Why so many hunting shows, and so few shooting shows?

[BBJohnnyT]

Michael,
I think you need to become like the artists in the music industry and form your own production company (if you haven't already) and market your products direct to the consumer. I am just one data point, but I do not have cable and have no plans to acquire it anytime soon. I watch just about everything online and I find the quality of the information presented is increasing every day. Heck even the production quality from some of these programs rivals what is on broadcast/cable TV.

The paradigm has shifted and I think you need to become the "Pioneer" as Joel Barker would say and embark on delivering your own content direct.

Exactly.  Take a look at the Revision3.com production company.  There is a fairly recent startup that produces Internet-only video programming for the tech/geek audience.  Their programming is free and ad based and is so successful, they were just acquired by Discovery.  But there's no reason why a similar Internet-only shooting sports channel can't start up and be subscription based if it has quality and focused programs.  If this exists, I'd also drop, in a heartbeat, my cable tier that gives me the Outdoor and Sportsman's channels.  I'm also sick of the hunting vs shooting disparity.

[Motodeficient]

This is a question for the Ages, and since I'm on a 6 hour layover at Tokyo/Narita, I might as well take a shot at it:

Hunters follow the dictum of "Steel Magnolia" -- the difference between man and the lower animals is the ability to accessorize.

Hunters buy a staggering amount of accessories. So do shooters, but it is far more Balkanized (zillions of different holster rather than that grueling choice between Mossy Oak and REALTREE). The hunting side of the industry has better PR than we do, much more aggressively telling their story. The industry until recently was far more comfortable with hunters than shooters...that Old School Tom Bogan is talking about. There are some weird intangibles out there ... the willingness of the audience to watch an interminable number of whacking Bambi shows, for instance. There's also the financial structuring of cable shows - - most are time buys, where the show producers buy a block of time from the network, then sell pieces of that time to advertisers to finance the show . They can sell to Joe Bob's Radiator Shop if they want. My shows as network originals are handled differently, and the result is often a smaller pool of big advertisers.

I'd do a dozen more shooting shows if I could, and I think both the audience and the sponsors are already there. Hopefully, the outdoor media will catch up...

...Back to Japanese game shows...

Michael B

Hi Michael, thanks for your input to my question! It is appreciated. Thanks for all of the effort you put into advancing the shooting and firearms community, obviously its making a big difference.

I just happening to be listening to Down Range Radio podcast # 76 today, and you talk about the NSSF Task Force 2020 survey. You mentioned that one of the findings from the survey was that the number of hunters and the number of shooters was equal (this podcast was from 2008, so I am sure the numbers are swayed more towards shooters now). Hopefully the industry and TV programming will continue towards equalization to match the true makeup of the firearms community.

[TAB]

This old house is a joke.   trust me,  I did exclusivly 100+ year old homes.   none of stuff they did would fly out west in a historic/ presevatin distric.      not even close.  Most people would faint if they saw what it took to even get a permit out here, let alone  pass a review board.

[JC5123]

This old house is a joke.   trust me,  I did exclusivly 100+ year old homes.   none of stuff they did would fly out west in a historic/ presevatin distric.      not even close.  Most people would faint if they saw what it took to even get a permit out here, let alone  pass a review board.

Get out of Kalifornistan! I know it's hard to believe, but there are still places in America where you can still wipe your butt without EPA, DEQ, IRS, and OSHA restrictions.

[Timothy]

This old house is a joke.   trust me,  I did exclusivly 100+ year old homes.   none of stuff they did would fly out west in a historic/ presevatin distric.      not even close.  Most people would faint if they saw what it took to even get a permit out here, let alone  pass a review board.

The houses they work on in MA are much the same TAB.  We have some of the same restrictive crap you go through as well but they're not going to show that in a half hour program!  Doesn't make for good TV in the least.  Most of the historical stuff needs more permits than the average contractors are willing to try and get approved!  That, and the old crones who are on the "town historical society" and have to approve paints, windows, siding, roofing, etc....it's a phuqing nightmare here too...

Someone mentioned 700K This Old House projects.  Some of these old homes in Lexington, Concord, Boston and the surrounding towns built during the 1700-1800's are multimillion dollar properties.  A 700K upgrade is pretty average.

Hell, a 500K single level ranch inside the 495 loop around Boston is a burnt out shack!  Who want's to see that on TOH?

[Sponsor]

[TAB]

Tim, its not the same.  Atleast not the homes they do.  Trust me.  700k for a remodel is not that much.   the last foundation I did was $1200 per foot.   you can pump 500k in to just the foundation.   all bricks with hydrated lye out her.   that way when it floods, you can just add another layer.  Only no one has in decades.     if you have ever been to old sacramento.   what you think is the 1st floor is actually the 2nd.  From when they filled in.

[Timothy]

Tim, its not the same.  Atleast not the homes they do.  Trust me.  700k for a remodel is not that much.   the last foundation I did was $1200 per foot.   you can pump 500k in to just the foundation.   all bricks with hydrated lye out her.   that way when it floods, you can just add another layer.  Only no one has in decades.     if you have ever been to old sacramento.   what you think is the 1st floor is actually the 2nd.  From when they filled in.

I know it's not the same but it's close to some degree!  How many homes in the Sacramento area were built in the 1600's?  We have a few out here...  I almost moved into one from 1625 quite a few years ago...  Ended up moving into a home built in 1750 in the same town!  It was a lesson in historical building techniques spanning two hundred years.  The lady that owned the house had the same last name as the street we lived on!  A town historical property..and she was one of the last descendents.

[tombogan03884]

Salem, Marblehead, Lexington and Concord are even more anal about historic houses than Boston is.

[Timothy]

Salem, Marblehead, Lexington and Concord are even more anal about historic houses than Boston is.

+1  Considering the history of Concord, Lexington and Boston, some of it's understandable and a good bit of it is just ridiculous...but, you have a choice and if you're not willing to play their game, don't buy the property!

[TAB]

Just to give you a idea about how bad it is here.  A few years back I raised hand rail about 3 inchs.   RHIP(rental housing inspection program)   dinged it for not being to comm'l code(42 instead od 38)    now this was on a fire escape stair on the back of a building that was a "supporting structure"  to a building that is on the rolls 6 blocks away.  It took me 17 trips to the building department to get a permit (at $150 each, it normally takes me 1 trip, unless I am trying to do something really nonconforiming)  I had to deal with the building departmen, the preservation district and RHIP.  I could make 2 of the 3 happy.   the stairs were not built to modern code and could not be.  They would either have to end up in the alley  or have to be built over the house next door.  That being said there was nothing worng with them per ca code, it was rhip deal.   really long story short, total invoice of 19k and change  about $2500 in parts and labor for the stair.  The rest was all bs