Flagstaff and the surrounding Coconino County are tops in Arizona for tourism.
That's not to say they bring in more money or provide more jobs than other parts of the state; Phoenix is the big dog there. But northern Arizona business and political leaders leverage their natural advantages to get the most out of it.
An Arizona Office of Tourism report shows that while most of the rest of the state lagged in tourism revenue growth last year, Coconino County set a record, topping even the total it reached in 2007 before the recession took hold.
Total travel spending in Coconino County in 2010 was $948 million, 6.2 percent higher than in 2009 and 3 percent better than the previous record year of 2007.
Meantime, statewide travel spending in 2010 was $17.7 billion, which was 7.3 percent lower than the 2007 record total.
Flagstaff takes its tourism strategy seriously, and it should. Half of the city's sales tax revenues come from tourism spending, Mayor Sara Presler said.
We'll take an in-depth look at northern Arizona's tourism business success on Friday's Arizona Week.
July 27th 2011 at 9:00 —
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posted to Inside TV by Susie Hernandez
Our most controversial acquisition in quite some time wasn't Nazi Hunters (May 2011) or The Royal Wedding (April 2011), but a little BBC series called Outnumbered. This comedy premiered this summer on Saturday nights at 9:30 PM.
Feedback is crucial as are Nielsen ratings. AZPM does not get TV ratings every night, but only 4 times a year so we put a lot of weight on calls and emails. I often remind the person on the other end of the call or email that they should tell me what they like in addition to what they don't. All feedback is important.
Every summer, I change up the lineup and test out new shows with our diehard Southern Arizonans. Last year we tested out daytime scheduling shifts with Armchair Thrillers and Armchair Vacations. Sherlock Holmes, Mystery! and Nature allowed me to test out viewership without children's programming and that is how Ballykissangel and Lark Rise to Candleford came to air on PBS HD in the late afternoons. We wanted to see if we gave adults an alternative to soap operas, court shows and talk shows, if they would watch PBS. The response was good and I got to trim children's programming from CH. 6 and steered those kiddos to our 24/7 PBS KIDS channel. Win-win-win!
Back to Saturday night:
Why do some shows stay and some get bumped?
It is surprising to many of my regulars who write in that folks still adore Keeping Up Appearances (8 PM) and that it is consistently our #1 or #2 show every rating period. I get many emails begging me to take it off and I gently explain that it will not. I know I just said that viewer feedback is important, but I should tell you it is the same small group that writes in. They write in a lot! It's well loved and the numbers prove it.
As Time Goes By is also well loved, but eventually, I need to return some other favorites and that timeslot (8:30 PM) is perfect! Sometime next year I'd love to have Waiting for God back and it needs an early slot vs. late slot! With limited hours available, some shows will leave in order for others to return.
Monarch of the Glen went out of rights, as did Vicar of Dibley. What this means is that I aired the series straight through and we used up all the releases the BBC would allow. I need to wait for Vicar, but Monarch was secured for daytime broadcasts! It will start airing in October, exact date to be announced!
What replaced Monarch on Saturday nights was Ladies of Letters (9 PM) and Outnumbered (9:30 PM). The Monday after the new lineup aired, the front desk spent the morning listening to voicemails and forwarded emails to me. The calls and emails were all over the place. I can't repost them here as I don't have permission from the viewers and some of them need editing! Some folks cursed, some congratulated, some were love letters, and some were pages of passionate pleas for and against the new shows. It could be it's own blog post! (smile) The top target was Outnumbered.
I have no idea why this show has hit a chord. Is it because it is so totally different than Monarch of the Glen? Is it the parenting that hits a little too close to home? People loved that the characters were younger than Keeping Up Appearances. Some thought it was too modern. I would love to get these viewers together to discuss the pros and cons of the new shows. If you haven't seen it yet, please do and write in! If you have, please comment so we can all read your thoughts!
Ladies of Letters is well liked, but certainly not loved. Like most BBC comedies, the series needs a few episodes under their belt before people start calling in to tell me they love it. I'm starting to get those kind of calls for Ladies but only just recently.
I thought for sure I'd get more calls on Black Books but so far, hardly a peep. If you are not familiar with this show, it's quite quirky. The show is set in a London bookshop called "Black Books" and follows the lives of its hostile and belligerent owner Bernard Black, his enthusiastic assistant and their neurotic friend and shop neighbor, Fran. I watch it every Saturday night as it airs and listen to my spouse laugh. It airs at 10:30 PM immediately following After You've Gone. I have a feeling people like both of these shows but are too tired to call me or email me to let me know. I would think that a viewer on a Saturday night at 11 PM has other plans than to get on the computer and send me an email...but you never know!
What do I have planned for next summer? I'll know after my October BBC meeting when I get introduced to new programs. In the meantime, I hope you give the new Saturday night a chance. If you can't bring yourself to watch any of the new shows, remember, summer is nearly over!
Stay tuned!
Susie the TV Programmer
BritComs
Schedule
Summer,
July 26th 2011 at 12:02 —
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Republicans still claim the largest party registration in the state, with a little more than a third of the registered voters here joining the party.
Democrats and independents come in just under a third of the state's voters, while Libertarians and Greens still claim less than 1 percent of the registered voters in Arizona.
Total voter registration fell in Pima County after the 2010 election, and all parties have lost ground with voters here in that time. The only category of registered voters that grew in Pima County since November 2010 was "other," including people who select no party or independent on their voter registration forms.
Pima County voter registration:
Democrats 182,707
Republicans 148,823
Other 143,602
Libertarians 3,830
Greens 1,242
Voter registration statewide:
Republicans 35 percent
Democrats 31 percent
Other 33 percent
Libertarians less than 1 percent
Greens less than 1 percent
July 26th 2011 at 8:45 —
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Arizona's Independent Redistricting Commission wants to hear from you, even though the part of their work most voters are likely interested in — the new map of voting districts — isn't yet available.
The Commission is holding public hearings throughout the state (find the dates and agendas here) to find out what people want to see in the new districts. The idea is to get some feedback before drawing the map, to incorporate those comments into the mapping process, said Ray Bladine, the commission's executive director.
Another round of public hearings will be scheduled this fall a draft of the map is available, Bladine said. The commission then hopes to get the map to the U.S. Justice Department in November. The department must approve the map before the new districts are official.
All of this needs to be finished before the 2012 election.
July 25th 2011 at 15:45 —
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Flagstaff Mayor Sara Presler recognizes the value of travel and tourism to her city's economy -- and to city government -- so she pays a lot of attention to it.
And that attention comes as part of a Northern Arizona regional economic development strategy, Presler said.
"When one of us wins in Northern Arizona, we all win," Presler told Arizona Week in an interview for Friday's program. "There's a multiplier effect in us investing from a regional perspective in economic development rather than being so interested in what's happening in Flagstaff proper."
Indeed, the Arizona Office of Tourism, in its latest report on the tourism economy by Dean Runyan Associates, shows that rural Arizona depends much more than the metro areas on tourism.
The report shows that state sales tax revenues generated by travel spending make up 15 percent of total sales taxes in Arizona's 13 rural and lower population counties. In Maricopa and Pima counties, homes to Phoenix and Tucson, the figure is 10 percent.
In Flagstaff, the city's tourism and convention bureau is located inside City Hall, a clear sign of its importance to the local economy.
"We like to say that half of our sales tax dollars come from tourists," Mayor Presler said. "So the pants of every police officer? They're paid for by a tourist."
July 25th 2011 at 8:30 —
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The Americans Elect Party is the newest political party in Arizona.
The party joins the Democrat, Green, Libertarian and Republican parties, and means candidates can be officially recognized on the ballot.
To become an official party, the group had to collect 23,041 signatures from voters in the state, including from each of the 15 counties in Arizona. The Secretary of State's office verified the signatures this week.
"Americans Elect is the first-ever open nominating process. We're using the Internet to give every single voter—Democrat, Republican or independent—the power to nominate a presidential ticket in 2012. The people will choose the issues. The people will choose the candidates. And in a secure, online convention next June, the people will make history by putting their choice on the ballot in every state," says the Americans Elect website.
July 21st 2011 at 9:41 —
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