Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark McCray.
Hi Mark, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have always had a love for comic books, animation, and science fiction. My love for animation happened in three stages. The first big moment happened when I woke up on Saturday morning and thought I was just watching a Superman cartoon and members of the Justice League showed up. From a viewing standpoint, being introduced to the other superheroes from the DC Universe was a big surprise. About an hour later, I was watching Space Ghost and that character was having crossover adventures with The Herculoids, Shazzan, The Genie, and Mightor who was a superhero from the prehistoric age. Little did I know then that Space Ghost was introducing viewers to the Hanna-Barbera Superhero Universe. Lastly, the Saturday morning cartoon that put me over the top was Josie and The Pussycats. Head writers, Joe Ruby, and Ken Spears, who had created Scooby-Doo the year before took Josie and the Pussycats, a teenage comic book mainly aimed at young girls, and turned the animated adaptation of into a well-written, sophisticated comedy adventure. Villains like Captain Nemo and the Invisible men showed up and it was up to Josie and her friends to stop the supervillains and save the world. From that point on, I started reading credits and wanted to know more about people like Directors/Producers Joseph Barbera, William Hanna, and head writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. I also started calling up the networks to get information on whether my favorite series would be canceled or renewed.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I first graduated from college, I found a television job right away, but after I few years, I realized that while I was blessed to find a television position, I didn’t like what I was getting paid. So, I left the television business and found a regular job that doubled my salary. However, while I was enjoying the fruits of making more money, I also realized that my regular job didn’t have any creative outlets that I enjoyed while working in the broadcast industry. Realizing my mistake, and wanting to get back in television, I sought the advice of Lou Scheimer who was a producer of many successful Saturday morning programs. Lou was impressed with my knowledge about his company as well as his competitors, and the fact that I had been tracking Saturday morning trends in real-time. Lou told me that I needed to find a way to get my name out there to let broadcast industry people know how much I like Saturday morning programming. On the way back home, I decided to launch a Saturday morning newsletter and send it to all the people working in kid’s television. It took a while for the newsletter to catch on, but slowly but surely, people started reading the newsletter and I started building my professional connections.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am the author of The Best Saturdays of our Lives which chronicles how Saturday morning became a competitive revenue-generating business and the proving ground for the 24-hour kid network. I have over 20 years of television and promotional experience. I am also a television programming historian, author, and podcaster. I have studied the programming strategies of such programming greats as Fred Silverman and built my reputation by tracking audience trends for Saturday morning in real-time when that particular part of the television business was being ignored by the mainstream media. One of my many accomplishments that I’m proud of was that I was part of the team that helped launched the Boomerang Network. I believe my sets me apart from my contemporaries is that am along with my programming strategy background, I am also a content trend caster who can look at the competitive marketplace (broadcast, streaming, and cable) and can predict content trends are on the horizon.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
20 years ago, social media platforms and professional career platforms such as LinkedIn didn’t exist and so for someone like myself, I had to call people, send emails or letters to get professional advice. In most cases, businesspeople would email me or write me back with great advice. I still have many of those letters today. As for people looking for mentors, I think LinkedIn is a great resource. Young people graduating from college have reached out to me over the years and usually try to answer all questions in a timely manner. May people took the time to help me, and I believe in paying it forward for others.
Contact Info:
- Email: markmccray072@tbsoo.com
- Website: https://tbsool.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/best_saturdays_of_our_lives/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tbsool/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/markmctbsool?lang=en
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/mark-mccray-4
- Other: http://thundertalk.org/
