 and MYTV 13.

Assignment due October 13th: (1) One-hundred forty or fewer words on last week’s speaker.

Week 7: October 15th 630-800 (1) MIDTERM (2) Last week’s speaker observations; (3) Cable talk: Nationally, more than 60% of HH are cabled; another 30% look at satellites while about 10% relies on over-the-air transmissions. Cable has come a long way since the mid 40s when appliance stores in areas without local signals placed antennas atop hills to capture TV signals from the few large cities that had stations. In time, broadcasters started to be concerned about such issues as how to keep “distant” competitors out of their bailiwick and the increasing role of the cable operator as gate keeper and competitor for local and national spot;

8:00-9:30 In the eye of the storm is one of cable’s brightest and most experienced executives Patrician Fregoso, VP Community Affairs, Time Warner Cable Southern California.

Assignment due October 20th (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice.

Week 8: October 22nd 6:30-8:00 (1) Midterm post mortem (3) SNL Kagan Programming highlights. (4) FCC Org Chart.

8:00-9:30Chris Wood, VP & Senior Legal Counsel, Univision Communications Incorporated, is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association; regulatory issues facing this extraordinary and highly successful network and station group service come to his desk. Chris is a USC law graduate

Assignment due October 27th (1) WXII Case Study (2) A few words about last week’s speaker’s words…

Week 9: October 29th 6:30-8:00 (1) Hank Price, the GM of WXII and protagonist in the Northwestern University case study, joins us for an interactive session from Winston-Salem by telephone(2) Last week’s speaker review (3) Syndication, the Un-Network; More of SNL Kagan Programming highlights..

8:00-9:30 John Weiser, President of Sony Pictures Television Domestic Distribution. Arguably, the No. 1 salesperson in TV syndication, and unarguably among the top with daunting challenges due to the absence of vertically integrated broadcast affiliates or networks to help launch projects. (Why doesn’t Song own broadcast stations?)

Assignment Due November 3rd: (1) Select and three copies from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice

Week 10: November 5th 630-800 (1) The three stories; (2) Last week’s speaker (3) Introduction to Public TV; (4) “History of Broadcasting” continued.

8:00-9:30 Paul Lenburg, President of Media Frontiers, and a leading market guru, among other topics will explain how advertisers and stations should combine to provide service to communities that have been overshadowed by the regionalization of local TV, in a whole new way to look at the medium.

Paul’s genius is evident in an off-hand comment about a critique of Bob Pittman’s manifesto “There are many scenarios for the future (The Global Business Network is making a fortune); it is important to stay grounded in the realities of the present as one looks to possible futures and then back on the journeys traveled to each.”.

Assignment due November 10th (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice

Week 11: November 12th 7:15-9:30 PM FIELD TRIP # 2 KCET. Southern California’s dominant Public TV Station, hosted by Al Jerome, President & General Manager. 4401 Sunset Blvd, LA 90027, 323-666-6500. (TRAVEL TIP: KCET is only seven miles from RZC and best reached by surface rather that Freeway. Going North on Vermont to Sunset is the fastest route

Assignment due November let (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from last week’s visit to KCET. In both cases, a few words will suffice ( 3) For background on next week’s speaker it would be a good idea to read Brian Lowry, Daily Variety, Column, Wednesday, August 6th, 2008, “Harsh truth only helps H’w’d wannabees.”

Week 12: November 19th 6:30-8:00 (1) Reports on three stories; (2) Thoughts from last week’s field trip; (3) Intro to “TV Managers’ Lexicon.”

8:00-9:30 Dealing with the press is an important function of today’s station manager, and you couldn’t hope to encounter a more professional and media knowledgeable journalist than Brian Lowry, Media Columnist & Critic, Daily Variety

Assignment due November 24th: (1) Select and copy three stories from this week’s that in your opinion would be of most interest to a TVGM. Preface each story with why you chose it. (2) Tell what you derived from the last speaker. In both cases, a few words will suffice

Week 13: November 26th 6:30-8:00(1) The three stories… (2) Speaker observations; TV Manager’s Lexicon.

8:00-9:30: Speaker selected by class

Week 14: December 3rd 6:30-9:30 Final Review.

Week 15: December 10th 7:00-9:00 PM FINAL

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure that the letter is delivered to the Professor as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 am-5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213)740-0776

db 08-21-08

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