If you are a caller that is normally programmed heavily and doubt the reality of this problem, ask ANY caller that is lightly programmed how their dancers react and what they say once they realise their caller is not treated as an equal. This is not good for the growth of Square Dancing. There is one other problem with favouritism. Many callers do not attend conventions because they do not think they will get equal share. Being seen to be not up to scratch, could damage their image with their own dancers, so they don t attend.
Less callers means less dancers attending.
There seem to be some other callers who attend but make little effort to get their own dancers along, possibly for the same reason. We can ill-afford fewer dancers at our conventions. This also provides a way to feature the best and most popular callers without causing the new dancer problems outlined in previous paragraphs. I am in two minds as to whether afternoon workshops featuring some callers for extended periods, impact new dancers perceptions of their own callers who are not featured. I have neither observed or experienced problems with this aspect of uneven programming.