South Georgia recently experienced a short run of unexpected twisters. Of course, these occurrences were quite alarming—this is Georgia! Damage sustained included homes being demolished, power lines uprooted, and many roads blocked due to the tremendous amount of debris. Every news station in the area covered this “late breaking” story. Daytime TV was interrupted by eager reporters and anchors covering storm’s manifestation.
Between the interviews with the locals and the footage of damaged areas, I was like a jack in the box yelling out random emotions. “Oh my, Lord, please help them!” “Wow!” “Now that was funny. They play too much.” (That last one was in response to those on-site interviews. You know they only interview those who are not ‘made-for TV’!) However, the most pressing part of the entire day was when the announcer made this statement, “For those of you who want to know when you will get to see your favorite shows: The Ellen Show and Dr. Oz, we will air those later this evening…well early in the morning respectively at 2:00am and 3:00am eastern.”
What? Did he just interrupt the live on-air reporting of a natural disaster to announce the rescheduling of a “non-life essential” change in television programming? Yes he did! Okay, mainstream media has officially gone wild in my book! Do you know what this means? Finally, it is all about the people! We have heard claims for years about television programming being based on the “people’s choice” or “we created this with YOU in mind”. But this is the epitome of “made-for-you-TV”. I remember the times when national disasters, Presidential addresses, or historic moments airing on TV meant a pre-recorded voiceover saying “We now interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this special announcement.” And that was all you got. No Cosby show today. Now, we reschedule and announce it on air LIVE within moments of the “special report”.
Have the mainstream media conglomerates finally realized they MUST give the people what they want? What about you? How do you offer your media to the masses? Is it random or scheduled? If there is an interruption or a deviation from the plan, do you bother informing your audience? Do you have a back-up plan in place for such occasions? You don’t have to be a nationally syndicated television or radio show to have a content strategy. Consider your blog posts, daily devotionals, motivational moments, and podcasts. When you break the normal pattern of delivering content to your audience, do you bother to let them know why and offer ways for them to consume it later?
If we can reschedule entertainment TV, surely your ministry should have a plan to for getting the Word out. Please share with me and others what content management plans you currently have in place (or intend to real soon).