I was lucky.
Back in the 70's we would bicycle tapes from Public TV Station to Public TV Station.
Our tapes would move on to Guam, of all things. I heard the stories...
I came to KCET in 1980 and the infant Interconnection System was up and running. We had Westar (I think 1) up in the sky and the programs were fed on Transponders A, B, C, and D. The public, who had backyard dishes, could see our downlink, up until the point when we encrypted the signal. That was somewhere in the 90's, I think.
I could do research on all this, but I lived most of it. :-)
So, we get funding from the Federal Government to keep the Interconnection System healthy and upon occasion, improved upon. As a matter of fact, we are moving on to a system called sIX.
All that is in danger, if the House does not pass our Interconnection Appropriation today.
We have full funding for shows and our Community Service Grant, but not for the delivery method to get the shows to the stations across the Country.
If you care about such things and want to make your voice heard, there is a website called Protect My Public Media. You end up getting emails if you do sign up, but they don't seem to be too obtrusive.
No matter what, let your voice be heard, if you care about this issue.
Done. I used my backup free online junk email ID. It's a valid email address, just one I typically save for site registrations, petitions, anything where I have to give an email address, but don't want to be bombarded with subsequent emails and/or junk which could potentially result.
ReplyDeleteBtw, if this is true... "And public media’s interconnection infrastructure program at $55 million for FY 2018, which serves as the backbone of our nation’s emergency alert system"... it seems like that should be a primary focus of persuasion for congress to fund the system.
After all, if this administration is so worried about Muslim terror attacks and rampant crime and mayhem from illegal Mexicans (but what about Canadians?), wouldn't they want the population to, oh, I don't know, actually be warned about them ASAP if they occur. Or perhaps this administration will, for the duration of their term, just "alternative fact" and "fake news" their way out of it. You, know, "It **can't** be terrorism because we're so anti-terror we just won't allow it!" (Or allow it to be reported). Yeah, right. (Yes, I'm being more than a little sarcastic.)
HA! Just a bit sarcastic. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you my friend. Our voices need to be heard and hopefully that will happen.
How do you get to Guam by bicycle? :)
ReplyDelete