TV Worth Blogging
by David Thiel, Program Director for WILL-TV
An insider's view of public television programming and the issues that help determine what and how you watch
End Of An Analog Era
WILL-TV will be shutting down its analog transmitter for the final time on Tuesday, March 31 at 6:00 am. That's about six weeks later than the original national analog TV shut-off date of February 17, but about ten weeks shy of June 12, the new drop-dead date selected by Congress last month.
Of course, we're not going anywhere. WILL will continue to broadcast a digital signal offering high-definition programming and multiple channels.
We believe that the vast majority of our viewers are capable of receiving that signal, but if you are not, you'll need to take action sooner rather than later to guarantee uninterrupted service.
Several factors influenced the decision to cease our analog signal prior to June 12, among them the additional costs involved in continuing to operate a second transmitter and in mounting a new consumer education campaign, as will be required by the FCC of all stations still broadcasting in analog after March 31.
We've been in contact with several of the area broadcasters that turned off their analog transmitters on February 17. It appears that the phone calls they received were lighter than expected.
We know that most of our audience already subscribes to cable or satellite, and should therefore experience no disruption of our service. Many of those still relying on over-the-air signals have informed us that they've already made the switch to digital. We've helped those who have reported problems picking up our digital signal.
If you have not taken the steps necessary to receive digital television--buying a new set, installing a digital converter box, or subscribing to cable/satellite--we hope that you will take action now. We will have staff members standing by to take viewer calls regarding digital television on March 31 and April 1. You can contact us with questions at any time, and we'll do our best to respond promptly.
If You Tried To Tune In Sunday...
All of WILL's stations were knocked off the air from 2:30 pm CDT until approximately 8:45 pm due to a power outage that affected most of the University of Illinois campus. Here at Campbell Hall, about two dozen volunteers and crew assembled for the first night of our March fundraiser waited patiently for the power to resume until we finally sent them home.
If you tried to tune in to WILL-TV (digital 12.1 or analog) yesterday, here's when to catch the shows that you missed:
Heart Healthy Yoga - March 14 at 9:00 am
A Moveable Feast with America's Favorite Chefs – March 9 at 1:00 pm
Visions: Great Cities of Europe – March 21 at 1:30 pm
Doctor Who "The Family of Blood" – March 28 at 10:30 pm
Pavarotti: Salute Petra – March 19 at 8:50 pm
March of the Penguins – March 18 at 7:00 pm
Chris Botti in Boston – March 14 at 11:30 pm
Vintner of the "Summer Wine"
Next Tuesday, WILL's viewers and listeners will have the opportunity to visit with the producer and director of the long-running British comedy Last of the Summer Wine when Alan J.W. Bell visits our studios in Urbana. How he comes to be here is an unusual story that speaks to the connections that WILL's programming makes with members of our audience.
A few years ago, a couple of Friends of WILL chose to visit Holmfirth, the West Yorkshire village where Summer Wine has been filmed since its 1973 debut. Apparently they hit it off with the cast and crew, as one of them became good friends with producer Bell and has since returned to Holmfirth on several occasions. Along the way, Alan learned of WILL and was apparently intrigued by the Central Illinois TV station that was one of the early adopters of Summer Wine here in the U.S. (We've aired it since October, 1997.)
Once before we'd hoped to host Bell during a trip to the States in December 2007, but he unexpectedly had to cancel after the death of the series' music composer Ronnie Hazlehurst. It's taken us more than a year to reschedule, but he will at last be dropping by on Tuesday, March 10. And he'll be sharing a behind-the-scenes look of Summer Wine during several special events.
1:00 pm: Alan will be interviewed by WILL-AM's Celeste Quinn on The Afternoon Magazine. Listeners will be invited to call in with their comments and questions.
2:00 pm: Bell will be the guest at an "afternoon tea" event at Silvercreek Restaurant in Urbana. Tickets are $20 and seating is limited.
8:30 pm: I'll host a Summer Wine marathon featuring two of Alan's favorite episodes live on WILL-TV analog channel 12 and digital 12.1. He's bringing rare behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive performance clips from some of the cast. We'll even have a prize drawing for several items of memorabilia!
I'm looking forward to meeting him, and I hope that you will be as well!
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