We are going to be airing a 30 minute real estate television show on
the local leased access channel. They have a variety of time slots
available. I've attempted to research the best times to air shows like
the above. Is it better to air in the afternoon? The morning? What
days are best?

I don't mind research for non-leased access shows as long as it's
relevant to the main question - when during the day and week is the
best time to air our show?

Thanks!
Ray

Dear Ray, 

I've found surprisingly little information on the subject (perhaps
this is the reason why your question hasn't been answered yet).

An article on the best time to run infomercials claims that " If your
cable system's rates are the same for all times of day, do the
majority of your infomercial broadcasts on Saturday and Sunday
mornings from 8 AM - 12 PM, and during prime time from 7 PM ? 10 PM.
Prime time is great, but weekend mornings are typically the highest
?infomercial viewing? times." (SOURCE: "THE BEST TIMES TO BROADCAST
YOUR INFOMERCIALS", JMS Videos, <http://www.jmsvideos.com/time.html>).

Another article ratifies it. A Portland TV official says there
"There's a misunderstanding that infomercials are a late-night medium,
[...] Our best-performing days are weekend mornings and daytime."
(Kristina Brenneman, "The late-night infomercial moves into prime
position", The Business Journal,  April 20, 2001,
<http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2001/04/23/story3.html>).

Some would point to weekend afternoons, especially Sunday afternoons: 
"What we found was there were certain times of day when it was easier
to motivate somebody to buy something. We call it our theory of sales
resistance. It's actually better to reach 50,000 people at a time of
least sales resistance than 500,000 at a time of maximum sales
resistance," said Bliwas. The best time to get results is on weekend
afternoons, when people are relaxed and have time to focus on
advertising. The same theory applies to Sunday newspapers, which are
filled with ads." (SOURCE: "That Ad is So Entertaining?But Can It
Sell? Who Knows", <http://www.iceved.com/ICEVED3/Information.nsf/fdetalle_noticia?OpenForm&id=B8D9C5DEC130F2EAC1256DF8003BAEBD>).

In your case, I'd try not to compete with another real-estate show,
that is featured (for example) on NBC. If you have enough money to do
a research on your target audience in your area, that would be also
helpful: you can learn about the local competition on their attention
(besides TV). People with small children, for example, do not tend to
watch TV in the afternoons. Seniors and At-Home-Moms tend to watch
more day-time TV than other groups.

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search strategy
was to search for "leased access" and similar terms (e.g.,
informercials), adding time-related terms, such as "best time", "prime
time", etc.