television started local
Before the days of cable networks and streaming sites, stations across the country produced news, neighborhood commercials, programming targeting women, teenage dance competitions, kiddie shows and made celebrities of local weathercasters. Thousands of hours of content was produced from the “golden age of local television” from the 1940s through the late 20th Century.
LOSING OUR CULTURAL RECORD
Threats to remaining local television includes intentional destruction, continued deterioration and neglect, and the threat from increasingly hard-to-find obsolete playback equipment. What will be lost? Moving image artifacts that remind us of our regional differences and, equally important, our national commonalities and similarities.
Driving specific action
- Rally public and private support
- Identify and execute a powerful list of initial recovery projects
- Provide help to local affiliates as needed and arm non-profit organizations as well as broadcasters new ways to activate and entertain local audiences
- Enable discovery of previously “lost” content