NEWS/CITYDESK NEWS LAU R IE PEAR M AN
BETTER RECEPTION Idaho Public Television enjoys ratings success while facing fiscal restraint
While a growing number of grandparents and other relatives raise foster children, caregivers receive little to no assistance.
FAMILY MATTERS: MORE IDAHO CHILDREN RAISED BY OLDER, POORER RELATIVES
GEORGE PRENTICE Television, according to former Federal Communication Commission Chairman Newton Minow, is a “vast wasteland.” “When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not magazines or newspapers—nothing is better,” said Minow. “But when television is bad, nothing is worse.” Minow’s remarks, made more than a half-century ago, scorched the very medium he managed. Soon thereafter, Congress responded with the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1961—broadening an ultra high frequency broadcast spectrum—to help launch nonprofit television stations throughout the country. By 1965, Idaho Public Television hit the airwaves. Nearly 50 years later, IdahoPTV is one of the most successful broadcast operations in the United States. “The November 2011 ratings indicated that Idaho Public Television was the second-most watched PBS station, per capita, in the United States,” said Peter Morrill, IdahoPTV’s general manager. “We’re very proud of that fact.” However, Morrill doesn’t wear his pride on his sleeve. The son of an Episcopal minister, he usually speaks in humble, measured tones, though he is surrounded by accolades. His Orchard Street broadcast center features hallways lined by shelves stacked with trophies and honors. Since 2000, approximately 200 awards have been bestowed to Dialogue, D4K, Idaho Reports, Outdoor Idaho and dozens of specials. IdahoPTV’s landmark documentary, the Color of Conscience, examining human rights in Idaho, garnered the Edward R. Murrow Award and the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award. No fewer than 17 Emmy Awards fill the shelves, and IdahoPTV is nominated for five more Emmys, which will be handed out Saturday, June 2. But not unlike a Masterpiece Theater drama, in which the glitz and glamour are upstairs at IdahoPTV, there is great complexity and even mounting concern downstairs. “What keeps me awake at night is our capital equipment replacement, because we have very, very limited [funding] to keep our statewide delivery system, both broadcast and online, up to date,” said Morrill. And IdahoPTV’s delivery system is unlike any other in the Gem State, pushing out more than 1,000 hours of programming each week, across eight broadcast, cable and online platforms. “On the technology side, there are some WWW. B OISEWEEKLY.C O M
Peter Morrill, general manager (left), and Ron Pisaneschi, director of content (right), manage more than 1,000 hours of programming over IdahoPTV’s eight platforms.
real challenges,” echoed Ron Pisaneschi, director of content. “Right now, we may be in a pretty good position, but we’re not on a funding path that is sustainable long-term.” Pisaneschi and Morrill’s nightmare scenario is a disaster—literally. “If something small or medium-size crashes, we have options,” said Morrill. “But if we had some major component die, a catastrophic equipment failure that would cost more than a couple hundred thousand dollars, well, that equipment will probably stay down for a while. A full-power transmitter is about $600,000 just for the cabinetry.” Morrill said he was delighted to procure $189,000 from the 2012 Idaho Legislature for some replacement capital equipment, but he’s worried that it won’t sustain the station. “We have to be careful with that money,” he said. “We delayed a number of needs that needed to be addressed sooner than later,” Morrill told the Idaho State Board of Education on April 19. (The board holds the broadcast license for IdahoPTV.) “But I’m never totally comfortable. Only the paranoid survive. With the approximate $200,000 from the state … well, that’s wack-a-mole money.” State-appropriated funds represent 19 percent of IdahoPTV’s $6.2 million annual operating budget. Community service grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting bring in another $940,000. “But the big mogumba for us are the individual contributions,” said Morrill. “About 65 percent of our income comes from pledges and donations.” Morrill’s colleagues recently wrapped their spring pledge drive, Festival 2012, to great success. “We’re very pleased,” said Morrill. “We’re still crunching the numbers, but I can tell you that we’ll be very close to the highest pledge drive of all time. That was back in 2007.
Remember 2007, when things were better economically? This year was an unmitigated success.” But that success is a delicate balance: attempting to raise the lion’s share of income through a small window of opportunity. “There’s a lot of risk associated. We build our pledge drive around a very compressed amount of time: 16 days in March and maybe three or four days in December,” said Pisaneschi. “If we don’t hit our numbers, there are serious repercussions. But I can tell you that most stations around the country are pledging 50, 60 or even 70 days a year.” Pisaneschi and Morrill are certain that the chief reason for this year’s pledge success rests on the quality of their year-round programming, which they said has never been higher. A review of the November 2011 ratings indicate success across the schedule, beginning with daytime programming. “We’re kicking butt,” said Pisaneschi. “The numbers are terrific.” George (the curious one), Clifford (the red one), and their friend the bird (the big one) regularly make the Nielsen’s Top 25 list of popular shows. In primetime, Antiques Roadshow, airing five times a week on two of IdahoPTV’s stations, continually ranks near the top. But nothing came close to the juggernaut that is Downton Abbey. “It’s pretty phenomenal,” said Pisaneschi. “It hasn’t been on the air in months, and I still get hit up in the grocery store on a regular basis. Everyone wants to know when we’re getting the third season. Next season can’t come soon enough.” Downton Abbey, the British mini-series chronicling the fictional Crawley family and their servants in the early 20th century, caught the imagination and loyalty of millions of viewers on both sides of the pond. By its second season, it became 12 the most successful British costume
A growing number of Idaho children are being cared for by relatives other than their parents. Stepping Up For Kids, a sobering report authored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, reveals that the number of children in so-called “kinship” care has increased by 100 percent during the past decade. Currently, more than 7,000 Idaho children live with grandparents, uncles, aunts and older siblings. “Kinship caregivers are more likely to be single, older, less educated, unemployed and poor,” said Lauren Necochea, director of Idaho KIDS COUNT. “Kinship families face great challenges.” Not the least of which is enough money to put food on the table. “It costs an average $990 per month to raise a child, according to the United States Department of Agriculture,” said Necohchea. “Kinship families in the foster care system receive an average $511 per month, while kinship families who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding get only $249 a month.” Less than 12 percent of kinship families receive any assistance from TANF, although nearly 100 percent are eligible. According to the report, “even those who are able to get help find themselves navigating through thickets of bureaucratic rules.” Money is just one of the challenges facing kinship caregivers. Extended relatives sometimes lack the necessary legal authority to enroll a child for school or access basic medical care. Additionally, kinship providers must contend with child trauma and emotional issues tied to abuse or neglect. Considering that nearly a third of all Idaho children that have been separated from their parents by the state of Idaho are currently in kinship care, the alternative would be to place more children in foster homes, requiring a greater financial burden to taxpayers and increased stress to an already over-burdened court system. President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey are two of the millions of American men and women who were raised by grandparents or other relatives. “When children cannot remain safely with their parents, other family and friends can provide a sense of security, positive identify, and belonging,” reads the report. But unless Idaho and the nation responds to a growing need for financial, legal and emotional support for kinship care, the innovative program, which depends upon the better part of our human nature, could hang in the balance, resulting in more children in traditional foster care. —George Prentice
BOISEweekly | MAY 23–29, 2012 | 11