Viewer Feedback In Today's World

(CBSDFW.COM) - Beginning next week, I will be devoting my blog once a month to share with you some of the viewer feedback we receive daily and reveal what's on their mind.

Under legendary General Manager Mike Shapiro, WFAA/Channel 8 did a weekly half hour show on Saturday evenings in the 1960's called "Let Me Speak To The Manager." Shapiro was ahead of his time and is credited for a lot of WFAA's success in news and entertainment when ABC was a third ranked network. Co-hosted with his Program Director, Jim Pratt, and sometimes Travis Linn, Mike and his staff answered viewer letters on the air, many times in a humorous way but never condescending to the viewer. It was one of the top rated local shows in the market in its day.

When I started in TV in 1978, most viewer feedback was either in the form of a letter or phone call to the station. There was no email back then. No social media to deal with. Phone and letter only. Nearly 20 years later, that all changed with the rapid growth of email, the Internet, and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. We still receive letters through the U.S. Postal Service but it is a very small percentage. We also keep a file of letters from the public here at the station. When I go back and look at them, I sometimes get quite a chuckle. They cover a wide range of topics and opinions from viewers as to what they like, what they don't like, and even suggestions on how we can do things better. Some of the ideas are good, other more difficult to accomplish, others not so good. On some occasions, we receive email intended for our radio stations. But we will let you know what the hot topic was of the week!

My favorite viewer feedback is when we suddenly get knocked off the air. The conversation goes like this: Viewer: Are you all off the air? Me: Yes, we are. Viewer: Well, why don't you put up a slide to let people know you are off the air?

Really??

See you next time!