Home Business & Economics Thirteen/WNET.org: Beyond Sesame Street and Bill Moyers
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Thirteen/WNET.org: Beyond Sesame Street and Bill Moyers

View more publications by Rutgers University Press
To Publisher Page
You Are the Brand
This chapter is in the book You Are the Brand
“ The THIRTEEN brand has always been associated with integrityand intelligence as it stands apart from a lot of the pressures thatimpact the commercial world.” These are the words of WNET.orgpresident and CEO Neal Shapiro.Thirteen is the PBS flagship TV station with the most publictelevision viewers among the nation’s over three hundred publicbroadcasters. It is also a major piece of its parent company,WNET.org, based in New York. I’ve been affiliated with WNET.organd Thirteen for over twenty years as an on-air host, executive pro-ducer, anchor, and creative director of numerous news and publicaffairs programs. While I’ve worked in commercial media broad-casting for many years, there has always been something specialabout being a part of the PBS brand, and, more specifically, Thir-teen. Neal Shapiro is right.Integrityand intelligenceare the rightwords to describe this brand. However, in the branding process,even seemingly positive words can project the wrong image. Whatone person sees as intelligent, another might see as high-brow orinaccessible to the average person. That’s the balance between intel-ligent and elite that Shapiro and the rest of my colleagues at Thir-teen have to strike.How do you create intelligent, thoughtful programming thatdoesn’t look and feel like everything else on the crowded televisiondial, yet is not above the interest level of the audience? This is a chal-lenge for Thirteen and WNET.org, which doesn’t develop its pro-gramming based on projected ratings, but realizes nonetheless thatthe audience size is critical to raising the corporate, foundation,and government dollars needed to produce PBS shows. Finding thismiddle ground in which to root the station’s brand is the job of55Thirteen/ WNET.orgBeyond Sesame Streetand Bill Moyers
© 2019 Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

“ The THIRTEEN brand has always been associated with integrityand intelligence as it stands apart from a lot of the pressures thatimpact the commercial world.” These are the words of WNET.orgpresident and CEO Neal Shapiro.Thirteen is the PBS flagship TV station with the most publictelevision viewers among the nation’s over three hundred publicbroadcasters. It is also a major piece of its parent company,WNET.org, based in New York. I’ve been affiliated with WNET.organd Thirteen for over twenty years as an on-air host, executive pro-ducer, anchor, and creative director of numerous news and publicaffairs programs. While I’ve worked in commercial media broad-casting for many years, there has always been something specialabout being a part of the PBS brand, and, more specifically, Thir-teen. Neal Shapiro is right.Integrityand intelligenceare the rightwords to describe this brand. However, in the branding process,even seemingly positive words can project the wrong image. Whatone person sees as intelligent, another might see as high-brow orinaccessible to the average person. That’s the balance between intel-ligent and elite that Shapiro and the rest of my colleagues at Thir-teen have to strike.How do you create intelligent, thoughtful programming thatdoesn’t look and feel like everything else on the crowded televisiondial, yet is not above the interest level of the audience? This is a chal-lenge for Thirteen and WNET.org, which doesn’t develop its pro-gramming based on projected ratings, but realizes nonetheless thatthe audience size is critical to raising the corporate, foundation,and government dollars needed to produce PBS shows. Finding thismiddle ground in which to root the station’s brand is the job of55Thirteen/ WNET.orgBeyond Sesame Streetand Bill Moyers
© 2019 Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents xi
  3. Acknowledgments xiii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Tiger Woods: No One Walks on Water 10
  6. Buddy “The Cake Boss ” Valastro: Baking Cakes and Living Dreams 17
  7. JH Cohn: Branding for Accountants? Why Not! 22
  8. Toyota: Putting the Brakes on Its Brand 27
  9. Michael Port: Living by the “Golden Rule” 33
  10. BlackBerry: The Brand You “Can’t Live Without” 39
  11. Barack Obama: A Brand in Transition 43
  12. Coke: It’s the Real Thing 51
  13. Thirteen/WNET.org: Beyond Sesame Street and Bill Moyers 55
  14. TD Bank: Beyond Colors, Letters, and Logos 60
  15. The Catholic Church: A Brand in Constant Crisis 65
  16. Toast: Knowing Where Your Bread Is Buttered 70
  17. The New York Yankees: A Lot More Than a Baseball Brand 76
  18. The Kennedys: The Rise and Fall of America’s “Royal Family” 81
  19. Hospital Brands: Hospital Branding in Challenging and Uncertain Times 88
  20. Starbucks: “Your Usual, Steve?” 100
  21. Blackwater: Changing Your Name Doesn’t Fix Your Reputation 105
  22. Campbell Soup: Engage Your Employees . . . Awaken Your Brand 109
  23. Nick Matarazzo: Staying in the Game 116
  24. Martha Stewart: Boy, . . . Was I Wrong 121
  25. Bobbi Brown: Keeping It Real 125
  26. Oprah: The “Babe Ruth” of Modern-Day Branding 130
  27. BP Oil: Total Brand Destruction 137
  28. TODAY: It’s about Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 142
  29. Howard Stern: “The King of Media” 148
  30. E*TRADE: When Your Brand Is a “Baby” 154
  31. Gibbons: One Name Can Communicate So Much 158
  32. Governor Chris Christie: When Being “Blunt” Is Your Brand 165
  33. Lebron James: When Your “Decision” Hurts Your Brand 170
  34. Newsweek: Times They Are a-Changing 176
  35. Daniela Costanzo: Spinning Her Magic 180
  36. Sarah Palin: So You Want to Be Taken Seriously? 185
  37. Rutgers University: The Block R Success Story 192
  38. TJ Nelligan: Doing Well by Doing Good 198
  39. Eliot Spitzer: Go Figure 205
  40. Wells Fargo/Wachovia: Two Banks into One . . . the Bottom Line 210
  41. Make-A-Wish Foundation: Granting Lasting Wishes 215
  42. Fox News: Love ’em, Hate ’em, Trust ’em . . . Watch ’em 222
  43. Notes 229
  44. About the Author 235
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813550718-011

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents xi
  3. Acknowledgments xiii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Tiger Woods: No One Walks on Water 10
  6. Buddy “The Cake Boss ” Valastro: Baking Cakes and Living Dreams 17
  7. JH Cohn: Branding for Accountants? Why Not! 22
  8. Toyota: Putting the Brakes on Its Brand 27
  9. Michael Port: Living by the “Golden Rule” 33
  10. BlackBerry: The Brand You “Can’t Live Without” 39
  11. Barack Obama: A Brand in Transition 43
  12. Coke: It’s the Real Thing 51
  13. Thirteen/WNET.org: Beyond Sesame Street and Bill Moyers 55
  14. TD Bank: Beyond Colors, Letters, and Logos 60
  15. The Catholic Church: A Brand in Constant Crisis 65
  16. Toast: Knowing Where Your Bread Is Buttered 70
  17. The New York Yankees: A Lot More Than a Baseball Brand 76
  18. The Kennedys: The Rise and Fall of America’s “Royal Family” 81
  19. Hospital Brands: Hospital Branding in Challenging and Uncertain Times 88
  20. Starbucks: “Your Usual, Steve?” 100
  21. Blackwater: Changing Your Name Doesn’t Fix Your Reputation 105
  22. Campbell Soup: Engage Your Employees . . . Awaken Your Brand 109
  23. Nick Matarazzo: Staying in the Game 116
  24. Martha Stewart: Boy, . . . Was I Wrong 121
  25. Bobbi Brown: Keeping It Real 125
  26. Oprah: The “Babe Ruth” of Modern-Day Branding 130
  27. BP Oil: Total Brand Destruction 137
  28. TODAY: It’s about Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 142
  29. Howard Stern: “The King of Media” 148
  30. E*TRADE: When Your Brand Is a “Baby” 154
  31. Gibbons: One Name Can Communicate So Much 158
  32. Governor Chris Christie: When Being “Blunt” Is Your Brand 165
  33. Lebron James: When Your “Decision” Hurts Your Brand 170
  34. Newsweek: Times They Are a-Changing 176
  35. Daniela Costanzo: Spinning Her Magic 180
  36. Sarah Palin: So You Want to Be Taken Seriously? 185
  37. Rutgers University: The Block R Success Story 192
  38. TJ Nelligan: Doing Well by Doing Good 198
  39. Eliot Spitzer: Go Figure 205
  40. Wells Fargo/Wachovia: Two Banks into One . . . the Bottom Line 210
  41. Make-A-Wish Foundation: Granting Lasting Wishes 215
  42. Fox News: Love ’em, Hate ’em, Trust ’em . . . Watch ’em 222
  43. Notes 229
  44. About the Author 235
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 9.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.36019/9780813550718-011/html?licenseType=restricted&srsltid=AfmBOopsrDS2Yh5Tvk-c85Cr5q0OhpFgNaHAZtH0yDwDto-YYJMyEWCV
Scroll to top button