Celia writes...
But, as long as I have more than one station (or can at least turn the TV or the radio off), I have a quiet, yet most effective, means of protest. Sponsors do attend to their bottom lines.
Celia, I wish you were right. It would work so well that way. But unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Because nobody really knows how many people are actually watching television, or what they're watching.
Here's how it really works.
The A. C. Nielsen company has a network of rated watchers. They do a demographic survey to choose who they will ask to be rated watchers. There is a nationwide survey and they do a survey in the larger markets and in some selected typical smaller markets.
The rated watcher gets a gizmo hooked up to their TV. The gizmo monitors which station is being watched, or if the television is turned off. The gizmo is expensive, so they don't have that many of them out there.
If you have a gizmo, your television "vote" counts. If you don't, it doesn't.
It's that simple.
Notice that the gizmo can not monitor how many people (if any) are actually watching the television. A lot of people just leave it turned on all day while they go about their chores in another room. The gizmo can't tell if the whole family is watching, or just one person, or no one. If you have multiple TVs, the gizmo is only on one, and it's probably the main one in the living room.
So unless you have a Nielsen gizmo on your TV, the only way you can protest what's on television is to write to
1. The advertisers (that means that you need to know the corporation that makes the product that is being advertised)
2. The station
3. The network
4. The FCC (if you can make a case that the program is obscene or inappropriate for the audience at that hour)
Fortunately, big advertisers and networks are sensitive to public opinion and have websites with email addresses.
It's a lot of work, but it can be done. Viewers have gotten programs changed. In the case of Jerky Sprinkler (oops, sorry for the typo giggle), viewer complaints did get him to nix the fist fights. He hired more bouncers and they try to restrain the guests before they land the first blow.
By the way, Jerky's "guests" are actor wannabes. They are handed scripts to play, and they're professionally made up for the show. About half of them are professionally costumed as well. I know this from a friend who was a guest. No way are there that many morons who air their private family quarrels on national TV.
Also, Jerky's chances at politics are limited. He recently tried a Senate run, and he didn't get on the ballot. The major party he belongs to consistently has a platform plank endorsing gay and trans rights and his show is widely perceived as inconsistent with that. Of course, he is persistent. He's a lot smarter than the show portrays, but for a serious liberal politician, that show is a liability. He tries to blow it off, but I don't think even he realizes how many people take it seriously.