I REMEMBER An Autobiography by Sidney L. Wyatt 1972

Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. Anna Laetitia Barbauld Songs of Innocence and Experience; Robert Burns She Stoops to Conquer; Elizabeth Inchbald The School for Scandal;. Vathek; William Godwin Leon Matthew Gregory Lewis The Monk; Charles Robert Maturin Melmoth the Wanderer; Ann Radcliffe The Castle of Otranto;. Hamlet"; From "On Familiar Style". Letters; Charles Lamb Coleridge, Williiam Wordsworth etc. A Defence of Poetry; Mary Wollstonecraft Preface to Lyrical Ballads;. Sonnets from the Portuguese Nr.

Wuthering Heights; Samuel Butler The Forsyte Saga; Elizabeth Gaskell North and South; Thomas Hardy Alton Locke; Rudyard Kipling The Egoist; George Moore A Mummer's Wife; William Morris News from Nowhere; R. The Time Machine; Dr. Moreau's Island Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray;.

Sartor Resartus; On Heroes, Hero? The Idea of a University; Walter Pater Justice Oscar Wilde Murder in the Cathedral, The Cocktail Party. Lady Augusta Gregory Major Barbara, Pygmalion, Saint Joan. The Playboy of the Western World. William Butler Yeats The Death of Cuchullain;. The Good Soldier; E. A Modern Utopia; Virginia Woolf Dalloway; To the Lighthouse; The Waves;.

Lucky Jim; Martin Amis Empire of the Sun; John Banville Room at the Top; Anthony Burgess This began with live sports and boxing, as well as stand-up comedy and variety specials in the s. Represented by a range of series, films, documentaries and other specials as complement to film programming, these have been briefly discussed within existing accounts. In terms of setting up some links with quality programming, Haggins and Lotz use satirical sketch shows such as Not Necessarily the News as building on success with stand-up comedy specials as an alternative outlet for comedians.

Santo also notes some success with family programming such as Fraggle Rock in promoting quality appeals Santo Developed by executive Sheila Nevins from as a staple of monthly subscription packages, these ranged from educational specials to more lurid documentaries, primarily organised from under the monthly series America Undercover, while also appearing on sister channel Cinemax.

Sustaining quality value within sensational tactics, some notable exceptions were provided by award-winning prestige specials Down and Out in America Grant and Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam Courutie by the end of the decade. This was associated with convenient, uncut films as a subscription service. Rogers et al This substituted for any specific reputation or need to generate quality programming. Within early uses of HBO as a case study for film exhibition, Gomery identifies more general trends for the scheduling of themed marathons and seasons of films on television during the s Gomery Andrews has also noted how subscriber services generated an early flexibility for the heavy rotation of programs by re-packaging shorter, featurette program segments into feature-length specials Andrews However, these histories of original programming share a consensus that original programming was at best eclectic and easily condensed into a few key case studies.

Little distinction is made between HBO and rival Showtime in this respect, other than the latter producing less originals as a smaller network. An emphasis is therefore placed on demands by the s for HBO to respond to competition for branding distinction by improving the quality of its original programming, supported by diversification of its brand into new markets. These are typically related to the influence of broadcast network FOX in the early s on promoting more aggressive forms of branding.

This involved programming a limited number of niche series, tied together through a strong on-air look that aimed to establish affective loyalty from audiences as a hip, stylish, but accessible alternative to rivals. From this identity was given a more tangible focus through the success of animated comedy The Simpsons , later reinforced through series such as Beverly Hills and The X-Files The particular success of The X-Files also saw it follow Twin Peaks as a single-series anthology citing both its industrial innovations and wider negotiation as a global cult property Lavery ed Catherine Johnson has refined this process into ongoing trends for television branding through networks and programs.

Achieved through an intensification in the use of on-screen logos, slogans and programming compatibility Johnson This was most notably led by the success of sitcoms Dream On and The Larry Sanders Show, as well as horror comedy anthology Tales from the Crypt This was also supported by diversification into original productions for broadcast television from , international film subscription services, and investments in basic cable network The Comedy Channel, later rebranded as Comedy Central.

For a cultural studies and genre-rooted approach to teenage demographics, representation and resistance in the late s, see Glyn Davis and Kay Dickinson eds Teen TV: Genre, Consumption and Identity, London: Essays on Programming and Fandom, North Carolina: Raising budgets and attracting star-names to productions with provocative subject matter, award-winning films such as The Josephine Baker Story Gibson and And the Band Played On Spottsiwoode added further distinction. Jones a also cites the adaptation of late-night chat show formats to the network in this period, notably represented by Dennis Miller Live However, Rogers et al and others cite an ongoing negotiation of explicit content over quality experimentation.

For David Andrews and Karen Backstein , modifying soft-core erotic programming also became a key tactic for Showtime in the early s, most notably through series such as The Red Shoe Diaries In this context, Anderson emphasises that despite some advances, HBO was still primarily associated with film exhibition rather than quality original programming by the mids Anderson Rogers et al suggest that HBO shifted away from an eclectic monthly service towards establishing identification and loyalty through enormous investment in weekly, creator-led quality series alongside regular exhibition of films, sports and other programming Rogers et al Led by prison drama Oz and followed by Sex and the City from , the particular success of The Sopranos is used here to suggest a conversion of explicit content into quality television trends for cinematic production values and complex narratives, boosted by larger than average budgets and creative freedoms for producers Rogers et al Extensive responses to HBO as quality television view this adaptation process as specialising previous primetime format trends around a more exclusively marketed brand, and can be discussed in more detail later in the thesis.

At the same time, competition for ratings and brand distinction for networks saw broadcasters and cable channels find success with unscripted reality programming and game-show formats such as American Idol FOX, , while continuing to rely on more traditional formats. The contemporary use of quality and other niche programming to brand networks and attract key demographics has been widely focused through HBO as a leading case study for negotiating cultural distinction for television.

In this way, HBO works to position itself as an essential brand, where a regular subscription could provide audiences with an exclusive cultural experience. Negotiating televisual distinction as part of broader popular culture has informed both ongoing aesthetic and cultural discussions of quality television,9 as well as debates over how far the medium has been transformed by technology in the s.

This has led to extensive interest in how successful film and television franchises have intensified trans-media storytelling and marketing to engage a range of audiences. Moreover, the need to reinforce brand loyalty has encouraged increased reliance on ephemeral, ancillary materials such as website content, making-of segments and DVD bonus features to reinforce interaction with properties and platforms. Broader debates and synopsis of key programming strategies, individual quality series and fan cultures from this era can also be found in Michael Hammond and Luzy Mazdons eds The Contemporary Television Series, Edinburgh: Moreover, HBO looked to widen its reputation for quality programming through partnerships for theatrical distribution with conglomerate-owned specialty distributors Carolyn Anderson ; Heller , Perren b.

This is typically used to present HBO as a crucial prototype for television practices for managing content across old and new platforms by the end of the decade. This became particularly crucial for the conglomerate after a problematic merger with internet provider AOL in , reinforcing the need for brand loyalty and selective synergy Grainge University of California Press,. Also see Paul Grainge Ephemeral Media: This innovation has however been used to form broader criticisms of HBO as one element in the wider corporate economy of Time Warner.

For cultural studies and communications scholars such as Toby Miller, Robert McChesney and Ben Bagdikian, the global media industries represent anti-competitive, exploitative and un-democratic institutions, with branding as one way of obscuring more cynical practices of ownership. The branding relationship between top-down corporate management and audiences is viewed here as a highly unbalanced loyalty, eradicating genuine difference in favour of superficially-defined niche markets.

This has been developed by McCabe and Akass , who suggest that HBO downplayed the success of its explicit content by emphasising quality, and exploited a crossover gap in the broadcast market for adult-themed drama. Communication Politics in Dubious Times, Urbana: Producing the Magic Kingdom, London: The Manufacture of Fantasy, Cambridge: Movies, Multiplexes, and Global Culture, Durham: For Anderson, this is akin to a gated community, enforcing economic differences over content to regulate the meaning of quality for television Anderson Anderson also ties this into wider theories of the blurred relationship between cultural and economic distinction in the late 20th century made by Pierre Bourdieu, with social status measured by conspicuous consumption Anderson This has been developed by Toby Miller in his monograph Cultural citizenship: With distinction measured by cosmopolitan spending patterns, Miller has argued that this reinforces neoliberal economies of self-interest and diversity through competition, limiting more democratic media participation Miller The latter approach to exploring niche television brands as negotiating relationships between corporate values and diverse audiences has been widely rehearsed across television, communications and cultural studies.

Advertisers and the New Media World, Chicago: The early use of the network as a case study for cable exhibition by film and media scholars in the late s and early s was built on in the early s by close analysis of quality programs and institutional overviews. Despite this extensive coverage, there are however important gaps in scholarship on the network that need to be addressed. He identifies how early anecdotal accounts by Mair , and uses as a case study by Hilmes and others have only been partially expanded by later accounts to frame a contemporary interest in quality programs and dynamic brand management since the mids.

One explanation for this could be that most institutional histories of HBO still function as introductions, or general context for close analysis of individual series as accessible to multi-disciplinary interpretation. Moreover, while article-length studies by Johnson or Jaramillo of HBO as a case study for network and program branding identify key issues and practices, they compensate for scope by engaging in general debates about media convergence and corporate power.

The value of these approaches is arguably in their accessibility, negotiating questions over the future of television and engagement between audiences, brands and ownership within familiar program examples. Moreover, this allows for wide-ranging studies of individual programs as innovative media franchises beyond single network contexts, an approach taken to series such as Lost Pearson ed As Pepper highlights though, one of the limitations of this approach is that institutional specificity or general perspectives on contemporary innovations tends to become marginalised.

This is an understandable sacrifice in terms of commercial appeal for publication, with extensive, chronological and archival histories providing vital, but more specialist value in examining more subtle differences in context and precedent. Hilmes has also continued to promote the benefits of broadcasting histories to shape institutional and cultural change through archival research, producing anthology NBC: These can also be viewed though against a series of dissertations and monographs on major institutions, branding and media convergence by emerging scholars since Beyond the White Picket Fence, London: Trendle from the s to the s.

This approach can also be aligned with a recent dissertation by Jason Scott into the management of newspaper syndicate characters into films and other media from to as offering extensive precedent for current franchising tactics. New scholarship has similarly promoted ongoing re-assessment of the history of key institutions to better contextualise their current branding success across media platforms.

On a wider level, the need for archive-led historical research into precedent for current industry practices has been proposed by the edited collection Convergence Media History Staiger, Hake eds This has in turn overlapped with recent efforts to widen the historical scope of new media strategies, which has notably included histories of industrial repetition by Derek Kompare , and recurring caution by John Caldwell ; ; ; over losing sight of the durability of old media practices for understanding contemporary branding and specific institutions.

From Utility Brand to Subscription Aggregator: Aside from a few brief notes on scheduling by Gomery and Andrews , this also lacks the kind of detailed analysis of basic cable exhibition made by Mullen The turn after towards weekly series as embodying brand value consequently cites outside influences from FOX Santo This crucially overlooked connection can also be tied to some recent historical scholarship on the links between publishing and cable.

Chapter One of my thesis, covering , will expand on these links to suggest longer-term institutional links between HBO and Time. It will also argue that these influences shaped the development of the early subscription service into a stable monthly format, dictated by overall value rather than individual programs. This can be understood through a history of negotiations between exceptional content and the offsetting of risk through exhibition and packaging formats. Kompare suggests that 19th and early 20th century literary and music publishing established conventions for recycling copyrighted properties and libraries while aggregating audiences through mass and niche outlets, as well as subscription services.

Proposing a model of subscriber aggregation, where a range of demographics could be cross-promoted to enhance specialist and wider subscription value, connections can be made with the wider growth of cable network branding in the period made by Mullen and others. A combination of institutional exclusivity and distinctive exhibition can be used here to again emphasise clearer degrees of difference from rivals such as Showtime, while incorporating discussions of Cinemax. From Chapter Three onwards, I will examine how these Time-era influences and subscriber aggregation underpinned growing adjustments to contemporary brand management across platforms as part of Time Warner.

First analysing the aftermath of the Time Warner deal from to , this will discuss how HBO both adapted to industry trends for network and program branding, while retaining a focus on aggregating audiences within stable exhibition and production cycles. Moreover, an emphasis on HBO as a pioneering television network for managing branded content across new digital platforms and global distribution beyond the subscriber service can be re-oriented around adaptations to older economies and some further tensions over institutional exclusivity from rivals.

Re-contextualising accounts of contemporary brand management and quality television programming can again be used to support historical arguments for significant institutional and industrial continuities in the s and s. However, Caldwell also emphasises branding negotiations between older network and exhibition strategies for aggregate platforms. Lotz also links her argument to wider new media theories by Christopher Anderson II for structuring the flow of digital media content.

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On one hand, the value of this research is to better understand institutional and industrial continuities through extensive archival research, building off trends for revisionist media histories. Some caution over scope and the use of archives can however be made. Michele Hilmes has suggested that while single studies of television networks are valuable, they also have to negotiate excessive programming and archival sources, particularly if official records are not available.

My primary research developed chronological chapters from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, as well as newspapers, overlooked institutional histories of Time, online archived HBO on-air promotions, magazine advertisements, and a broad selection of programming than previous histories. The particular reliance on trade papers to piece together a critical chronology can however produce problems, with Perren acknowledging that articles and interviews tend to combine self-promotion with a short-sighted approach to historical precedent Perren a: In this context, my thesis aims to provide a more comprehensive history of HBO, but one that maps out the development of particular strategies to inform wider debates.

More specifically, by focusing on subscriber aggregation as a longer-term practice, more specific contributions can be made to general discussions of brand management taken by existing accounts. When dealing with the process of brand management, my focus is again on top-down strategies for coordinating and extending consistent format value against ongoing demands for distinction and subscriber satisfaction.

While others identify this value through limited case studies and generalising discussions of quality marketing and corporate differentiation within Time Warner, I focus on the stability of the overall subscriber service and its extension of a Time Inc. Focusing on subscriber aggregation allows us to better refine the strategies that go into branding a network and programs, while viewing this as part of variations on longer-term trends for format management around packaging and licensing of branded content.

My intention is again to align with institutional histories that provide clearer contexts for interpretation and criticism. These kinds of approaches are already well-represented in existing studies of the network. Continuities for aggregating subscribers, building from publishing influences, provide long-term anchors for ongoing brand management. This innovation as an outlet has been used to discuss some limited options over original programming, providing precedent through stand-up comedy and boxing for a later, middlebrow brand identity.

This understanding of HBO as a subscription aggregator can be used to shape further continuities within exclusive Time ownership into the s. This was joined by experimentation in drama, educational and variety formats. At the same time, CBS adapted successful radio serial and soap opera formats in building affiliate and sponsor support Boddy b: The Postwar Talent Takeover, Durham: For a more general survey of major trends, see Thomas Schatz Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the s, California: California University Press, particularly Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies: Thomas Schatz, London; New York: The Industry and its Critics, Urbana: University of California Press.

With marginal independent producers having predominantly supplied low-cost material to local stations to fill scheduling hours from the late s Anderson Television also became an attractive site for distributing studio film libraries, beginning with independent distributors and expanding to the major studios by the mids.

This aligned with shifts from network sponsorship to magazine-style spot advertising. Licensing half-hour comedy and hour-long drama formats became crucial to establishing popularity for later sales to network affiliates, independent stations and worldwide markets. Adapting studio-era audience differentiation towards more specific mass and niche demographics, increased investments in the music industry joined to the promotion of new theatrical technologies to distinguish higher-budget productions.

New York University Press.. For more general trends in s American cinema, television and technology, see Peter Lev The Fifties: Studio stability was tested by a recession in the late s that saw key majors absorbed into larger conglomerates mixing entertainment and non-entertainment assets. Conglomerates gained studios with heavy debts but investment potential for back-catalogues of features, television production and Hollywood real estate. In doing so, the potential to establish value from film libraries for television and cross-promotion of branded media properties was developed for the s.

The film industry also however attempted to respond to the rise of a high-spending baby boomer audience and social and political unrest. While this blockbuster-led boom will be returned to later in the chapter, demographic shifts and targeted marketing also crossed into broadcasting during the period. With FCC regulations establishing public service alternative PBS in and the Financial Syndication and Prime Time Access rulings in and , the major three networks lost lucrative syndication shares.

The regulations also restricted the amount of network programming in primetime station schedules to encourage Sheldon Hall and Steve Neale Epic, Spectacles and Blockbusters, Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, , Studio Vista also provides key industrial analysis of ownership, production and technology, as well as analysis of key filmmakers and institutions.

While aiming to break up a broadcast television monopoly, the first years of the rulings instead produced mixed results. Independent syndicators and Hollywood studios more often fed scheduling gaps with broadly-targeting programming, low-cost game and chat shows, while widening markets for reruns. Gomery ; and Gitlin identify the growth of the format by the mids as a response to a shortage of theatrical films and production licensing disputes. The compromise became the commissioning of low-budget, B-level productions from studios and independents for first-run and later domestic and international syndication.

Limited diversification around a reinforcement of broadcast and Hollywood interdependence was joined by the mids by breakthroughs in cable and pay cable. Syracuse University Press, This dependence was reinforced in by conglomerate investment in cable distribution and new channels, with Warner Communications establishing a Warner Cable division in By contrast, pay cable and pay television offered eclectic but increasingly attractive options for competing with advertising-supported broadcasting for selling varied individual and collective packages to homes. This ranged from further experiments in theatre television Mullen Opportunities to develop a long-term future for pay television were enhanced by a Fourth Report and Order by the FCC that agreed commercial licenses for subscription services.

While protecting existing distribution and broadcast exhibition interests, by approximately forty-five regional services delivering varied cable, broadcast packages and PPV programming to homes and MSOs were available nationwide Edgerton a: Building from pay cable experimentation with uncut films and sports on Sterling Cable, Mullen notes how Dolan proposed a pay venture as The Green Channel to Time between and Mullen A Magnificent Obsession Cassavetes With pay cable restrictions in place in Manhattan, HBO instead launched as a monthly fee microwave service to viewers in the Pennsylvania town of Wilkes-Barre on November 8th.

However, from to the fledgling serviced struggled to build long-term appeal. The priority became to reduce churn, or subscribers signing up and cancelling the channel. Surveying spikes and declines in Wilkes-Barre and neighbouring Pennsylvania townships, Mair explains slow growth through poor marketing by still primarily local engineers Mair Unstable subscriber numbers, fluctuating from 12, to 8, on fourteen affiliate systems Mair This expanded to four states and thirty-six microwave linked systems by the end of the year Mullen Problems remained though in breaking Hollywood and broadcast resistance to licensing high-profile films to pay cable.

With output primarily restricted to B movie and older, obscure titles, HBO and Time had launched a court injunction against the regulations in This also expanded to a low-cost range of specialist sports such as gymnastics, wrestling and surfing Miller, Kim This began in March with coverage of the Pennsylvania Polka Festival, as well as roller derbies and cow fairs.

This promoted quality control in producing upscale journalism with a personality-driven entertainment style for subscription and retail distribution. By the end of the s Time had broadened its publishing label with the weekly photo-journalism focused Life Leadership from under CEO Andrew Heiskell added new lifestyle titles such as Fortune, while raising political and celebrity coverage in Time by Prendergast; Colvin By contrast, Life could not survive falling circulation, and was closed the same year.

New strategies in the period looked to global publishing and media cross-promotion, but experienced some recurring tensions over collaboration and exclusivity. International problems were later solved as the publisher rebranded its unsuccessful Time Atlantic title as Time Europe. Coordinated more closely with the 28 For detailed histories of Time Inc. Elson Time Inc.: The Intimate History of a publishing enterprise, Volume One: Atheneum, and Robert T.

Elson Time Inc: The intimate history of a publishing enterprise, Volume Two: Demands for diversification without sacrificing corporate autonomy also affected ventures into audio-visual media. Time had diversified the magazine brand as early as the s, entering into radio and theatrical deals to produce March of Time newsreels. From the early s Time also began to purchase broadcast radio and television stations in the US and overseas, and created the Time-Life Broadcast division in to handle television interests.

Moreover, Time consolidated publishing strengths by entering into book distribution and mail-order catalogues. However, attempted investments in broadcast television and film struggled to find consistent success. On the one hand, the early s saw Life act as a base for producing syndicated pilots and documentaries as stand-alone embodiments of Time journalistic quality. From however attempts to maintain crossovers with verite Vietnam specials struggled to find buyers Prendergast; Colvin Collaborative problems also extended to investments in studio production.

An alternative effort to enter into film production and distribution then resulted in the creation of Time-Life Films in Investments in HBO by , after cutting back on broadcast stations and cable distribution, arguably provided an ideal site to reinforce publishing and subscription strengths. Richard Munro briefly took control of the channel Mair A gradual focus on diverse sports programming by can be tied here to Sports Illustrated crossovers, providing a basis for targeting the same younger male audiences. Again, Kompare argues that publishing provided a basis for later media industry reliance on negotiating distinctive content into linked subscription, retail and rental formats.

This offered some precedent for how broadcast television and other non-theatrical sites could add to the circulation of film and other media archives, while encouraging the exploitation of copyrighted libraries by the early s Kompare This was soon followed by the Copyright Act, relaxing retransmission and boosting nationwide franchising and system construction alongside falling satellite costs Mullen Here WTBS relied on off- network reruns, Hollywood theatrical films, cartoons and live sports to establish a regular schedule of familiar programming.

Powered by this rapidly expanding cable market, HBO reached , subscribers by June Mullen This helped generate a first profit by October , while eclipsing magazine revenues as cable distribution coordinated with nationwide brand marketing Mair The success of Jaws in promoting blockbuster features through theatrical box office revenue and suitability for cross-promotion with tie-ins, merchandise and later sequels provided a template that was continued by the success of Star Wars George Lucas Cable offered to provisionally extend ancillary revenues for studio distribution, and was provisionally joined from by the patenting of commercial videotape by electronics manufacturers Sony and Betamax and VCR players.

With Time establishing a Video Group in to coordinate HBO and cable distribution, efforts were made to stabilise management and reach licensing deals with the studios. Promoting Levin to chairman and CEO and Nick Nicholas to president and chief operations officer, the latter looked to hire from within the magazine division. By HBO faced demands for diversifying supply, with Furst agreeing a pre-buy agreement with Columbia for exclusive rights to future titles in exchange for co-financing Mullen In Time also acquired a stake in independent production company Talent Associates in an attempt to boost theatrical distribution Prendergast; Colvin By the September satellite launch this had included extending sports coverage to non- exclusive Wimbledon tennis coverage, and deals with syndicators.

Targeting prestige programming also led here to the acquisition of rerun rights to cancelled CBS drama Beacon Hill an unsuccessful variation on quality programming. Mullen identifies the syndication deals as showing early promise for cable as an alternative outlet for quality and more specialist programming Mullen A November Variety survey had identified the average HBO subscriber as a younger, affluent adult male with higher income and education than the average broadcast viewer, as well as an early media adopter Variety Nov 16 Here Furst crucially turned to magazine influences for measuring subscriber feedback for experiments, introducing Total Subscriber Satisfaction Reports TSS from Time in Offering demographic break- downs of the monthly service Prendergast; Colvin Drawing on magazine and subscription precedent for measuring non-linear sampling and re- sampling of a monthly service, reports offered to break down demographic trends and measure aggregate audience satisfaction.

This could be used to identify potential compatibility between viewing and re-viewing patterns, improving the month-to-month decision to alter the format mix of the monthly selection of titles. Subscriber format management in this case could encourage brand consistency through a specialist exhibition format, providing an infrastructure for offsetting the risk of adding new programs that could appeal to a variety of subscribers.

From to experiments to find formats that could attract the ideal upscale male subscriber noted in the Variety survey, while retaining appeals to an expanding audience can be demonstrated by the production of comedy and variety specials. Experiments with Stand-up Comedy: This represented a monthly series of specials recording live comedy performances on campuses and nightclubs across America. In Furst developed a second year of specials, and hired young talent agent Michael Fuchs to produce the series.

These restrictions had been foregrounded by the primetime season, encouraging more family-oriented shows, and investment in internationally co- produced miniseries such as Roots for gaining prestige Gomery However, it has also been criticised as an example of early middlebrow tendencies between quality marketing and explicit content. However, On Location and the success of adult content in a subscription channel setting can be more specifically linked into Time concerns over exhibition.

This in turn crossed over into new magazine ventures for the publisher. In the publisher had launched People, a magazine focusing on celebrity, lifestyle and current affairs that differentiated itself from other Time titles through more sensational content. In this context, People was joined in the period by less-successful efforts by Time to focus on lifestyle and the entertainment industry for a younger boomer generation, from personal finance magazine Money to short-lived experiment View, a mix of film and television journalism Prendergast; Colvin Marketing on broadcasting television, People pushed the Time brand to new limits.

In mid Cox transferred to HBO, becoming head of affiliate relations and cable operators, with responsibility for promoting the subscription package to operators and viewers Mair MSO consolidation had particularly driven new ventures and conglomerate investment in distribution and new channels. This spun-off channels such as Nickelodeon for national distribution. With revenues spiking alongside the expansion of ATC cable distribution, Nicholas was promoted to the Video Group in late , and replaced by James Heyworth as president Mair With the publisher perceived as an upstart in the film and television business, clashes and studio boycotts had developed by the end of the decade Variety Oct 31 Still dependent on 37 Further crossovers between People and television included syndicated pilot People Cover Story, which focused on the New York celebrity and disco scene Prendergast; Colvin With other studio majors also experimenting in new subscription systems, Warner Amex made an aggressive move to expand a stake in the Star Channel.

This was rebranded as The Movie Channel to become the first hour film channel in Expanding to an average twelve hour daily schedule by , original programming management was streamlined as Furst returned to Time and Fuchs was promoted. New development staff was also added, including former broadcast executive Iris Dugow and young program director Frank Biondi.

Fuchs looked towards increasing the range of original programming, while re-focusing sports coverage under newly appointed executive Seth Abraham as a HBO Sports division. Cutting back on broad coverage to promote exclusive boxing, Wimbledon rights and some college sports Miller, Kim Compensating for the costs of rights, the series helped establish a stable mix of exclusive, typically bi-monthly boxing bouts and low-cost topical commentary by the end of the decade.

In the former, this included diversifying On Location to a series focusing on older comedians Haggins, Lotz Reliance on independents and co-financing also negotiated resistance from Hollywood unions over pay cable compensation Michie Feb 28 Fuchs instead turned to compromises, investing in a broad deal between Universal and independent stations for rights to action feature film Condominium Hayers In the same period this also included attempts to broaden stand-up comedy success by financing pilots from independent producers.

We also dried a good deal of corn. Great amounts of preserves and jellies were made, much of the jelly from choke cherries, wild currants and etc. Instead of the spring mattress and the well tufted mattress of today we had the straw tick--that is except for Mother's and Father's bed--they had a feather bed. We always had a flock of large white ducks. In the spring we would catch them one by one and mother and the girls would pluck them and then turn them loose. The feathers went into pillows, and into the tick for our parents. So after threshing we emptied the tick of the straw which we had been sleeping on for months and which had now been reduced to powder and filled them with oat straw, which was much better than wheat straw.

The opening was sewed up and for awhile we had a wonderfully soft bed. I remember the pillow which we had, and all of us shunned it except when a pillow fight ensued, and then it was the most lethal weapon in the fray. We called it "Old Bullet". Someone got the idea that the fluffy down of the cattail would be softer than feathers, so we gathered the brown heads and shelled them into the pillow case.

In no time they congealed and hardened into balls. A sack of rocks could not have been much harder to sleep on. The last one to retire each night usually found "Old Bullet" as his night's companion. When the cows came in from the pasture, they brought with them swarms of mosquitoes. Also, we had a duck pond on the other side of the house which along with the fields was a perfect breeding place for the singing, stinging, blood thirsty pests.

Many a night they were so bad that we would build a smudge in the yard, usually of horse manure, as a repellant. It seems that the plague didn't last too many weeks but for a time it was unbearable. Soon after our marriage they drove my bride and me from the farm for several nights. We went to town and stayed the night at mother's. Sometimes I think I must have been born under a cow. We always had a large dairy herd and most of the family did their share.

Charl was the exception, and while he did know how to milk, he usually had the horses to take care of or some other more dignified chore. In the summertime things were not too bad. The corral was dry, it was not uncomfortable. But in the winter milking a cow in zero weather can be a trial and some of the cows will never be forgotten.

John Wayne

Why we didn't get rid of them I'll never know. Usually you weren't seriously injured, but my what it did to your dignity. Then there was Hard Spot; her teats were so large that you could hardly span around them and the milk just refused to come out. She gave a lot of milk too. Dearie was just naturally a mean vicious animal. I always thought she was possessed by an evil spirit. On the other hand there were the good cows. They were pets and would follow you around till they were milked, gently nudging you off the stool if you milked another first.

By John James Dougherty

As the summer wore on the grass in the pasture was cropped short and the cows would come up from the bottom still hungry. If we were not careful to fasten the gates securely the cows would break out and get into the fields during the night. We would all be rousted out of bed to bring them in. Milking and then taking the cows to pasture was a chore in the fullest sense of the word, yet we felt it to be a responsibility as well as a chore. One morning when Jim James was a teenager he overslept. In fact we couldn't rouse him, so we let him sleep and the rest of us milked the cows assigned to him.

The milking was finished and the cows were leaving the corral when he came out of the house. Maybe it was the embarrassment of having others do his chores and as a result caused him to lose face by not doing his share, but he was so angry he bawled. One thing about milking cows was the monotonous regularity of it. Sure as death and taxes. Usually you didn't mind it, but on holidays, just when the baseball game was about to begin you had to leave town and usually walk the three miles to the farm and milk the cows.

On Sunday evenings when your friends in town were meeting for the social activities of young people--it was the cows. To this day I don't like cows. They are out of fashion now. In fact I have not heard of them for more than forty years. Chilblains occurred on your feet when you got frost bite and that happened to me often. You knew you had it when your flesh grew numb and turned white. The first aid for this was to take off shoes and stockings and place your feet in a pail of ice water or into a snow bank.

Even so you got chilblains and they were agonizing. The worst was when you went into the school room and your feet would warm up. They would itch and burn until your attention seldom got to the lessons. I usually had my heels frozen till large blisters formed, then broke leaving raw sores which made it impossible to wear my shoes. I remember the first ones to be grown in Wellsville. I must have been about six or seven years old. We started in a modest way.

We made knives to thin them by taking the metal strip from the top of the wagon bed. Bent it in an L shape, wrapped one side with cloth for a handle, and sharpened the other for cutting. We crawled along the row. For harvesting we took a regular hand plow and made a furrow close to the beet row, pulled the beets out by hand and topped them with a butcher knife. Charl hauled them to the factory in the wagon. With our large family as a source of labor we quickly expanded. By the time we finished, as a family we were growing sixty acres of beets each year--all hand labor.

I have topped 12 tons a day--consistently. When it came time to harvest the grain, we enjoyed that work. Of course Charl would run the binder while we lesser fry would shock the grain. As the bundles of wheat or oats came from the machine we would gather them and stand them up like a tepee to dry. We would aim to cut ten acres per day and it was our hope to keep close enough to the binder so that the last bundle would be caught before it hit the ground.

After the grain dried we put it into round stacks and waited for the threshing. Threshing time was a big event on the farm. When the crew came we usually had them for about a week. If they broke down or it rained we had them for much longer. First there was the regular crew--six men and their teams. We furnished all other help--i. The dirtiest job of the lot. I remember the threshing machine had to be positioned and staked down solidly.

The sweeps put into place, the horses hitched and driven round and round transferring their power via tumbling rods to the machine, which growled and moaned in its work of separating wheat and chaff. To my mother and sisters was assigned the task of feeding the--animals--threshers. It was three meals a day assignment. From twenty to thirty plates were set for each meal and what food. Usually a beef and a pig would be butchered. Chickens by the dozens gave their all in this good cause.

Dumplings, noodles, potatoes, vegetables, pies, cakes--a five gallon coffee can. This was indeed a time of feasting. The first meal--you could hardly call it breakfast was before daylight, and the last one after dark. The women in each home tried to outdo the neighbors in the spread they prepared. Of course the men talked about what they were served at other places and our women folk could not be outdone by anyone else. We loved to have the threshers. It came every week.

It wasn't the simple thing it is today. First there was the water to be carried and heated in the boiler. First for the suds, then for the rinse, then for the boiling--wood had to be cut and piled by the kitchen stove, mounds of it. Mother and the girls hand sorted the clothes, shaved the home made soap, and heated the first boiler of water. Our first washing machine which I remember had a handle like a lever which stood up above the machine, you moved it back and forth to rotate the dolly.

Later we had one with a wheel attached, which furnished the power as your turned it. One who has not experienced it cannot conceive of the amount of work required to cleanse the clothes to the point where they were ready to go into the blueing water. It was an all day job. I'm sure that I didn't do more than my share in furnishing the horse power for this woman killer and or man killer, but I was so affected that the first thing I bought for our home after marriage was an electric Maytag washing machine.

A rather primitive one with a wooden tub, but it was at least mechanically powered. Maybe it was because we were so hemmed in. To step off our back porch was to step into mud. We needed gum boots to go to the creamery for coal--why did we keep it so far from the house--the road past our farm was a quagmire in the spring. It was impossible to travel even by horseback in the spring of the year. In order to get to Wellsville we had to follow the ditch banks through the fields. When I was in my early teens father built our new barn--it was a large one and we children spent many a rainy day playing "one old cat" there.

The worst days were when we had nothing to do. How hard it is to do nothing. But always after the winter and spring thaw--and the rains--came the sun, and the new grass and the joy of going bare footed. It was probably the greatest cross that we were called to bear. It started as a dream of a few farmers to gain a place in the financial sun; and ended in long years of sacrifice by my father and his children to pay for this folly.

Before the turn of the century, Father, who was always a leader in pioneering, in helping to build the first canals, the first roads etc. This made it possible for us to close our family creamery. The venture was a success financially as well as industrially. As a result of this success a group of these stockholders decided to enter the mercantile business and establish a general store in competition to the two stores which were already doing business in this town of slightly more than a thousand people.

As a result the Farmers Mercantile store was opened on a lot two blocks from the central part of town in the year Evan Owen--who was Bishop of the Wellsville Ward was hired as manager. The store carried a great variety of goods including groceries, coal oil, binder twine, bed chambers, dry goods, shoes, shot gun shells, clothing, buggy whips, horse collars, nails, lamps, you name it, they had it.

Bishop Owen hired three girls as clerks: They were the belle's of the town. I think Nettie was the prettiest of them all. She was 17 years old.

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As she grew up she had lived in town with Aunt Betsy during the winter time to attend school, and then had stayed there to take a course in dressmaking. Now until she was married she lived in town and worked in the store. In addition to the manager there was Lydia Owens who was employed as bookkeeper. Then as part of the operation there was a butcher shop, a blacksmith shop, and a granary.

The store sold almost everything and bought eggs, grain, beef, etc. Credit was extended to everyone--it was a way of life. After ten years of being so over staffed and mismanaged the store faced bankruptcy. He never collected a dime of pay. The three socialite clerks were replaced by one of my sisters Annie. Hazel worked for while, Mable, Myrtle, and Violet--usually there was only one of them at a time. So beginning in our farm and family was saddled with this debt. The other stockholders withdrew.

Our monthly milk check was considerable--it went to the store--our beet checks--the gain--beef cattle--everything for a period of ten years. Then the store was destroyed by fire and all debts were finally liquidated. When a man died owing a bill at the store, father was the first to visit the widow and mark her bills paid.

Even his own sister would walk past his store and trade her eggs with Willie Maughan and then come to his store for credit. All the dead beats in town came to good Brother Wyatt for credit. He was a soft touch, so while we in the family did without many things we would have liked and much of what we needed we were subsidizing a lot of bums in their laziness. Financially we were a well to do family and would have been a wealthy one if this cancerous growth had not been fastened to us.

We were a large family, all of us worked hard and we were frugal. Maybe it was a good schooling to help us develop character. Better management might have saved us much worry and bitterness. Anyway father did what he thought was best. Not many ever thought he was little or dishonest He was loved and respected by everyone, especially his large family. In those days there were no public high schools in the State of Utah. An elementary diploma was a real accomplishment which was attained by the few.

Few of those who finished the eight years of elementary school ever aspired to any further schooling. For those few who did pursue learning further there was a choice between the Brigham Young College and the Utah Agricultural College, both of which were located in Logan. After attending school, for the first four grades, in the one room school at "Greenville", which was a mile from our farm, I attended school in Wellsville.

In the spring and fall of the year I walked the three miles to school. During the winter I would ride behind Tom on a horse. This ended in when I was twelve years old and father built a new brick home for mother in town. When school began in the fall, we were unable to start with the other boys and girls because of the harvesting. It was usually the middle of November before we could be spared from work, then in the spring we were often taken out of school to help with the planting.

Because of this uncertain attendance maybe --I spent two years in the seventh grade. The year I entered the eighth grade was a turning point in my life as far as my education was concerned. I decided that I wanted to go to college. Even in my fondest dreams I scarce hoped that my desires in this direction could ever be attained. One thing was sure; I had to graduate from the eighth grade first. Now graduation was not merely attending school for the year and having grades passed out by your teacher.

It was an ordeal. There were thirty-seven students in our class. At the end of the school year we were required to pass an examination prepared by the State Board of Education. This examination was given at the Brigham Young College in Logan. All eighth grade students in Cache County met to take it under the direction of strange teachers.

When the time arrived, the thirty-seven of us, under the direction of our teacher, Robert Leishman, met at the Oregon Short Line railroad station and took the train to Logan. Students from Newton and Mendon were already on the train. The train stopped at Hyrum and picked up the Hyrum, Paradise, and Avon students.

Further along we picked up Nibley and Providence. Other students from closer to Logan and the Northern part of the County came on other trains or by carriages. We were housed in various places in Logan for three days were subject to one of the most intensive tests I have ever faced.

When the time came for the examination we were seated in the auditorium, an empty seat between each two. I remember the Mendon group was seated in front of us--each one of us was given a copy of the questions. To measure a circle--to extract the square root. In geography we were ask to name all the states and their capitols. The counties of South America and their capitols--the main rivers of all the continents, etc. In English we were asked to write the preamble to Evangeline and, oh yes, one of the sentences we were ask to diagram was: George Epson's grandmother sat in a chair of solid oak hewn in the celebrated forest of the Hague.

I was considered the best speller in the class. Pearl Jones was admittedly far from that. He sat one seat from me. Before going into the spelling test he said, "Sidney, if I can't spell a word, I'll kick you on the leg and you spell it loud enough for me to hear. After the grind was over we took the train back home and waited for the papers to be corrected.

Three days later when I came up from the creek where I had been fishing I met mother and the girls. They had a letter. Of the thirty-seven in our class to take the examination, thirteen had passed. We had our pictures taken with our diplomas well displayed. The picture and diploma are two of my prized possessions today. A room in the city hall was utilized for this purpose. We had one teacher, Beigler.

As there was a number of older people who had been out of school who wished to attend, the ages of the students varied greatly. As I was now sixteen years old and doing a man's work on the farm what time I spent in school had to come after the beets were harvested in the fall--mid November--and before spring work began.

In the meantime hay had to be hauled from the farm to feed the dairy herd which had moved from the farm with us when winter set in. My older brothers particularly felt that I was wasting my time and did what they could to interfere with my attendance. The worst name they taunted me with was: With all the obstacles to overcome I still enjoyed school and began to learn more easily. I ended the year with passing grades--nothing less than a "B" and a determination to keep going.

My second year of high school was attended in the old elementary school building. A new elementary school building had been erected. As there was now both ninth and tenth grades and as enrollment had greatly increased four teachers were employed. The curriculum was expanded and we were offered bookkeeping, typing, carpentry, homemaking, animal husbandry, entomology, as well as other academic studies.

I managed to make my grades this year also. The following year the school was further expanded to a third year of high school, but I started so late and was taken out in the spring so early that I lost that year as far as grades were concerned. I tried again next year but spring came early so I quit school. My brother Jim and I took the cows to the farm and "batched" it. No sooner were we at the farm when it began to rain. The clouds settled down to the valley floor. Day and night for two solid weeks there was a down pour. For those two weeks we sat in the house and waited for a break in the weather.

Some time during these two weeks my principal went to see my mother on my behalf, he told her that I should in be in school--that I had possibilities in education. He and my mother and my sister Nettie encouraged me to reconsider about leaving school and finish my year. This was not easy to do. I was sick and tired of fighting for every day I attended school. I was heart sick at taking the insults of my family; being called "The high school boy", being called lazy, being called "high toned". I felt that I had had it. With all the bitterness I could not entirely dismiss the dream I had since the eighth garde of attending the Agricultural College in Logan.

I went back and finished my year of school. Things seemed to go easier. We organized the "skull and bone" club. Initiation was a close clipped head. I was a long way behind with my experiments in physics--Irvin Glenn and I worked all one night in the Laboratory, when the sun came up our lab manuals were finished. I was in the school play. South Cache High School was to open the next year with a full four year course.

It wasn't such a bad year. If it hadn't been for mother, Nettie and the rain my school would have ended in my junior year of high school. Now with fourteen units of credit, all of them A's and B's, I was sure that I would make it in college. During the summer of , my sister Sadie and her husband George Wood, who lived in Rexburg, Idaho visited us. From somewhere I got the idea of going to the Ricks Academy for my last year of high school work.

It offered two advantages: First school started late. To make up for the late start classes were held on Saturdays. Because of this our crops would be harvested and for the first time I would get an even start with other students. The second and most important advantage was that I would be so far away from our cows that they could not yank me out of school every other day. I wrote to Sadie and she said I could come. After the first few payments she would take no more.

I waited until we were loading the last load of beets before I broached the subject to father. He was not enthusiastic but he did give his consent. For the first time in my life I was to get away from the cows. I had been accepted as a member of the Senior Class at the Rick's Academy. It was a long day's trip. When I arrived I found the home of my brother-in-law--George Wood. It was just one block from the station. No one was at home as they had not moved to town from their dry farm at Moody Creek.

I got a boy to help me carry my trunk over to the house. Just at the edge of dark, George, Sadie and their children arrived and I was at home. The house was frame. There was a kitchen, dining room, living room, and bedroom on the ground floor. Upstairs there were three bedrooms. I had a room upstairs by myself. I was treated in all respects as one of the family. I was very happy. I had my chores to do. First there were the cows--three of them--Kate, Irma, and Teenie. There then was the team of work horses; and a stallion whose name was Jack. Saturday afternoons I sometimes went to Burton to get a load of hay for the stock.

Tending Jack was interesting. He lived in a large stall in the barn. He wore a halter with a ring attached to each side. When I would take him out of the barn for a drink or exercise I would open the door, hold the bit in each hand, he would grab hold of the bit in his mouth. As he did so I would snap a snap on each side of the bit into the rings in his halter, hold to the long rope attached to the bit and jump to one side. Old Jack would come charging out and we would race for the water trough. After he had drunk his fill I would exercise him in the yard, holding to the end of the rope while he capered around in a circle.

We came to be good friends. He put on quite a show prancing and whinnying. George Wood though we were "nuts". George had a 12 Gauge automatic shotgun and he always kept a horse nose bag supplied with shells. I was always welcome to use them. About Thanksgiving time George had a pig to kill on a Saturday. He shot the pig with a 22 rifle and stuck it. We were arranging the barrel for scalding while the water was heating. George remembered that he had to go to town for a minute.

The hired man and I got everything ready. George didn't get back. I told the hired man he had better get started. He said, "Not me", I've never dressed a pig and am too old to learn, but I'll help you". Of course I'd seen it done but this was my first time. We did a pretty good job; and long after we had finished, George appeared. He had been to a shooting match. I had another first too. I shaved the hired man with a blade razor. When I finished with him he looked worse than the pig did. Jeannie was the oldest daughter in the family. She was a sophomore at the Academy.

We had a good time together. Pearl was next in the family. Then there were the younger ones--eight children I think. The enrollment at the Academy was probably less than two hundred, about forty seniors. Although a stranger I soon made friends. As an example, I went to Reed's History class room on my first day at school.

The teacher had not arrived. A red haired kid looked at me across the room and threw an eraser at me. I ducked and made for him. I decided if there had to be a show down it would be just as good a time as any. At this point the teacher came and we had a cooling off time. At the end of the class period Jack Phillips came up with his disarming smile and we were immediately friends. Frank Knight lived across the street and we could shout to each other from our rooms. I made the basketball team, took part in the senior play and really enjoyed myself. As a student I was not too serious but did manage to get mostly A grades.

The Rick's Academy being a Church school took care of all the social wants of the students. On Monday mornings we reported our attendance for the church meetings for the week. We were forbidden to attend any dances which were not sponsored by the school, even in our own town. Each Friday evening the school held a dance for the students. We were admitted by our student body card. Jeannie had three girl friends: I became acquainted with them when they came to our home on Sunday evening--and of course we were together at the dances. When the Christmas holidays arrived Jennie and I went to Wellsville for the holidays.

While at home I told Mother that I had met the girl I hoped to marry someday when she grew up. I had come to this decision even though I had never dated Velma. When we returned to school after the holidays, Velma got on the train at Rigby. We began to be better acquainted. I took her to a dance and kept her student body card. Spring with graduation and the end of school came all too soon. I returned to the farm in a rainstorm. I remember how clean the house was. Mother had just taken a large batch of bread from the oven.

We talked for a long time of the past school year. Of my hopes and plans to go to college the next year. It was wonderful world! As I was the oldest unmarried son, I was responsible for seeing that the farm work was done. My social life was fairly full--with church activities, dances, etc. I had my own horse and buggy. The crops were good and the weather fine. At last it appeared that my long cherished wish to go to college was to be realized. Definite plans were being made with my cousins Ralph and Robert to live with them. Then the unexpected happened: One August evening I was riding on my horse from Wellsville to our farm when I met our Bishop, Franklin Gunnell, who was also my sister Annie's husband.

He stopped his car for a chat. He told me that I was considered as a missionary and he ask if I would accept a call. All of my life I had been trained to accept any call from the Church without question, so although it seemed to mean the end of my hopes for more schooling.