Meet the Team Behind Pledge BY KEVIN YANG
David : It's really the best way for a public television station to go to the users of the service and explain our case to why someone should support.
How do you all decide what programs to choose for Pledge?
David : Programming is often a little different than the main schedule. You're looking for programs that can do one of many things that can make people feel nostalgic about the time that isn't here anymore. It can make them feel smarter because they're watching this. Blair : We have a specific lineup of programs that we can use for this, so we obviously try to utilize the most local, the most poignant, and the most timely and topical shows that we can find. What kinds of support do you receive from other departments at TPT and from the greater community? David : We work very closely with our programming department who help us build the schedule. We work with marketing to help us promote the shows that we are pledging. We work with the production staff and the engineers to make sure that the product gets on the air. Blair : We also use a variety of different volunteers and local people as talent on-air. We go through the halls of TPT and recruit people. So, I think the magic there is that people that are either producers are involved in marketing or in other departments of TPT get to find out how and why we do things in pledge.
Have you ever wondered how pledge drives at TPT come together? We sat down with Membership staff members, David Preston, Blair Christie, and Westley Johnson, to learn more about the ins and outs of putting a pledge drive on air.
How would you describe Pledge for someone who knows nothing about it?
Westley : A couple of times throughout the year, we’ll go on-air and say, hey, because we're a public entity that's supported by you, the viewers, you should donate so that we can continue to stay public and commercial free. We try and choose shows that we think people will be excited to see and then stop a couple times throughout the course of the show and say to our viewers, support us! Blair : Yep, we're kind of that little nudge that comes up every once in a while, that says, hey, don't you want to support the programming that you like?
What makes our station’s approach to Pledge unique?
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FEBRUARY 2025
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