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Participating in the Nielsen Ratings

November 4th, 2010
Nielsen Ratings Tyler TX

Nielsen Ratings Tyler TX

I like television a lot. I realize this should be sort of an embarrassing confession for someone who has aspirations of appearing deep, intelligent, or very religious but its true. And I am a relatively intelligent person of faith. I should say that: first off, with work, and a three year old little boy, I’m pretty busy, so while my television is often on, I don’t pay super close attention all the time. Secondly, while I enjoy TV, I’m not indiscriminate about what I watch. I have often been appalled by the A- moral, even hedonistic messages presented on television, so I was pleased to receive a packet from the people at the Nielsen ratings group asking me to participate in the ratings polling this fall. This is something I’ve never done before.

Now I have to say that were it not an opportunity to put in my two cents regarding what is or should be on television, I would certainly not go to the trouble of participating. I don’t actually watch much network TV. I watch a lot of cable news, (Fox in particular), ESPN, the History Channel and the Travel Channel. Of course the boy watches Nick and Nick Jr. I had always assumed that the ratings groups simply monitored what their control groups watched for a week and assembled the results into a report of some kind. It had never really donned on me to question how they monitored my viewing.

Seems like kind of a stupid assumption now that I know otherwise. In actuality there is a fairly detailed log for selected viewers to fill out. It runs day-by-day, evening-by-evening for a whole week. The participant enters the names of the times, programs and channels he watches, as well as the number of people watching with him and their ages. Frankly the whole thing is a bit intrusive but it gives the viewer an opportunity to express an opinion to a venue that actually matters.

TV Tyler Texas

TV Ratings in Tyler Texas

In spite of the fact that completing the logbook is a little too much like homework I plan to my best to complete the survey. It seems like a more reasonable approach to influencing the networks as well as the cable and satellite providers than boycotts and angry letters of protest. I would encourage anyone else on Nielsen’s list this fall, to participate as well. At least this way you know someone’s listening to your opinions. For more information on Nielsen and how they gather viewer response, try visiting their web site at http://en-us.nielsen.com/content/nielsen/en_us/industries/media.html.

Tyler Civic Theatre Center

January 12th, 2010

The Tyler Civic Theatre Center was originally founded in 1927 under the name “Tyler Little Theatre.” It has undergone name changes, expansions and re-locations. Over the years it has withstood the effects of depression, war, even fire. In 1951 the theatre opened the nation’s first theatre in- the- round, with a building designed for that purpose. A new building was completed in 2000 and named Braithwaite theatre. Its capacity is three hundred fifty seats. The original building was renamed Roger’s Children’s Theatre and helps to educate young actors on the process of putting a play together.

Education is really one of the main missions of the Theatre Center. They often foster relationships with local private schools and home schoolers who want to broaden their student’s experiences with the fine arts. The Center offers a number of summer acting camps, including a trip to the United Kingdom where the participants will have the opportunity to study and perform.

At home however the shows will go on. The Braithwaite theatre will be featuring the following plays from September through May: “A Month of Sundays,” “Squabbles,” “Scandal Point,” “The Chalk Garden” and “The Kingfisher.” The Roger’s will be showing: “Animal Farm,” “Kipling’s Just So Stories,” “Chipper, A Texas Cinderella” “The Magician’s Nephew.”

The Tyler Civic Theatre Center has been an important part of Tyler culture and education for many, many years now. Whether you’re interested in trying your hand as a participant or just looking for a night out, consider this old Tyler institution. Located at 400 Rose Park drive next to the Tyler Rose Garden. For more information see their website at The Tyler Civic Theatre Website.