He’s been offered some of the most senior positions in both the American and Canadian broadcasting industries and although tempted at times, Chum Television’s senior vp of programming Jay Switzer maintains, ‘I have the single best job in all of television in North America and the grass does not look greener on the other side.

‘In other places,’ the self-described ‘tv brat’ says, ‘there are unbelievable pressures to meet the sales needs of this month, next month, the earnings-per-share target of this quarter…but here, we have the luxury, in every case, to think about the long-term relationship with our viewer.’

As head of programming for Chum Television, Switzer supervises and coordinates the program directors of each of the company’s dozen or so local and national channels. Because the program directors are fighting for viewership for their own channels, Switzer has the unique task of encouraging them to be as competitive as possible and to work together at the same time – as they did the evening of Jan. 7, 2000, when, for the first time ever, the programming activities of every Chum channel were orchestrated toward one single objective – the celebration of Canadian movies (all Chum channels simultaneously aired Canadian films).

Paradoxically, Switzer says, one of Chum tv’s biggest strengths is its lack of centralization. ‘We don’t have a guidebook that goes out to all the stations and says, ‘This is the way things must be done,’ and everything does not have to be approved by Toronto.’ And while this may make for management challenges, it reinforces the company’s ongoing emphasis on local programming.

‘Our special skill is not necessarily buying the biggest nbc primetime network show and simulcasting it. Our channels are in local tv, and even on a national basis, our cable channels are in specialized, niche tv that is very consistent, very honest, very fresh. We pay more attention to our brand in the market and the message with our viewers than any other broadcaster,’ exclaims Switzer.

Likewise, the company does not, for the most part, use consultants or outside ad agencies to help design its image or pitch: ‘It’s truly an organic environment with a truly collective system.’

Switzer has been with the company, working along side ceo Moses Znaimer and president Ron Waters, since he started as program manager of Citytv in 1983, a year after his mother, mentor and City cofounder Phyllis Switzer, left for a programming position at First Choice (now TMN-The Movie Network).

Almost 17 years later, Switzer says he’s still having fun, as the industry embarks on both the most exciting and scariest times. While many conventional broadcasters continue to be fearful of the explosion of channels, which inevitably leads to fragmentation and forces them to share smaller pieces of the pie, the relatively small ChumCity relishes the expanding opportunities.

‘We’ve been absolutely exhilarated by this huge explosion and we started participating around 15 years ago when we saw the future was specialty tv. But we didn’t do it as a defense means. We didn’t do it to protect the mothership. We did it because it was a legitimate and strong way to reach new viewers,’ says Switzer, who remains seemingly fearless as the explosion of digital, broadband, video-on-demand, Internet…begins to erupt.

Future focus

Switzer is confident that ChumCity, being fiercely local and intensely production driven (roughly 50% of all programming is produced in-house and that number is growing every year), is well-positioned for the future.

‘When we’re on the field with Fashion Television, Media Television or Sextv, our producers are thinking about every possible way to tell the story – digital Internet ways, broadband ways, traditional telecasting ways….It’s not a case of one versus the other. If you’re in the storytelling side of the business and you’re smart about it, whichever platform succeeds shouldn’t frighten you; in fact, our general policy is to be platform neutral.’

However, in the years ahead, as viewers have more and more choice to create their own schedules, the Jay Switzers of the world are going to have less and less influence.

Is Switzer worried? Maybe a bit, but reflecting his positive spirit, he says the challenge will force programming execs to be more creative.

‘My path changes from helping our programmers coordinate when we play things to working with producers to help them decide what we make,’ he adds. ‘The line between producer and broadcaster is becoming smudged.’

What Switzer is really excited about is that Canadian television and feature film has reached a kind of critical mass of legitimacy. ‘We as an industry and our viewers are no longer embarrassed, afraid or in any way taking a back seat with the best of Canadian film and tv.’

He is particularly encouraged by tsn, which he says is one of the finest sports channels in the world; ytv, which he says is one of the finest kids channels in the world; and, of course, he’d put Bravo! up against any performance arts channels in the world. Same goes for MuchMusic.

What he’s afraid of, however, is that within the next five to 10 years, the protective walls will come down, leaving the Canadian broadcast system exposed to a huge tidal wave of new u.s. signals. As it stands, Switzer is not confident the cable industry has done enough to help strengthen Canadian channels so they can eventually compete with the heavies. For example, Chum Television has not been able to negotiate ‘acceptable carriage’ deals for either Startv or Canadian Learning Television.

‘We’re fighting tooth and nail for every single home, while there are American learning channels in the country with, effectively, national distribution….Overall, I think there’s been an unreasonable value put on secondary and tertiary American cable channels.’ In place of the regulators, the three or four major cable companies have become the new gatekeepers, he says.

Asked about producers to look out for, Switzer points first to Paul and Michael Donovan at Salter Street Films in Halifax: ‘They’re a producer-driven shop…hands-on producer/writers who have great passion for their work. They are large enough now that they are public, to get enough money to do some good things.’ He also mentions: John Brunton from Insight Productions; Michael Prupas and Susan Murdoch of Muse; James Shavick and Sean Williamson from Shavick Entertainment; Peace Arch’s Tim Gamble and Larry Sugar; and Adam Haight and Jay Firestone from Fireworks Entertainment (CanWest Global).

As for Switzer’s favorite shows, he says he loves Da Vinci’s Inquest (cbc) and Cold Squad (ctv). ‘Everyone here gets mad at me whenever I say that.’