[BC] Don't rig your radio contest...

[Robert Orban]

At 05:33 AM 2/3/2010, Rich Wood wrote:
>------ At 08:54 PM 2/2/2010, Robert Orban wrote: -------
>
> >I *still* wonder how Kris Allen won American Idol last year when
> >runner-up Adam Lambert sold over 4x the number of CDs in the first
> >week after release....
>
>This is quite a revelation. You and I have met many times over the
>years. We were initially introduced by the late Jesse Maxench (sp?)
>and Kevin Tamm of Dolby and/or TFT.
>
>I would never have guessed in a million years that you'd enjoy that
>show. If someone of your stature can enjoy it I'll have to set my
>Tivo with a seasons pass and see what I've been missing.

I find the show interesting because in addition to broadcast, I have 
long been involved in the periphery of the music business and enjoy 
watching the "artist development" aspects of the show. I like 
comparing the strengths and weaknesses I'm hearing in a given 
contestant to what the judges are saying. I usually don't start 
watching until the contestants have been whittled down to the final 
12 or so because I'm not interested in seeing trainwrecks and public 
humiliation--I want to see only the most talented contestants. As 
such, I'm not a typical "reality TV" viewer and AI is the only 
reality show I watch with any regularity. I prefer scripted shows and 
believe that 20 years from now, this is going to be remembered as one 
of the "golden ages" of scripted television. I fear that 20 years 
from now, markets may be sufficiently fragmented to preclude any 
scripted programming's getting the $2-3 million per episode budgets 
of today's major network hits.

Bob Orban