are  based  on  hypothetical  survey  results  obtained  using the proper techniques you will learn in Chapter 9. PROGRAMMING STRATEGIES As you get ready to map out the program schedule for your station, strategy is one of the first things you will want to consider. Basically, it is the planning and direction of your programming schedule; the overall picture. At this point, you consider all of the variables involved including such things as the audience survey, selection   of   programming   materials,   putting   the programs in an appropriate time slot for a particular target audience, and so on. Two of the most important strategies   in   programming   are   compatibility   and audience  flow. Compatibility One of your goals in programming is to schedule your  material  to  coincide  with  what  people  do throughout  their  day.  Your  schedule  should  be compatible  with  the  cyclic  nature  of  people’s  daily activities. At the beginning of the day, most working people do not have time for entertainment programs but arc  interested  in  what  happened  overnight  in  the  news. An example of how the networks meet this need are the morning  programs  like  Today  and  Good   Morning America.  Throughout  the  day,  as  people’s  activities change, so should your programming. An example of this is the early afternoon lull when shows with adult female appeal, such as soap operas, are popular. Later in the afternoon, when children are out of school,  programs  with  youth  appeal,  like  cartoons,  are popular. Another consideration for you to keep in mind is that television is a leisure time activity and your program schedule should reflect this fact. It would not be good programming for you to schedule your most popular programs when everyone is at work or asleep. Air the shows people want to see at times when they can see them. Programming your schedule to be compatible with  this  cycle  is  known  as  dayparting.  We  will examine dayparting later in this section. To  make  the  compatibility  principle  work,  you  have to consider who the available audience is and what they are doing. You have to study how the audience lives to determine not only scheduling, but also what type of program  to  use,  thereby  creating  a  flow  to  your programming  that  meets  the  needs  of  the  various audience  types  throughout  the  day.  An  audience survey is the best way for you to accomplish this (see Chapter  9). Audience  Flow In commercial broadcasting, the programmer tries to  keep  the  audience  flowing  from  one  program  to  the next. His job is to maximize the number that flows from one program to the next and the number that flows in from other stations while minimizing the number that flows  out.  As  a  military  programmer,  you  are  concerned with audience flow but only in the sense that you are trying to create a flow to programming that keeps the audience  tuned  in.  This  is  developed  from  the compatibility principle and is adapted to the unique needs of programming for an NBS detachment. As your audience   changes   throughout   the   day,   your   pro- gramming should coherently flow with that change. Again we will use the afternoon hours as an example. You  have  programmed  soap  operas  in  the  early afternoon  for  a  predominantly  adult  female  audience. Your decision to do that is based on survey information providing program preferences for adult women. Later, as children come home from school, activity around the house begins to increase and the adult female audience significantly declines. School-aged children increase their viewing during these hours and your programming should  reflect  this  with  children’s  programming.  Later after dinner, family viewing rises and programming is adjusted   accordingly. Program material available from AFRTS is con- sidered  to  be  the  best  of  current  commercial  pro- gramming. The AFRTS Broadcast Center (AFRTS-BC) offers  the  military  programmer  more  than  90  percent  of the  entire  prime  time  schedule  of  the  major  U.S. television  networks,  nearly  all  of  the  A.C.  Nielsen top-rated  programs. With this amount of popular programming, the development of a flow to your schedule becomes a lot easier. The important thing for you to remember is that your programming should be scheduled to flow with target audience availability. It does not do any good for you to schedule prime time shows at a time when most people are not able to watch. For example, if a survey indicates the majority of crew members on your ship are off work by 1600 and finished eating and showering by 1800, it would be good for you to start your prime time programming then. Programming your station with audience flow in mind ensures that your schedule has structure and is not just a haphazard mix. 8-4