Overview
Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attract and hold a given audience for a long period of time. Notable examples of overt block programming wereNBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the United States
The United States of America (USA), c ...
's Thursday evening "Must See TV
Must See TV is an advertising slogan that was used by the NBC to brand its primetime blocks during the 1990s, and most often applied to the network's Thursday night lineup, which featured some of its most popular sitcoms and drama series of the p ...
" lineup, which included two hours of sitcoms and one hour of '' ER'', and Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in clear (unencrypted) form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and ...
's " T4" program which often ran sitcoms like ''Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom
A sitcom, clipping
Clipping may refer to:
Words
* Clipping (morphology)
In linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of language. It encompasses the analysis of ever ...
'' back-to-back for an hour or more. Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated.
Variations
In the United Kingdom
Th ...
s on cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV or telly, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium used for transmitting moving images in grayscale, black-and-white or in color, ...
are often assembled into similar blocks to fill several hours of generally little-watched daytime periods. A particularly long program block, especially one that does not air on a regular schedule, is known as a marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road running, road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also ...
.
Block programming in radio also refers to programming content that appeals to various demographics in time blocks, usually corresponding to the top or bottom of the hour or the quarter-hour periods. For example, various musical genres might be featured, such as a country music hour, a three-hour afternoon block of jazz, or a four-hour Saturday night '70s disco show.
Generally speaking, block programming is anathema to modern competitive commercial radio, which traditionally uses uniform formats, other than a handful of speciality shows in off-peak hours such as weekends (for instance, the infamous beaver hour
Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television Broadcasting, broadca ...
s in Canadian radio). The general rationale for not using block programming is that listeners expect a certain type of music when they tune into a radio station and breaking from that format will turn those listeners away from the station; likewise, a station that airs its programming in hodgepodge blocks will have difficulty building listener loyalty, as listeners' music will only be on for a few hours of the day. This argument for homogenized radio was also a driving force behind the effective death of freeform radio
Freeform, or freeform radio, is a radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio
Audio most commonly refers to sound
In physics
Physics (from grc, φυσική (ἐπιστήμη), physikḗ (epistḗmē), knowle ...
in the late 20th century. The case of talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming
Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing and/or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and ...
is indicative of the decline of block programming: prior to the 1980s, it was not uncommon to mix various blocks of talk programming together on one station, but this has declined dramatically in the late 1990s and beyond. A listener to a conservative talk radio
Conservative talk radio is a talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hoste ...
station will have little interest in a progressive talk radio
Progressive talk radio is a talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted ...
, sports radio
Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comedy ...
or hot talk
Talk radio is a radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station
, Sweden
, Norway
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio signal ...
block, which reaches a different demographic; stations that have attempted the block strategy have historically been unsuccessful. Block programming of this nature is alive and well on outlets like public radio
Public broadcasting involves radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating
Communication (from Latin ''communicare'', meaning "to share") is the act of developing Semantics, meaning among Subject (philosophy), entities or ...
(such as NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase, npr) is an American privately and publicly funded non-profit media organization based in Washington, D.C. NPR is based in two locations: main NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. (often re ...
, BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a public service broadcaster, headquartered at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London. It is the world's oldest national broadcaster, and the largest broadcasting, broadcaster in the world by ...
, or the CBC#Redirect CBC
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