Letter to Editor

I sent the below letter to Velosport, and they put it up on their web
site, FYI (http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/5911.0.html)
-Ken

************************************************** *********
Kenneth Salzberg
Hamline University
School of Law (651) 523-2354
1536 Hewitt Ave.
Sisu Skier - 50K Club St. Paul, MN 55104
************************************************** ****************

OLN's bait-and-switch?
Editor,
Well, I see it's beginning to happen to OLN's coverage of bike racing.
They suck you in with promises, good coverage, plans to show all the stuff
you want and then cancel it all so they can show more motor sports and
bull riding and shooting (see "Notes from the road: Health vs. donuts;
Georgia vs. Otter; Roubaix vs. Masters; and The Donald").
When they were starting out, a few years ago, they showed up at all the
big nordic ski racing events and asked us all to contact our TV and Cable
providers to urge them to add OLN to the line up. We did, they did, and
then OLN decided that covering nordic skiing didn't generate as much
income as log rolling, and stopped nearly all the coverage. (and, by the
way, denied ever having made any of those promises).

Soon the bike racing coverage will be a half-hour "recap" on Thursday
night, which will also cover off-road vehicle racing.

Sorry, but that's the way they operate.
Ken Salzberg
St. Paul, Minnesota

Ken, you're reacting the wrong way IMHO. Unless it's public TV,
television's (including cable) goal is to make a profit. Free market
system etc... It's our job to get them to show more bicycling coverage
by:

A) Spreading the word about bike racing coverage on the various
newsgroups, chat rooms, web pages, word of mouth and the like.

B) Emailing each of the advertisers like Subaru, Chey Truck and the
others who buy time on the shows we like and thanking them for their
continued support of bicycle (and ski) racing.

C) Emailing OLN and telling them how we support their advertisers and
thanking OLN for their bicycling coverage.

We need to get more TVs tuned to OLN during their bike racing
coverage. If you work when the race coverage is on, tape the
program... ****ing them off is the wrong approach. Ratings are the
final judgement on what gets shown. While it's hard to believe there
are more lumberjacks tuning in to OLN than bike racers and skiers,
that must be the case because ratings are what drive the market.

I know we all get frustrated by the lack of coverage but, it's our own
fault, not OLNs...

Jay Tegeder
"On the podium if the right people don't show up!" JT


(Kenneth Salzberg) wrote in message mline.edu...
I sent the below letter to Velosport, and they put it up on their web
site, FYI (http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/5911.0.html)
-Ken

************************************************** *********
Kenneth Salzberg
Hamline University
School of Law (651) 523-2354
1536 Hewitt Ave.
Sisu Skier - 50K Club St. Paul, MN 55104
************************************************** ****************

OLN's bait-and-switch?
Editor,
Well, I see it's beginning to happen to OLN's coverage of bike racing.
They suck you in with promises, good coverage, plans to show all the stuff
you want and then cancel it all so they can show more motor sports and
bull riding and shooting (see "Notes from the road: Health vs. donuts;
Georgia vs. Otter; Roubaix vs. Masters; and The Donald").
When they were starting out, a few years ago, they showed up at all the
big nordic ski racing events and asked us all to contact our TV and Cable
providers to urge them to add OLN to the line up. We did, they did, and
then OLN decided that covering nordic skiing didn't generate as much
income as log rolling, and stopped nearly all the coverage. (and, by the
way, denied ever having made any of those promises).

Soon the bike racing coverage will be a half-hour "recap" on Thursday
night, which will also cover off-road vehicle racing.

Sorry, but that's the way they operate.
Ken Salzberg
St. Paul, Minnesota

Jay Tegeder wrote:

Ken, you're reacting the wrong way IMHO. Unless it's public TV,
television's (including cable) goal is to make a profit. Free market
system etc... It's our job to get them to show more bicycling coverage
by:


Sometimes making a profit is easier by putting on cheap programming even
if the ratings take a little hit. Game shows, 'reality TV,' and one
camera competitions are much cheaper to produce, than good scripts, paid
talent or the tour de france. Plus the ratings have to reflect a
demographic. Ever wondered why there are 13 country stations in the
Twin Cities market, even though many of them have less than a tenth of a
percent market share? Apparently, advertisers love country music fans
and ditto heads because they are more easily influenced to buy 'as seen
on TV.' Doesn't matter if ten times as many independent thinkers would
be tuning into some other type of programming: if they aren't buying
what you are selling, then the adverts go away.

Jim Farrell


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
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YOU ROCK KEN SALZBERG !!!!!!!!!!!!!
GIVE IT TO 'EM !
I hope you emailed OLN and told them to READ THIS velonews link !!!!!!
JK

"Kenneth Salzberg" wrote in message
ine.edu...
I sent the below letter to Velosport, and they put it up on their web
site, FYI (http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/5911.0.html)
-Ken

************************************************** *********
Kenneth Salzberg
Hamline University
School of Law (651) 523-2354
1536 Hewitt Ave.
Sisu Skier - 50K Club St. Paul, MN 55104
************************************************** ****************

OLN's bait-and-switch?
Editor,
Well, I see it's beginning to happen to OLN's coverage of bike racing.
They suck you in with promises, good coverage, plans to show all the stuff
you want and then cancel it all so they can show more motor sports and
bull riding and shooting (see "Notes from the road: Health vs. donuts;
Georgia vs. Otter; Roubaix vs. Masters; and The Donald").
When they were starting out, a few years ago, they showed up at all the
big nordic ski racing events and asked us all to contact our TV and Cable
providers to urge them to add OLN to the line up. We did, they did, and
then OLN decided that covering nordic skiing didn't generate as much
income as log rolling, and stopped nearly all the coverage. (and, by the
way, denied ever having made any of those promises).

Soon the bike racing coverage will be a half-hour "recap" on Thursday
night, which will also cover off-road vehicle racing.

Sorry, but that's the way they operate.
Ken Salzberg
St. Paul, Minnesota