okay, Stephen...breathe now. Breeeeaaathe....

I don't want to get into more trouble than usual, but you've hit on a big sore spot for me.

My sore spot comes in many segments, but I'll sum up by saying 'you're SO right.'

On all counts. KMPH gets kudos for highlighting local stuff. KMPH's morning show is seventeen hours long.

However, KMPH's morning show is some of the best of KMPH. Sheesh, have you watched the weekend news on KMPH?? Unwatchable. Seriously.

And I'm FRIENDS with many of these people. The forced unfunny banter (leave the banter to Kopi, k?), the people they've obviously just brought in off the street to do some of the 'reporting,' 'editing,' and 'lighting,' and OH. My.

I have to flip over to channel 47 news just to remind myself what really REALLY bad newscasts are like (and I'm FRIENDS with many of these people!). Horrible lighting, sound, graphics, and the technical mistakes...Oh. MY.

Thank goodness for channel 24 and all of thier mistakes and wierd technical glitches. And they're TIED for second.

Don't get me started! Oh, too late.

And I'm FRIENDS with sooo many of these people. And they're WAYYY tired of me telling them the same things.

People hate us grumpy critics. At least you get paid to say such things...

No. Bad TV is not 'good' publicity for anyone invloved. Bad TV is just simply 'Bad TV'. And when it comes to theatre-- few people want to see Theatre in the morning (I do), most are skeptical of it in the first place, so to see a local production mis portrayed due to shody TV production just makes the both the stage and TV show look...well as you said amateur. And for the local groups that doesnt help get audeince members. In fact it turns them off, and allows them to view it through a filter and laugh at the attempt, if they didnt turn the channel already. Exposure? Yes, but consider what is being seen and how it is being presented-- these things will refelect on the local staged product and viewers opnions of it.

I commend their efforts but KMPH studios are not equiped for many of the live performances they book, and local entertainers are too eager to get any publicity to not take the tv spot, even though they do not protect their product by sending the station video or simply scheduling interviews and using B-roll with photos. Use TV like TV not like a play on video tape. KMPH is too understaffed and too aloof to do this work for the entertainer. In turn KMPH will use acts to make bad TV and create if not bad, then poor publicity.

Acts, represent yourseves well, its your responsiblity, the TV studio wont do it for you. Scenes out of context dont make sense, singing doesnt pick up right and actin is never framed well if its in the frame at all. Make video, take pics, practice interviews---sell your show dont just rehash a play at 6am for Fresno to enjoy with their coffee.

Good Morning and Good Luck! ;)

Donald,

Thanks for raising this issue; your points are well taken. It's really hard to look good, sound good, and communicate even remotely the theme or quality of a particular production on TV! Further it's really difficult to sound good on a morning show at 6:00 AM no matter what the facility may or may not provide...

Which brings us to your point of does it do more harm than good to promote through this medium? I have to honestly say I don't know the answer?...do you revert to the old adage that bad press is better than no press at all?

What's a theater company to do? We try to bring the very best to the stage in every age category, while living up to our charter that every child who auditions is cast. We spend over $50,000 on a production like Zombie prom...we market the production through ads in the Bee, morning shows, word of mouth, posters, postcards, flyers to local drama departments, feature stories (the cover of 7 magazine no less) and we still perform to houses of 100 people during some performances, ok more than some; more than I would like to admit!

So what's a theater company to do? Try whatever we can to get butts in the seats? At the end of the day we at CMT try to provide the best possible experience for our performers, we put that first and ticket sales second. You know, however, that performing before the largest possible audience is the ultimate experience for both performer and audience member alike, it's the magic of theater, it's an energy that can't be reproduced without great performers and great audiences, it's a give and take.

I would like to take this a step further and say that even when TV stations film an actual performance and run it on the air...there is much that is lost. So what's a theater company to do other than try anything we can to get the word out...?

I cannot make an argument against any of your observations, they are spot on, bottom line is it's a tough town in which to be a theater company. Corporate support is tough to get, civic support is tough to get, audience members are tough to get. If it wasn't for our grants from Irvine foundation, Cal Arts, Fresno Arts Council, Bonner Foundation and a few soon to be announced corporate sponsors we (CMT) would cease to exist, and that would be a tragedy for Fresno's kids and many many many adults that help bring these wonderful productions to the stage.

I will say that exposure is a must in raising awareness of the company. How we put our best foot forward when we are provided the opportunity is definitely something to put more thought behind. We are thankful for all the support we do get from KMPH and every other station in town that provides us an opprtunity for exposure through TV.

Thank you for taking the time and providing the forum in which to discuss such topics.

Joe Wettstead
Board President
Children's Musical Theaterworks and Musical Theaterworks Fresno

Joe~~~if you are unable to achive your goal~~~filling the seats then maybe you should look at your board and determine if you have the right people on it. Effective boards are diverse and bring perspective. Are you holding your board members accountable for these present results? Does your business model, that is if you have one, identify areas of weakness and is their an action plan in place and measurements in place to determine effectivity? Take an objective view or ask someone you trust and have them tell you what they really think. Grow your board with the right people and you will grow your business. Good luck

I thought of the performances that are on network TV shows like "Today" or "GMA," and of course they are set up to handle it. One interesting thing "Today" does is that outdoor stage (some "Rent" performances from the '90s are on YouTube), but in general they kept it simple, as close to one or two actors singing, as if in concert, as possible. It might be fun if a show like "Great Day" could get into a habit of setting up a relatively simple concert venue with a bit of an early-morning audience, say, at a school, and just do something like one song by one person, just at a mike with no choreography, but with the reaction of a "crowd" of sorts. Friends and other cast members and the like would probably want to be there anyway.

K: Thats sounds like a horrible idea, a bait and switch. Agian its not really TV and even worse its not really they show or performance frim the show.

I think a better and more effective model is to look at actors pluggin shows on The Tonight Show or Live with R and K-- they dont come on to set and the Invw as the character--they talk about the gig and then show video; a tease...ironicly the same term TV uses when they show video of whats to come after the commercial break.

Let viewers have an exciting tease, strong images, action etc tease them, temot them to come to the show. A phony American Idol or Bandstand might be watchable but wont help get butts in seats unless it includes a tease (video/images) of whats at the event...leave them wanting to see more or feeling like the event is something that is unique and not to be missed. More then a clean, tied up number out of context will provide.

Dont these boards have publicity or media relations folks? And if they do what do they do more then write press relases? Do they know how to use, or do they use media to help generate publicity?