WVCY TV's future- how do you think it looks?

[PaulKTF]

Anyone know how WVCY is doing as far as staying afloat? They don't broadcast 24/7 so I assume they have to shut things down overnight to save money.

From what I read on Wikipedia, they were offered the CBS affiliation when Channel 6 switched to Fox, but they refused. Every time I flip that station on, it all looks so low budget and cheap. I'm sure there are a lot of people who watch it and probably contribute money to it, but I wouldn't be too sad to see it go and I'd love to see something more interesting done with it. I'm not a Christian so that has a lot to do with why I have no interest in it. I know I'm in the minority in that regard.

Will they be able to afford the switch to all-digital after analog shuts down? I guess I don't understand the point of the station since they already have the radio station which seems to be the same thing. Surely the radio station is cheaper to run than the TV station?

[Tom Snyder]

Having spent nearly a decade in Christian radio, I know that most Christian media,  has a tiny but incredibly passionate audience. The technical quality of the programming is meaningless to their base... it's the message that's important. Matter of fact, because of the mindset of a lot of the more conservative Christian audience, (like WVCY's), highly polished broadcasts (like 105.3 The Fish) are often veiwed as "worldly" and compromising.

WVCY has a lot of volunteers, and paid staffers make salaries much lower than their commercial counterparts, so it doesn't take much to run those stations. They run on contributions. Ownership, staff and listeners view their survival as a miraculous testimony to God's faithfulness and that failure of the stations would be a victory for Satan. Those are both powerful motivators, so they will do whatever they must to keep it afloat.  The audience is small to begin with (typically less than half of 1 per cent), and skews old, and is getting older and smaller all the time. But they still have managed to always squeak by.

But digital TV is throwing them a huge curve ball. They've always run on a lot of hand me down equipment from commercial broadcasters who donate old and outdated gear. Because of the newness of the digital TV technology, there isn't a lot of that kind of stuff in  the discard pile. And the new equipment is so expensive, even the big commercial broadcasters struggled to get it.

So it's hard to say what it means for them. But antagonists, critics and "experts" have been predicting their demise for decades, and they've been proven wrong again and again, and probably will be for a long time to come.

[jjallou]

Considering they are already on the air with digital (channel 22 / 30-1) I think their future looks pretty good. They have already spent the money for their part of the transition, so once analog is shut off their digital signal will remain.

I don't see any problem here.

[PaulKTF]

Considering they are already on the air with digital (channel 22 / 30-1) I think their future looks pretty good. They have already spent the money for their part of the transition, so once analog is shut off their digital signal will remain.

I don't see any problem here.

Then why are they still asking for money for it?

Scroll down to "Digital TV Update".

http://vcyamerica.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=87

[jjallou]

Then why are they still asking for money for it?

Scroll down to "Digital TV Update".

http://vcyamerica.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=87

 
They will always ask for money. The switch to digital is just another reason to beg for money. Just because they are on the air with digital doesn't mean it's all paid for yet.
A religious outfit asking for money surprises you.......how?

[PaulKTF]

They will always ask for money. The switch to digital is just another reason to beg for money. Just because they are on the air with digital doesn't mean it's all paid for yet.
A religious outfit asking for money surprises you.......how?

Oh, it doesn't surprise me in the least... Nothing wrong with it of course, but what are they going to do once their audience dies out? Christian teens aren't (I assume) watching the TV station or listening to the radio station. They seem to be doing everything they can to avoid the youth market alltogether (which is sort of ironic because their call letters stand for Voice of Christian Youth).

[Tom Snyder]

They will always ask for money.

They have to... if you don't ask, people won't give...

However, it's not just religious broadcasters. Just ask Jerry Lewis, MPTV, WMSE...

once analog is shut off their digital signal will remain.

Actually, that will be a blessing for them...right now they're paying to power two signals. Once the analog goes away, so will that expense.

[jjallou]

Actually, that will be a blessing for them...right now they're paying to power two signals. Once the analog goes away, so will that expense.

Since they have been off of the air all weekend it looks like they're saving a bunch of money.

[techguy1975]

Since they have been off of the air all weekend it looks like they're saving a bunch of money.

And they probably will be till mid-week, till a replacement part for the transmitter comes in

[bradsmainsite]

The audience is small to begin with (typically less than half of 1 per cent), and skews old, and is getting older and smaller all the time. But they still have managed to always squeak by.

But whats most important is the ONE person that happens to scroll by and see a message that they need to here at exactly that right time when they needed it the most!:)

Some of you will understand and some of you won't.      Right Tom;)

[Tom Snyder]

That's the one thing that differentiates Christian broadcast organizations from the rest. Most broadcasters view their format as simply a way to generate profit. Not enough profit, the format changes. For Christian broadcasters, the format is the reason for their existence and their life purpose is doing whatever it takes to keep it going. It's hard for most people to comprehend the mindset.

Case in point: Let's say you are running a non-profit broadcast operation. Your life is a constant struggle trying to keep a radio and TV station on the air... has been for decades. Barely making a living salary, having to stay "up" during fundraisers that that raise enough money only to make the next 12 months another year of struggle, patching together old equipment to keep it working, all the time the general public taking every shot they can to criticize what you're doing. Format change to a more financially viable format is not an option.

Someone comes along and offers you 7 million dollars for your FM and 30 million for your TV station... what would YOU do?

[PaulKTF]

That's the one thing that differentiates broadcast organizations from the rest. Most broadcasters view their format as simply a way to generate profit. Not enough profit, the format changes. For Christian broadcasters, the format is the reason for their existence and thier life purpose is doing whatever it takes to keep it going. It's hard for most people to comprehend the mindset.

Case in point: Let's say you are running a non-profit broadcast operation. Your life is a constant struggle trying to keep a radio and TV station on the air... has been for decades. Barely making a living salary, having to stay "up" during fundraisers that that raise enough money only to make the next 12 months another year of struggle, patching together old equipment to keep it working, all the time the general public taking every shot they can to criticize what you're doing. Format change to a more financially viable format is not an option.

Someone comes along and offers you 7 million dollars for your FM and 30 million for your TV station... what would YOU do?

Vic will never, ever sell the radio station. It's his only pulpit from which to spread his/his employees' anti-muslim, anti-gay, anti-abortion (etc) propaganda. That's just the way it is. He might sell off some of the VCY-owned affiliates if times get tough, I suppose.

What's much more likely is that once the old folks die out, he runs out of people willing to send him money to keep the TV station up, and sells it to someone else who flips it to a secular independent format (or it just goes under). I'm actually surprised the TV station has managed to hang on for this long. It looks so cheaply put together- like something out of the early 80's video editing technology.

The radio station is probably cheap enough to keep going for the foreseeable future, but I could easily see them losing the younger generation to modern Christian music or whatever they listen to.

I guess the TV station is a step above that Shepherd's Chapel nut that WCGV puts on at 4 AM, or the Benny Hinn/Peter Popoff types, but not by much as far as I can tell. Still, I won't be too sad when it's all done and over with. Don't look for the VCY Empire to last beyond another 10 to 15 years.

[bradsmainsite]

. Don't look for the VCY Empire to last beyond another 10 to 15 years.

Yeh I know and Christianity could never last another 2000 years.  Or could it?
Or has it aready?

Who's to know, but I know someone who does!

[Gilbert]

Yeh I know and Christianity could never last another 2000 years.  Or could it?
Or has it aready?

Who's to know, but I know someone who does!

You got it, Brad!

One thing one has to remember is that it's not one TV or radio station. They have several across Wisconsin and quite a few affiliates as well. They're not swimming in money to be sure, but they claim God provides, and I think they're right.

Yes, they are on a tight budget. They haven't paid for all the equipment yet, last I heard (although it has been a few months) for the WVCY-DT equipment. And I did hear them talking about another fundraiser to go HD and why that was important, but that was not going to happen immediately.

Sure, some of the programs look like (and have come) from about 20 years ago, but Tom is spot on about "it's the message". Paul, I'd agree that the programs skew toward a mature (spiritually and age-wise) audience, but they believe that the "flash" and trash that is seen on most programming these days (including what you pointed out) overrides the Gospel message they are trying to deliver. I agree with them on that point. But, a program called "The John Ankerberg Show" is a great example of high broadcast quality video and a program that commands that you do anything but keep your brain checked in at the door. It's well worth a look-see.

As for longetivity...who knows. I don't even know what will happen tomorrow.

Gilbert

[John L]

Since they have been off of the air all weekend it looks like they're saving a bunch of money.

I noticed WVCY-TV has been back on the air for about 2 weeks now.  When they were off I sent them an email in regards to being off the air and since it was a problem with their analog transmitter I suggest they would at least continue keeping the station on the air in digital over their  DTV transmitter.  I wrote the email after reading about it in Tim Cuprisin's column. Tim said they were waiting for a part to arrive from Italy for the transmitter.  Wow! Sounds like a expensive part and shipped at a large expensive price tag.  I suggested if it was costing too much money to repair the analog transmitter, I said they be better off forgetting about it and just broadcast everything over WVCY-DT and write to all your viewers they must get a converter box if they want to continue watching WVCY.

I mean, really to me its no longer worth sticking money and repairing the analog transmitter since they would be forced to shut it off and no longer use the analog transmitter by February 2009.

So far no reply to this date.

-John L.