Hide Article Text (OCR)
Continued from page 1DThe recession, increased programming costs, competition for advertisers from cable systems and among each other has made for an austere business climate for independent stations, hesaid.“There are many fixed costs,”Fratrik said last week in a telephone interview from his Washington, DC., office. “You’ve got to buy a transmitter whether you’re serving 30,000 people or 5 million people. It’s just that there are fewer people to spread your costsover.”Nicholas Johnson, a former FCC commissioner, agrees that the only chance a local station like KJMH has to make money is to air local programming — especially news and sports.But in southeast Iowa, where potential viewers are scarce, the money to produce those programs may be hard to come by.“1 would not choose Burlington, Iowa, with a UHF station as my path to riches,” Johnson, now a law professor at the University of Iowa, said Friday.In the first place, he said, few people are in the habit of tuning in a UHF station. In the second place, television’s true com modity — viewers — aren’t plentiful.Television makes its money by selling viewers to advertisers, he explained. If a station can’t deliver an audience, then it won’t attract advertisers.“The one thing a local station can do that no one else can is cover local events with a vengeance, Johnson said. “You know there’s a scandal every day in a town of 5,000 people or more, You get a reporter and put that on TV and you know goddamned well you’re going to get viewers.”Local talk shows and high school sports likewise would attract viewers, he said.Hoth points out KJMH does present local shows and would like to do more.The station broadcasts localnews briefs throughout the day and 30-minute talk shows on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.“Television news is very expensive,” Hoth said. “That’s why you really need the strong support of the local people to make things go. The greater the support, the more things you can do.”BADCO guaranteeSupport, in the form of advertising revenue, hasn’t come as Hoth expected, forcing the station to ask the Burlington Area Development Corp. to extend its loan guarantee until the end of this year.In 1987 BADCO guaranteed a working capital loan of $35,000 to help get the station on the air. BADCO's interests were secured by the station itself and its equipment.“We haven’t met all our projections as quickly as we wanted,” Hoth said. “They’ve agreed to extend the guarantee at our request and that speaks for itself.”As the station struggles toestablish itself, Hoth will depend on his staff, which hasacknowledged the difficulties of keeping the station on the air.Employees have said local banks occassionally would not honor KJMH paychecks — and, in one case, required them to wait a week before the checks would be cashed.“We feel we have a loyal group of employees and they understand the ebb and flow of the business,” Hoth said. “We’ve attempted to be supportive of them and serve their needs as well.“We’ve met all our payrolls and our payrolls are current. No wages are owed any employee.”What he needs now is a similar understanding from potential advertisers.“I think there is a misconception as to the exact scope and breadth of what the station is doing, Hoth said, noting that some advertisers still think channel 26’s coverage ends at the Burlington city limits. “I think we have a great many loyal advertisers who come back again and again because they know it’s a truly regional sta tion.
Newspaper Details
Burlington Hawk Eye
Burlington, Iowa, US
Sun, Jul 28, 1991
Page 29
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 01 Mar 2023
Other Publications Near Burlington, Iowa
Mississippi Posten
Burlington Weekly Hawk Eye and Telegraph
Iowa State Gazette
Burlington Weekly Hawk Eye
Burlington Tri Weekly Telegraph
