Kingsport Times from Kingsport, Tennessee • 3

Ar 8A Kingsport Tlnes-News Friday August 15 1900 Displeasure voiced over loss of ETSU studio going to have it in Knoxville danged right we ought to have it up here The people are just as important to me up here as they are in Rep PL Robinson moved into Warf-Pickel Hall to be to be closer to the studio The university he continued has manned the department with personnel commensurate with the equipment available to the students and is highly interested in maintaining equipment Journalism professor James Mooney said think the community needs to have a public broadcasting system The type of system that it has depends on the community and what it wants to pay for it studio here could be a great advantage to the region if what the people want If content with the signal now and the access to programming their he said vice president for academic affairs Dr Christopher Bramlett confirmed the quest for the equipment are anticipating that we will have enough equipment to continue with a good academic he said see someone coming in decimating our equipment so that we can't carry on my hope that none of it will be Bramlett said he had asked state education Chancellor Roy Nicks to arrange a delay of the equipment move until newly chosen university President Ronald Beller can examine the broadcast needs He added that the entire communications department was sioner Howard McNeece to discuss the subject fought this thing back and forth for he said think we very much need the facilities at that university because of the way they use it for education I hate to see us lose it and I think going Only one member of the Board of Education is from East Tennessee Dr Hal Henard of Greeneville He missed last meeting but said he will issue a plea at the Sept 5 meeting to have the equipment restored I would try to retain anything in East Tennessee that I could" he said Darrell Rowlett assistant to Commissioner of Education Edward A Cox said the equipment is being sent to Cookeville because most of the Johnson City productions are sent there anyway Upper East Tennessee area lose any programming come out of Channel 2 continue to mail out booklets for instructional TV in the Rowlett said Rowlett issued a report in May that set the activation cost of Channel 41 in Johnson City at just less than $1 million including a large signal relay tower and a doubled staff Ensuing published reports regarded the cost as prohibitive and either accepted recommendation or recommended on their own the dismantling of the studio at ETSU Reports were filed by a House select committee on educational TV a select committee the Department of Education and the Department of Finance and Administraation As for the nine employees he said the state is now compiling a list of area openings suitable to their skills not limited to the television field Suit filed against teacher JONESBORO group of paieuu nun Springs section of Washington County have filed suit against a fifth-grade teacher for alleged abusive treatment of their children Schools Superintendent Sam Humphreys said the complaint filed against James Olinger will be handled by the county attorney No administrative action had been taken against Olinger last month following a meeting between the superintendent and parents at the school By JIM MeNAIR Washington County Bureau JOHNSON CITY To those who stress the value of local public television the state Board of Education's decision last Friday to dismantle its $1 million studio at East Tennessee State University is a blow to the region Many of the board's July 8 decisions especially one advocating that state-controlled educational television (ETV) be surrendered to community ownership are only recommendations subject to the enactment of the Tennessee legislature Elimination of the ETV production studio at ETSU before Oct 1 however was an administrative measure within the power of the Board of Education The studio is neither owned nor controlled by the university which only houses the equipment in exchange for training access The denudation of the Johnson City facility came as a complete surprise to ETSU which has been gradually strengthening its broadcast communications program to the nine employees of the studio who will be offered other state jobs in the region and to area legislators Many of the 150-160 students enrolled in the ETSU broadcast communications program will no doubt return to campus in the coming weeks ignorant that the studio is slated for dispersal The fate was sealed in recent months as reports from numerous committees subcommittees state departments and an outside consultant all reviewing the weak ETV system concurred that much of the Johnson City equipment was needed in other parts of the state According to the unanimous recommendations which were based largely on surveys studies and interviews statewide the availability of ETV transmissions from Sneedville iu tuitions oi upper t-asi Tennessee contributed to making the equipment expendable Critics of the plan reiterate that the Sneedville signal is unable to reach Johnson County parts of Sullivan and Carter counties and homes behind large mountains Viewers of Channel 2 via cable represent a minority of television households in the region one ETSU source said The destination of the expensive audio-video gear is Knoxville and Cookeville It BEFORE YOU BUY! gjgf SUPPLY COUP HAVE YOU CHECKED YOUR ROOF? WAIT UNTIL WINTER -THE RECENT STORMS MAY HAVE DONE DAMAGE TO YOUR PROPERTY IF REPAIRS ARE NEEDED INSIST ON THE 1)31 Johns-I 20-YR WARRANTED fIBERGLASS ROOFING The J-M Fiberglass3 Tab Shingle has a Class Highest attainable from Underwriters Laboratories Available in 12 contemporary colors ETV station in Johnson City The studio was established five years later and microwave transmissions were actually broadcast to the Sneedville tower for retransmission into households However in 1970 the transmitter was conveyed to the Knoxville studio that shared the Sneedville tower and was never replaced Nonetheless the proposed Channel 41 station in Johnson City had everything except the transmission capability in order to qualify for between $150000 and $175000 in federal matching funds About three months ago the grant application was cancelled by CPB because the state did not commit itself to expanding the facility the studio official said MullaUey in his report to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission states that the transfer of equipment from Johnson City will enable the Cookeville setup operated out of Nashville to qualify for a grant of a similar amount Meanwhile channels 2 and 15 in Knoxville will benefit from separate grants which under plan will be administered as the stations will be controlled by a single panel of educators and community leaders Two of the nine seats on the advisory panel are reserved for Knoxville representatives while the remainder are open to more regional representation going to have it in Knoxville danged right we ought to have it up said state Representative PL Robinson R-Jonesboro people are just as important to me up here as they are in Knox- -flfiMflr in ii mi The shortage of state funds though has proven to be the chief cause in losing the potential Channel 41 he said see getting back anything once we lose it The only chance we had was to have a whole new channel which would have happened if we didn't have this financial State Sen Bob Burleson R-Roan Mountain said yesterday that he is planning a meeting with Deputy Education Commis In Knoxville a new ETV station Channel 15 will be built to replace the static-filled Sneedville signal reaching the Knoxville and Oak Ridge markets Cookeville is already equipped with a transmitter but is in dire need of production hardware for the state to continue receiving federal funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) In effect Knoxville will gain program control of a second ETV station while Johnson City stripped of its equipment will lose any chance of becoming a programming station in the near future The primary plan proposed by Dr Donald MuUal-ley an ETV systems consultant who teaches at the University of Illinois calls for use of a mobile production unit shuttling between Upper East Tennessee sites and the studio in Knoxville Currently programs produced at the ETSU studio make up one hour of viewing per week on the Knoxville-controlled Channel 2 A public issues show is produced by the studio another half-hour program is a student venture All other production shows up as instructional films for state primary schools audio work and promotional spot announcements for the Cookeville station and animation and jobwork for other ETV stations in the state according to studio employees think the equipment should be used in East Tennessee and if not going to let us be phased out and be part of the community everything should be turned over to the onill Will ctn umvcioitj owiu uiu in junnou v-iij One employee who asked to remain anonymous was pessimistic about the equipment and his job Looking over the highly technical control panels and other pieces he said are vital things especially when training TV students to walk out in the industry and get a job a high likelihood that everything will be In 1963 the state legislature approved designs for a regular CELEBRATING OUR 65 th ANNIVERSARY USINISS1 PHONE: 246-6121 LUMBER AMD BUILDING MATERIAL JONGSPORT AND ROGERSVIllE TENN WelmniiM jtisictoi service vNWolanii( SINCE IRIS DALTON DIRECT CARPETS ANNIVERSARY SALE OPEN SUNDAY CABIN CRAFT CARPETS FEATURED CASH ON THE SPOT FOR GOLD SILVER! 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