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A look back, a look ahead ... and a true story

posted Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 3:26pm

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As 2010 approaches, we have a chance to reflect on where we've been – and how far we've come this year despite our financial challenges. I've been humbled and grateful for the remarkable generosity many have shown, despite their own struggles.

In fact, on my first day on the job, I reviewed documents for a $100 bequest from a viewer. It may not sound like a lot, but that little bit was a substantial portion of the viewer's estate! It was important to her that she left it to us. Her touching legacy is confirmation that Rocky Mountain PBS added value to her life. Every time I think about that gift, I am reminded to value every penny entrusted to our care.

We strive to be that important to the people of Colorado. And to always remember how important you are to us.

On-air, we continue to bring you the best television on television, but we're not just a TV station. On a local level, we make a significant mark through community outreach projects and events. This year, we've held more than 30 documentary screenings and panel discussions, from Pueblo to Fort Collins to Grand Junction – and everywhere in between.

We've helped thousands of homeowners connect to reliable help through foreclosure prevention phone banks with 9News and our partnership with the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline.

We've hosted 24 early-childcare education workshops statewide, offering parents, educators and childcare providers reliable training and resources. And Super School News, an educational outreach program going on its 30th year, continues to be a huge success that inspires young people.

Online, we're an "electronic town square" for community dialogue, information and resources – from an exhibit on Colorado during the Great Depression to your personal health care stories.

There is plenty of work to be done, but I am excited for the future. As we approach our 54th year of broadcasting, I ask you to consider a special year-end donation to help us continue to serve you and make Colorado an even better place.

Send us your ideas, your stories and your support. Visit rmpbs.org/support or call 800-274-6666 today.

-Doug Price, President and CEO

What's your point of view?

These fields are for commenting in our public forum. If you wish to share this page with a friend, please click on the "Tell a Friend" icon above.

Eugenie McGuire
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 › 2:11pm
We've reduced our PBS support this year because of the continuing and ongoing problems with the over the air signal from the Montrose Repeater. First it's not digital, lip sync was off for over a year with no resolution & now the aspect ratios are often wrong not to mention the times there is no signal at all. Until PBS can support the rural communities we cannot support you. It's not a recent problem either. The Montrose signal has been going steadily downhill for the last 10 years resulting in a steadily reduced support from us to where we are at the minimum and may not even re-join this time. To get more support you need to fix that first! Combined with the ongoing and pervasive repeats of junk specials it's becoming better and better to just wait until PBS programs come out on netflix!

anonymous
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 › 9:04pm
The problems with the broadcasting is the biggest issue for RMPBS, and you will continue to lose support because of that. Along with the horrors of trying to get premiums!!It's a nice story,Mr. Price but I have heard you don't value your employees near as much as you valued that $100. maybe that's another reason, your doing poorly.But good luck anyway you will need it.

Doug Price
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 › 1:57pm
Thank you for your thoughts. While we have experienced significant signal problems this year in Montrose, we are working each and every day to improve the situation. We have chosen to invest in fiber optic signal delivery to the transmitters. That will happen in the first quarter, and improvements should be seen in the next six months. We have also received a matching grant to improve the transmitter network. Please be patient with us; our funding is limited and we are applying for every grant possible to get better equipment. We have also been hearing from many of you that our signal is improving. I have made it my personal mission to better serve and value our viewers, as well as the extraordinary and dedicated staff I am so proud to work with.

Eugenie McGuire
Thursday, December 3, 2009 › 9:32am
The problem is you are using your limited resources in places that frankly I would rather not see you work on. From your message above you admit you have spent money on these 3 items:

1 documentary screenings and panel discussions
2 foreclosure prevention
3 early-childcare education workshops

Now how on earth does that promote the mission of providing good alternative TV to the public?

Those things may be useful and a good thing to do, when you have spare money. But providing good broadcasts should be your first and primary focus and only after all the transmission and digital conversion problems are solved for all viewers should you consider expanding your mission to do those sorts of things.

You are a TV station first and foremost Until you fix that we can't provide more support.

GE
Thursday, December 3, 2009 › 4:49pm
Mr. Price, I strongly agree with Eugenie McGuire's comments previously posted in this blog.

In these times of limited funds for all of us including organizations, nothing is more important than than RMPBS fulfilling its core mission of delivering public television.

All non-core ancillary projects, products and services of RMPBS should be put on hold and/or eliminated until the core technical facilites, both studio and delivery/transmission, have been upgraded to modern standards and size including HD service.

I am aware that you are relativily new to RMPBS and that a new Director of Engineering is in place.

RMPBS is not presently delivering a quality product resulting in the loss of many paying customers (donors). Time is critical in resolving your product quality.

Sharon Lipsey
Thursday, December 3, 2009 › 5:36pm
I am a long-time monetary supporter and volunteer of public television and I would like to address the previous postings. Both show a misaprehension of how public television works and what its true mission is.

The funds for our community outreach efforts come from coporate sponsors who wish to be involved in that particular effort. The manpower to staff those events come from our volunteer corps. Operating funds are not used.

Our "core" mission is not to provide a television signal. When public television was created in 1967 it was not so the country could have another broadcasting network. Our mandate is to be educational and "responsive to the needs of the individual communities".

I am running out of characters and will continue in another posting.

Sharon Lipsey
Thursday, December 3, 2009 › 5:53pm
To continue: Over 80 percent of our operating funds comes from individuals like me and you. Unfortunately, only 10 percent of the public who view public television actually support it monetarily. If every viewer supported public television with even a few dollars, you would not now be complaining about the signal. If everyone who watched, gave money we could buy the equipment we need tomorrow.

Our operating budget is not just small, it's tiny. Everyone is doing less charitable giving now because of the economy. Your withholding of funds to the station couldn't come at a worse time. With fewer and fewer operating dollars, it will take longer and longer to fix the signal.

Because I volunteer, I see each week what the station is doing with my money. It's not wasted, I assure you.

Eugenie McGuire
Thursday, December 3, 2009 › 7:45pm
Ms. Lipsey, You are wrong, the core mission of PBS is to provide public TV for programs that can not be provided by broadcast TV. Until RMPBS fixes this they will not get more money from us. If you think they are doing a good job, try living in rural western Colorado where the TV signal sucks at best!

I realize that most of the money comes from viewers, which is why it is important for RMPBS management to realize that their inability to provide decent signal is hurting their fund raising efforts.

However, that said. I would like to say that we are currently watching the Straight No Chaser special and for the first time in recent memory the lip sync is correct and the signal is properly letterboxed.

Thank you. Now keep it up and we may consider providing more money to RMPBS next year.

jennifer wolfe
Thursday, December 3, 2009 › 10:20pm
Thank you for broadcasting wonderful music programs, the nature series, Frontline and Now. Would it be possible to check your audio. In Cheyenne we are not receiving clear sound especially in music. The last Andre/David Foster Christmas program was painful to listen to. As the music got louder, the sound became more distorted and fuzzy. Please correct the signal. A lot of people in Cheyenne are experiencing the same problem.

GE - Part 1 of 2
Thursday, December 3, 2009 › 10:24pm
Ms. Lipsey, I believe you have misinterpreted what I meant by the core mission of RMPBS.

I'm not refering to the philosophical core mission of RMPBS - I'm referring to the functional core mission of RMPBS, i.e., the ability to deliver a modern and competitive DTV & HDTV product. Mr Price has already stated several times that this is an issue and it is clearly an issue discussed in the Tech Talk blogs on this Web site.

The reality for RMPBS is that it is losing viewers and funding sources because of the failure of past leadership to understand the upcoming technical challanges facing RMPBS and thus to properly allocate its resources to physically deliver a competive signal whether over the air, cable or satellite .

Continued on next post ...

GE - Part 2 of 2
Thursday, December 3, 2009 › 11:07pm
Television, regardless of its philosophical core mission, is still a delivery medium, i.e., a transportation system. And just like a car, it must be maintained and eventually replaced. Otherwise, one will not be transporting themselves anywhere.

So if RMPBS wants to continue to deliver its philosophical core mission, it must get its functional core mission house in order ASAP.

I believe that it would be prudent for RMPBS to minimize or eliminate all non essential activities for the present time and reallocate those funds to improving its technical facilites. To do otherwise risks further erosion of its viewer base.

I too have volunteered for RMPBS (in a different way than most). I believe that perhaps monies have not been timely allocated to the most urgent needs.

Eugenie McGuire
Friday, December 4, 2009 › 4:51pm
Broadcasting is in the name of PBS. Take a look at the about page on RMPBS web site. 1st paragraph is about programming, 2nd is about the broadcast network. So you say that the RMPBS web site is incorrect and they are not primarily a TV station?

The problem is that funding is scarce and the reason is because RMPBS has failed to invest in critical infrastructure resulting in lost viewership. PBS must compete against other media and you are losing because your are ignoring your core mission.

Yes, PBS must compete against internet and other channels. That is the whole point. Doing the ancillary stuff doesn't help you keep up to date in a way that generates the income you need to operate. Yes, reducing donations now hurts RMPBS. But that is all we can do to be heard.

Eugenie McGuire
Friday, December 4, 2009 › 5:02pm
cont.
Look at the main PBS web site
http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/aboutpbs_corp.html
"serves the American public with programming and services of the highest quality" "PBS is an organization whose members are public TV stations." and on and on about TV programming. There are details of the audience makeup and number of households viewing. The focus is on providing TV programming. That is the PBS mission and has been neglected by RMPBS.

Fix the TV signals first, then do other things if you have the money not the other way around. That will cause us to start providing more funds when we see RMPBS going back to what they are supposed to be doing. Show us the detailed plan for repairs & upgrades. There has been FCC approval to convert Montrose to Digital for years but no work has been done.

GE
Friday, December 4, 2009 › 8:58pm
To Ms. Lipsey and I'm sure others:

To restate as a more simple concept, if RMPBS's signal doesn't get to its viewers, then program content and ancillary events won't matter one iota
as RMPBS will not continue receiving enough funding from its viewers and the system will have to go dark.

Thus, the most fundamental core mission of RMPBS is to get their signal out to the viewer. Everything else has to happen after that fact.

DJ
Saturday, December 5, 2009 › 2:17am
I look back at 2009 and see it as the year when we lost our RMPBS signal and waited patiently as the different improvements were supposed to come. The year is nearly over..... I'm in Greeley and my signal is gone. I'm further aggravated because we had some weeks where the signal would be strong. However, it has been gone now for over 2 months. We weren't large supporters, but we were consistent for many years. I would continue to send dollars if I thought progress was being made. However, RMPBS's credibility has taken a real hit in our house. I concur with the others above. .... all other initiatives should stop until you have coverage straightened out. I greatly enjoyed the station and wish you luck - A Long tme Past Member

Doug Price
Monday, December 7, 2009 › 12:03am
This is a good and healthy conversation. Let me assure those concerned with signal quality that no effort is being spared and no funds diverted from that priority. The translator network did suffer during the transition from analog to digital. We have a USDA grant to begin work to remedy many of the translator problems and will commence work to do that directly. Our other work is independently supported and seperately funded. Sharon is correct in asserting that we rely on the public for well over 50% of our financial support. May I suggest that anyone unhappy with service call the station directly and we will attempt to resolve any issues on reception promptly. The Greeley issue is a new concern given our substantial investment in Northern Colorado. Call, your feedback matters to us.

Eugenie McGuire
Monday, December 7, 2009 › 7:42am
What are the monitored 24 hours a day phone numbers, e-mail addresses, twitter feeds or facebook or other method where we can contact someone when the signal is bad. All I get is a voice message with regular hours and often not even a chance to leave a message. Post them prominently somewhere on the web site so we can send the data when it happens. Often the answer I get back on the occasions I get one, is "well it's working now", fine but that doesn't help when you missed an entire episode of a program you won't repeat, unlike the specials you are showing now, worth one look only, that repeat ad nauseum.

Take a look at this YouTube video I posted of how bad the signal is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfREx9kfLDc

Have a real viewers forum where we can post messages of our problems.

anonymous
Friday, December 11, 2009 › 1:18pm
So much money was wasted trying to get an unmanned program to broadcast the signal , at the same time the digital conv, happened, it was an expensive glaring failure. Newly purchased software for an Auction that no longer exists again a failure and waste of $$ . I too, volunteer regularly, and I see alot of waste. Little to no recycling. Old programming that only the Welk group wants to see. Education Dept is gone so how is any money going to Ready-to-Learn? Seems that things are falling to pieces. Transparancy is the key to this new administration of PBS. Also any employee making in excess of $100k, should take a cut especially now when you "need " the help so badly

Doug Price
Friday, December 11, 2009 › 3:04pm
Thanks for your thoughts, Anon. Education now falls under Outreach and Communications. Along with Super School News, we continue to offer TeacherLine, Ready-to-Learn workshops and professional development opportunities throughout the year. Saving energy is another priority. We turn off lights at night and recycle regularly. To save paper and increase efficiency, we created e-promo, an e-version of our program guide; we now have 4,000 subscribers who forego the paper version. Every organization has challenges, but I can assure you we are making every effort possible to cut costs and spend wisely. As a volunteer who works in the building, you are always welcome to wander down to my office and share your ideas and concerns in person. We are truly grateful for your time, energy and service.

Streetlight
Monday, December 14, 2009 › 3:26pm
The comments above about the poor signal problems of RMPBS are right on the mark. I live in Colorado Springs, and your signal is still terrible and at times unwatchable. A couple of weeks ago, I was watching Keeping Up Appearances, the program about the trip on the QE1, and the signal totally disappeared for many minutes. I'm not sure how long because I started channel surfing to see if this was my equipment or RMPBS. This happens frequently. And I'm not in a rural area.

Ms Lipsey's comments are irrelevant: RMPBS can produce and attempt to broadcast great programming but if watching it is impossible or difficult, then it doesn't matter. The station will not survive without viewers and their support. Besides, there are options, if you haven't noticed.

GE
Monday, December 14, 2009 › 7:20pm
Streetlight, are you attempting to watch RMPBS in Colorado Springs via over-the-air, cable and/or satellite (Dish or DirecTV)?

Streetlight
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 › 7:10pm
I'm connected to Comcast but the bedroom tv is over the air.

The cable connected TV is also connected to an indoor antenna; the signal meter shows at leat 98 % signal for RMPBS most of the time. When the event described above happened I switched between Cable and OTA and RMPBS was black. The usual problem is video and/or audio signal drop out for a few seconds or up to 30 seconds.

I've asked in various RMPBS forums how signal is transmitted from Denver to outlying transmitters, but haven't heard. I presume they use multiple microwave receivers/transmitters to get over the mountains rather than satellites. Conversion to fiber optic connections should greatly improve reliability but could be costly if they have to dig to connect a transmitter to an endpoint of the fiber.

GE
Friday, January 8, 2010 › 11:55am
For Doug Price

Mr. Price, perhaps you could post an update on how the technical facilites improvements (HD et al.) and signal problems resolutions are coming along in Denver, Colorado Springs, and throughout the state translator network.

Doug Price
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 › 3:55pm
Thanks, GE et al., for your feedback. Check out Tech Talk at rmpbs.org/techtalk for an update from Tom Craig, Director of Engineering and Production Technology, on fiber and HD issues.

GE
Friday, January 22, 2010 › 9:05am
Thank you Mr. Price. I did read the update from Tom Craig and I am excited with the progress being made.

With the many technical projects and challenges that RMPBS is facing, is there anything we as viewers can do to help RMPBS obtain the grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the HDTV Master Control build out? Can we contribute to the HD Master Control build out without jeopardizing the grant funding?

In the interim, I would encourage RMPBS to air as much programming as possible in HD.

Thanks again for all of the efforts.

GE

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