The First Blog
It's been a year since I started blogging. I should say tried blogging. I only blogged twice. In both posts I was pissed off and went on rants. And I didn't feel any release of my frustration despite expressing it to the internet in a semi-anonymous fashion for anyone to read. So, I thought I'd try it again as I've been encouraged by several people to do so. I decided on a new title as the last one was not very creative.
To anyone who reads this blog, you probably found this from linking from So Anyway..., my wife's blog. That would make me the infamous Hawk of her blog.
So, today I am going to discuss Public Television. I enjoy Public TV and Public Radio. Eden and I have contributed through the years during pledge drives. In fact, I can thank public TV with inspiring me to go into science. Growing up in rural PA in the 1970s and 1980s, we didn't have cable. In fact, cable still is not available at my father's residence (Jed in So Anyway..). And network TV did not show very much except "entertainment" programming such as sitcoms, dramas, sports, etc. Sometimes, the local stations would put on Wild Kingdom or some such show, but never anything consistent. And there were no regularly scheduled shows about live music performances.
So, from PBS (namely WPSX), I was introduced to science and nature though NOVA, Nature, numerous David Attenborough series to name a few. I watched Cosmos every time I could, because there was nothing else like it. I even bought the illustrated book version of Cosmos at the age of 10 or 11 because of the impact the program had on my curiosity to learn. (I might add that my parents were quite surprised by my buying Cosmos as neither of them really understood much of the subject matter.) And from music programs, I was exposed to music that wasn't top 40 radio pop and country. I remember watching many good adaptations of classic books, such as Huckleberry Finn, Anne of Green Gables, etc. And for years, old classic movies were only available to me on the local Public TV station. As for British TV, what can I say. Monty Python, Dr. Who, Fawlty Towers. And many more shows were only found on PBS. It was good to watch something that wasn't dumbed down or the plot predictable. And no commercials made the experience even better.
I remember fondly the children TV programming such as Sesame Street, Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood, The Electric Company, and many more. Being a poor kid whose parents just made it through high school, I think I learned much from the instructional programming. I think this probably made learning fun for me, instead of as work like many of my friends viewed school to be. I would never have seen art, opera, classical music if it wasn't for public TV.
As for public radio, we couldn't easily get that at my childhood home. The strongest transmitting station was in Pittsburgh and the receiver we had had seen better days. Plus, mountains, living in a trailer, and weather systems all contributed to poor reception. But, I started listening to public radio in college and have been tuning in since, more so as I get older. I get most of my international and national news from public radio. It was great to be able to tune in to public radio during our move from Colorado to Pennsylvania in June, 2004.
All that being said, I am becoming disappointed with my local PBS station. It seems that there are pledge drives every month or two now. Last pm, I was irritated when the local station's auction fund raiser ran late and the show I stayed up to watch (Austin City Limits) was joined in progress at the end. It's supposed to be rerun tonight at 11 pm, but I'm sure the second night of the auction will run late as well, and I should be sleeping then so that I can do my best at work. Even with digital cable, public TV seems to have the only shows that have live performance music concerts. We get several music channels that don't show this stuff. Heck, I haven't seen an episode of Soundstage in months on the local station. Seeing an artist or group perform in a concert brings more to the work to me than any recording can. And I certainly can't go to concerts on a regular basis., even if I could afford to do so and that there would be the opportunity to do so here in Erie, PA.
So who knows. Maybe there is some kid somewhere having a positive experience from viewing PBS during childhood and adolescence like I did. I'll still support public TV and radio. I'm just getting tired of the constant begging for money. Is it just here that there is the constant push to contribute?
To anyone who reads this blog, you probably found this from linking from So Anyway..., my wife's blog. That would make me the infamous Hawk of her blog.
So, today I am going to discuss Public Television. I enjoy Public TV and Public Radio. Eden and I have contributed through the years during pledge drives. In fact, I can thank public TV with inspiring me to go into science. Growing up in rural PA in the 1970s and 1980s, we didn't have cable. In fact, cable still is not available at my father's residence (Jed in So Anyway..). And network TV did not show very much except "entertainment" programming such as sitcoms, dramas, sports, etc. Sometimes, the local stations would put on Wild Kingdom or some such show, but never anything consistent. And there were no regularly scheduled shows about live music performances.
So, from PBS (namely WPSX), I was introduced to science and nature though NOVA, Nature, numerous David Attenborough series to name a few. I watched Cosmos every time I could, because there was nothing else like it. I even bought the illustrated book version of Cosmos at the age of 10 or 11 because of the impact the program had on my curiosity to learn. (I might add that my parents were quite surprised by my buying Cosmos as neither of them really understood much of the subject matter.) And from music programs, I was exposed to music that wasn't top 40 radio pop and country. I remember watching many good adaptations of classic books, such as Huckleberry Finn, Anne of Green Gables, etc. And for years, old classic movies were only available to me on the local Public TV station. As for British TV, what can I say. Monty Python, Dr. Who, Fawlty Towers. And many more shows were only found on PBS. It was good to watch something that wasn't dumbed down or the plot predictable. And no commercials made the experience even better.
I remember fondly the children TV programming such as Sesame Street, Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood, The Electric Company, and many more. Being a poor kid whose parents just made it through high school, I think I learned much from the instructional programming. I think this probably made learning fun for me, instead of as work like many of my friends viewed school to be. I would never have seen art, opera, classical music if it wasn't for public TV.
As for public radio, we couldn't easily get that at my childhood home. The strongest transmitting station was in Pittsburgh and the receiver we had had seen better days. Plus, mountains, living in a trailer, and weather systems all contributed to poor reception. But, I started listening to public radio in college and have been tuning in since, more so as I get older. I get most of my international and national news from public radio. It was great to be able to tune in to public radio during our move from Colorado to Pennsylvania in June, 2004.
All that being said, I am becoming disappointed with my local PBS station. It seems that there are pledge drives every month or two now. Last pm, I was irritated when the local station's auction fund raiser ran late and the show I stayed up to watch (Austin City Limits) was joined in progress at the end. It's supposed to be rerun tonight at 11 pm, but I'm sure the second night of the auction will run late as well, and I should be sleeping then so that I can do my best at work. Even with digital cable, public TV seems to have the only shows that have live performance music concerts. We get several music channels that don't show this stuff. Heck, I haven't seen an episode of Soundstage in months on the local station. Seeing an artist or group perform in a concert brings more to the work to me than any recording can. And I certainly can't go to concerts on a regular basis., even if I could afford to do so and that there would be the opportunity to do so here in Erie, PA.
So who knows. Maybe there is some kid somewhere having a positive experience from viewing PBS during childhood and adolescence like I did. I'll still support public TV and radio. I'm just getting tired of the constant begging for money. Is it just here that there is the constant push to contribute?
posted by Hawk at 11:41 AM
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