Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Show Biz Then and Now
Did you see any of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon yesterday? No? I'm not surprised. What was once a major event in which average people took a sense of ownership is now just another cultural icon gone to seed. Remember? In the 1960s and 70s, "backyard carnivals" for muscular dystrophy were all the rage among preteens, but no more. (MDA discontinued official support of the carnival program for a while, but has recently resurrected it.) As recently as the 1980s, MDA-themed ads for major consumer products were everywhere in the summer months leading up to the telethon, but no more. Part of the reason for the telethon's decline is the fragmentation of the TV audience, thanks to cable and satellite. When there were only four stations in Madison, the telethon sucked up a lot more air than it can possibly do now, and when you multiply the effect nationwide, it's easy to see why it's no longer the big deal it used to be.
One way the telethon remains notable as is the last bastion of old-time showbiz as she was practiced into the 70s, where everyone's a beautiful cat doing a beautiful thing for the people. All you need to know about the telethon's demographic appeal was summed up in a teaser I heard announcer Ed McMahon deliver just before a local telethon break yesterday afternoon: "Coming up next . . . Jack Jones. Stay tuned." Jack Jones hasn't been hip since the Johnson Administration, and the only people likely to be convinced to stay tuned by the news of his upcoming appearance were those too old to push the button on the remote anyhow. (I am guessing I am one of the few people under the age of 65 who knows who Jack Jones is.) Yet in spite of the scent of Ben Gay in the air, the telethon raises multiple millions of dollars for muscular dystrophy research each year ($59.4 million in pledges yesterday), and for that, Lewis is one of the greatest philanthropists showbiz has ever produced. But someday soon, Jerry Lewis is going to pass from the scene. My suspicion is that the telethon may go on for a year or two after that, but will soon join him in TV history.
Air Time: Today is the day Madison's Air America affiliate goes on the air. So far, it's been broadcasting nothing but song parodies and other comedy bits, but I'm guessing that regular Air America programming will begin with Al Franken later this morning. On Saturday, I ran into the program director of one of the existing news/talk stations here in town, who confessed to having had a hell of a week since the news broke. "I've got Clear Channel on my ass," he said, and has had to reposition his station on the fly as "Madison's Progressive Talk" (which is the same tagline the Air America affiliate says it intends to use.) This meant, among other things, canceling Sean Hannity's show, which will raise Madison's average IQ by a couple of points. A conservative acquaintance of mine suspects the Madison Air America affiliate will exist through the election and then it will be gone--and he could be right. This will be the third different format on that signal in the past year, and given Clear Channel's record of changing formats like most people change socks, a lifespan of months isn't necessarily a sucker's bet. (A Madison Indymedia analysis of the changeover is here.)
Did you see any of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon yesterday? No? I'm not surprised. What was once a major event in which average people took a sense of ownership is now just another cultural icon gone to seed. Remember? In the 1960s and 70s, "backyard carnivals" for muscular dystrophy were all the rage among preteens, but no more. (MDA discontinued official support of the carnival program for a while, but has recently resurrected it.) As recently as the 1980s, MDA-themed ads for major consumer products were everywhere in the summer months leading up to the telethon, but no more. Part of the reason for the telethon's decline is the fragmentation of the TV audience, thanks to cable and satellite. When there were only four stations in Madison, the telethon sucked up a lot more air than it can possibly do now, and when you multiply the effect nationwide, it's easy to see why it's no longer the big deal it used to be.
One way the telethon remains notable as is the last bastion of old-time showbiz as she was practiced into the 70s, where everyone's a beautiful cat doing a beautiful thing for the people. All you need to know about the telethon's demographic appeal was summed up in a teaser I heard announcer Ed McMahon deliver just before a local telethon break yesterday afternoon: "Coming up next . . . Jack Jones. Stay tuned." Jack Jones hasn't been hip since the Johnson Administration, and the only people likely to be convinced to stay tuned by the news of his upcoming appearance were those too old to push the button on the remote anyhow. (I am guessing I am one of the few people under the age of 65 who knows who Jack Jones is.) Yet in spite of the scent of Ben Gay in the air, the telethon raises multiple millions of dollars for muscular dystrophy research each year ($59.4 million in pledges yesterday), and for that, Lewis is one of the greatest philanthropists showbiz has ever produced. But someday soon, Jerry Lewis is going to pass from the scene. My suspicion is that the telethon may go on for a year or two after that, but will soon join him in TV history.
Air Time: Today is the day Madison's Air America affiliate goes on the air. So far, it's been broadcasting nothing but song parodies and other comedy bits, but I'm guessing that regular Air America programming will begin with Al Franken later this morning. On Saturday, I ran into the program director of one of the existing news/talk stations here in town, who confessed to having had a hell of a week since the news broke. "I've got Clear Channel on my ass," he said, and has had to reposition his station on the fly as "Madison's Progressive Talk" (which is the same tagline the Air America affiliate says it intends to use.) This meant, among other things, canceling Sean Hannity's show, which will raise Madison's average IQ by a couple of points. A conservative acquaintance of mine suspects the Madison Air America affiliate will exist through the election and then it will be gone--and he could be right. This will be the third different format on that signal in the past year, and given Clear Channel's record of changing formats like most people change socks, a lifespan of months isn't necessarily a sucker's bet. (A Madison Indymedia analysis of the changeover is here.)
