Other than an Edhat link over the weekend to a wire story, I haven't seen any coverage in the local media about the announcement that KCET will be dropping its PBS affiliation at the end of the year.
That means if you live in Santa Barbara and want to watch the PBS NewsHour, Tavis Smiley, Charlie Rose, Antiques Roadshow or even Sesame Street, you may be out of luck starting at the beginning of next year. If you're a fan of the Tennessee drawl of Huell Howser you're safe. His show is produced locally by KCET and KCET will continue to carry it.
But shows like Nova, Frontline, Great Performances and even those Rock 'N Roll oldies shows along with the occasional Celtic cuties which are in the heavy rotation during pledge break months will be hard to come by in Santa Barbara once KCET goes rogue and leaves the PBS fold. As you might have guessed, the decision to leave the PBS fold is all about money.
It will be interesting to see whether Cox Cable keeps KCET, which will remain an independent public television station, on its system after January or replaces it with a PBS affiliate.
I'll leave it to one of the "real reporters" out there to look into that Mystery!
But please, whatever you do Cox, don't take KCET's slot on the cable and turn it over to another home shopping channel.
Speaking of public broadcasting, KCLU, the Thousand Oaks radio station which can be heard here in Santa Barbara, has won a prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award. The station's news director, Lance Orozco was in New York City on Monday to accept the award on behalf of the station.
Way to go Lance!
© 2010 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
