After a significant down period, yes, I’m returning to this blog.
As happens sometimes, life or other factors gets in the way of either making the time to write for recreation/relaxation or the creative juices simply aren’t there. However as things in the Geohouse have calmed down I intend to give my readers regular entries.
I also look at page hits and noticed when I create entries about general observations or simple update about my daily life it’s about the same 10 or so views but my entry about the putting up an outside antenna and seeing which over-the-air channels I can see gained much more interest. So perhaps it’s time for me to dedicate this space to topics that are appealing to folks with the same hobbies/interests as me. That would include broadcasting, camping/RVing, shooting sports, and 70s/80s pop culture. Today, an entry devoted to a broadcasting topic.
One might think since the digital television switchover of 2009 and the following months of stations realizing their channel (usually VHF) is not sufficient and thus moved to a UHF frequency or increased their power that DTV might not be the hot topic it once was.
One might think, but one can be wrong.
Today I’ll take a look at something happening in the great state of Texas. In the Waco-Temple DMA there is news that KNCT (RF and virtual channel 46) will be leaving the air entirely. KNCT functions as the PBS outlet for the market.
Wait. I need to correct and clarify things a bit. The market is actually labeled “Waco-Temple-Bryan” and KNCT is one of two PBS stations, the other being KAMU in College Station. And at one time there were three in the market. Waco had KWBU until 2010 when it left the air due to constantly running in the red and very little community support. Given the market still had the aforementioned other stations many viewers probably took little note of the loss. Also KWBU wasn’t a heritage station, only having been on the air as a full power station for a little over 10 years.
KNCT, meanwhile, is a different story. It’s been around since 1970 and seems to have a loyal (if small) following. However KNCT appears to be a victim of red ink and the upcoming spectrum repack apparently put the final nail in the coffin. This is an article that originally appeared in the Killeen newspaper. Very telling is the quote from the Central Texas College chancellor:
“KNCT never failed. What happened was it outlived its time,” Yeonopolus said. “Time passed it. The technology has passed it.”
Indeed the television landscape changed significantly in the last few decades and one wonders if more of the smaller PBS stations may suffer a similar fate. Consider the noncommercial broadcast outlets don’t have the advantage of being able to accept even the lowest-tier advertising (just take a look at some of the “if you took this pharmaceutical please call us at 1-800-WE-SUE-EM” spots on your .3 or .4 subchannels).
Some may be reading this and wondering “what is spectrum repack?” Here’s an explanation and some background. People my age and older remember when television sets had tuners that covered channels 2-83. Sometime in the late 1980’s channels 70 through 83 were removed from television use and likely few people noticed as that range didn’t have any full-power stations of which I’m aware and communities that had translators in those frequencies simply saw the parent stations use a different translator channel. Then with the analog shutoff in 2009 the FCC removed channels 52-69 from the spectrum, citing the space was needed for more wireless uses. Now again due to increased demand, channels 37 through 51 are slated to go by 2020. The result? Some stations (such as KNCT) are required to change their RF channel and as seen in the above linked article, this is not a free or inexpensive process. Some stations are opting to leave the air entirely or partner with another station to share broadcast bandwidth.
One last thought: Is PBS indeed becoming (or already is) outdated? Think about this—when is the last time you heard your local PBS station referred to as “the educational channel?” (That was my dad’s only vernacular for Houston’s channel 8 when I was young.) No longer does public television air classroom programming. Nor do they have a monopoly on British shows as they did in the 1970’s. While PBS still has prestige offerings such as Nova and Antiques Roadshow they (together with the commercial “Big 4” broadcast networks) offer a significant amount of their programming via streaming. Do the PBS stations serve a purpose and fill a niche? Yes. Are they the only game in town in regard to their programming? No. Another point worth mentioning here—unless one counts coverage of some high school sporting events or even college-level sports (NET in Nebraska does great work with their telecasts of Nebraska Cornhusker volleyball games), PBS doesn’t have the lucrative deals with NBA/NFL/MLB/NHL/PGA/World Cup Soccer/NCAA football that attracts and keeps millions of viewers.
Remember, I began this entry discussing issues that pertain to smaller PBS stations. Obviously the larger players in public broadcasting aren’t going anywhere soon and likely don’t have the cash-flow issues plaguing the medium size and smaller operations. Still, one does wonder if KNCT’s fate might not be unusual for smaller operations, noncommercial or not.
