[at-l] Re: PBS was THE ATC & Membership therein - a bit longish

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 09:22 AM 6/5/2005 -0400, Bror8588@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 6/4/2005 8:52:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
>carol1944@brmemc.net writes:
>I'm gonna toss a log on this fire.  I agree that PBS is probably a great 
>waste of taxpayers money, but so are a LOT of other "government" 
>controlled agencies.  They start out with good intentions and then get 
>top-heavy with personnel.  No one can stop the train and before you know 
>it, the agency's only goal is to raise money to pay for all the 
>personnel.  The original reason for the organization or agency has been 
>diluted yet no one in Congress is willing to step up and say "we can 
>abolish this agency as it's original mandate was met in 1970 and there is 
>no longer a political or practical reason for its existence."
>OK -- I do like some of the programs that are presented by PBS, but the 
>interminable "self-commercials" ruin the experience.  Fortunately, I now 
>have the ability to record the shows and skip through the begging part in 
>seconds.  Still, I don't see the need for a "Public" broadcasting system 
>when there are other ways of doing it.  I think that if the government 
>paid for air space on commercial channels (as in a bidding system) it 
>would be less expensive and there would be some way of deciding which 
>programs merit air time by public expense and which are crass commercials 
>themselves and benefit those lecturers who sell their wares.
>
>Now if there was a two hour presentation of the sport of Hiking, or 
>Birding and Hiking, and the like there would be more interest on my 
>part.  Still, these shows or presentations could be done on the letter 
>stations.
>
>And, I admit that in the Metropolitan Areas (especially the tri-state area 
>of NYC/NJ/CT)  we have more choices than the hinterlands.  Still, buying 
>time on a commercial station or on a "Public" station is probably equal in 
>money spent.
>
>Just My Opinion,
>
>Skylander

Here's an idea. My wife just bought the DVDs of Ken Burns "Civil War" 
mini-series. He does great work on documentaries (thanks in large part to 
support through PBS). How about if ATC and ALDHA approached Ken Burns to do 
a mini-series on the AT? I'll bet he could make at least 3-4 one hour segments.