MMMM # 152 Publicasters Falling

     It's not only in Alabama that public broadcasting programs are going dark.

     In New Jersey, a 40 year old network  has ceased to exist...Governor Christie also sold the network's nine radio licenses. 130 people are out of work.

     Public Broadcasting has never been a favorite of Republicans, who now control the NJ and Alabama state governments. The GOP Majority U.S. House tried to strip PBS of its $430-Million earlier in the year, though a TIME blog suggests that battle is over with the funding is intact.

     If there was any concerted effort on the part of the Alabama GOP to kill FTR or any other APT programs, I was unaware of it. Legislators of both parties were always willing to take part, and spoke highly of the show, though that's what you would expect when they were talking with the host.

     The Montgomery Advertiser's Sebastian Kitchen, always a reliable and knowledgeable guest on the old FTR, wrote about the demise of APT's Montgomery operation in a column in Sunday's paper. He brings out the "death by a thousand cuts" element of the end...the repeated schedule changes to FTR etc etc.

     And earlier last week, Dana Beyerle of The New York Times Regional Newspapers added his own reportage to the the developments.

     The last locally produced APT program will be recorded in the studios on Madison Avenue on July 15th, Then someone will turn out the lights and lock the doors. More than a dozen Alabamians will be job hunting, and perhaps some viewers will be looking for coverage of what legislators are doing in the Capitol.  



[Note: the photos above shows an APT studio on Madison Avenue in February 2009, preparing for the taping of the final FTR. The topic was the faltering Alabama economy.]



[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

The Other Show Has Fallen

     Alabama Public Television  is closing it's Montgomery location, putting more than a dozen people out of a job, and ending one of the few local shows produced by the network, Capitol Journal.

     Sorry to hear about those former co-workers!

     It's been almost two and a half years since my own position and "For The Record" were eliminated.

Public Broadcasting = $0

     PBS and NPR have long been targets of conservatives because of what they perceive to be a liberal slant.

     Now in control of the House, the GOP members have proposed a budget that includes this broadside to funding for public radio and TV:

The amounts included under the heading ‘‘Corporation for Public Broadcasting’’ in division D of Public Law 111–117 shall be applied to funds appropriated by this division as follows: by substituting ‘‘$0’’ for ‘‘$86,000,000’’; by substituting ‘‘$0’’ for ‘‘$25,000,000’’; by substituting ‘‘$0’’ for ‘‘$36,000,000’’; and by substituting ‘‘$0’’ for ‘‘$25,000,000’’.

     Ouch. And when you consider the deep cuts in Alabama state spending that are ahead, my friends at APT are facing some very difficult times indeed. Maybe I just carried my ties out of the building a touch early?

     Then again, the Democrats still control the U.S. Senate.