The Knoxville News-Sentinel from Knoxville, Tennessee • 68

The Knoxville News-Sentinel TV and Stage and Screen Nameless Cartoon Book The Aces on Bridge -2 1 Section Knoxville Tenn 37901 Sunday Morning May 9 1976 MMn Rtfotit' On the Privy a Heritage WSJKJVIs Host Lowell Thomas i- To 8e Speaker at SECA Talks num weirkh lj LOWELL THMUaTtoterMtiMly known author esporer ncwa com menu tor and lecturer who ratirea this week a CBS Radio newsman will be the feotured (peekar tomorrow at tho opening oeoaion of the 1171 conference of tho Southern Educational Communication! Association at the Hyatt Regency Knoxville -f WSJK-TV channel which Vcririxtaing IU ninth year of aervice to East Tennessee will be the boat for the conference Goe Ray Blanton will be the keynote apeaker far the opening cenmoniee Knoxville Mayor Randy Tyree haa proclaimed the week of May aa Educational Trievieioii Week Sen Howard Baker Jr ia acheduled to be in attendance at the conference aa la Sen John Paatore (D-RI) who will receive a special award in recognition of hia eerr-Icea to public braadcaeting The SECA of which WSJK-TV channel I la a member ia an oreaniiation composed of educational television fecilitiee In 14 Southern states whose purpose la the production and distribution of quality regional 1 public television programming for) ttsmem- I HAVE WRITTEN on many subjects over a span of many years but there Is no subject that has brought a from readers than recent discussions of the old-fashioned privy (outdoormodMK It ia a facility not glimpsed very -often on the mod- its architectural features as distinctly as a Grandma Moses painting But is stout- of this simple structure remain surprisingly freak ia the minds or many Not long ago I rashly wrote that I was finished with thousea not realising the pressures that ht through letters to keep the subject until others had a say And so the subject la Mr and Mrs Herbert Mays (he's with I ville Touriet Bureau) have shared with us a parody they once did on the song Old and I think i the essence of what could be called "It goes: IMi eM tom eMw TMi aM bewe a aaedfo' peW totofcdaieatot :1 i Dvnf yw I aodto' chug Sw pathway I am goto' to tot tosio I am a goM' to toy pwhsis I hod Mm dm da (bar Amt a goto' to an Mi hews aa huger AtoY to wad art dor aa aort AogsIdhjggvnaaaqrhMafeoHas Amt aahtogwaa da dear Now hat dor to da mssasr' Thor art fcsot hotor to da waf Mdm ysoVs to dor to da ML ThsoM hawk a gMto' aider atoV whs kand to ba Cotas bay mmm noidna ph dd aitora aaghr to bs Hem day my to aid and fcshb' Thors' hard hr tw to tad ftd to Mb' you da Saiga to dbaa (bough aid doT tong soft SUNG WTTH A NASAL TWANG to the accompaniment of a guitar that parody grabs you Since the trend has long been to bring the privy indoors you might think there are no privy builders left in these partly But you would be wrong of the Pity Lumber lowai THOMAS The potential audience for the member sUtions is over 8 million of which over 14 million are students In ptibHc elementary and high schools 1 The annual conference which runs through WSdnesdmr here with a variety of business and social events allows station representatives to discuss policy changes in the SECA tackle mutual problems and exchange ideas oh procedureand programming WSJKTV CHANNEL had hs legiilativt besh nines in Senate Bill No Sll of the 19(1 Tennessee Public Acts' The bill stated that Yi a unified State Educa-' tional Television Netwoefc may be located established I in the State of Tennessee for upta! My) sent me an advertisement which I in several East Tennessee newspapers 1 know Pity has been builder 4( is a fivndollar word for privies) The ad showed detailed plans of two-teat outdoor privy' (which) waa one of the first Component structures produced by Paty Lum- structnra with such standard-as a magazine hook a corn-cob box oon in me door hinged neat covers inside door latch and a wood-button out- -h (Seat warmers for cold weather electric Hghto for night use and linoleum on the floor would Mr Paly wrote we are' not swamped with orders we stand ready to provide the convenience at any BEING A STRONG BELIEVER in our competitive system I was pleased to hear from Cliff Wayland of Knoxville that as late as IKS a privy specialist Charley Smith waa still building outhouses to order in the Tenn area He enclosed a letter he had Charley in November IMS which said: -most of the small construction In Lynchburg and Moore County Although I build sheds smoke houses and barns my reM specialty is outhouees Right now jlhave cataracts forseveral outhouses "talndMhe tblefMwwa some of the The one I built in the picture is many years If you have your own to any epqcificatians I stand behind all Jobs carry a fifteen-year guarantee the benefit of the' pupils far the public schools of this state and for the benefit of our out-of-achooi -As a result of this legislation and an Act identified in Chapter 168 of the 1M3 Tcnneseee Public Acts the tats Board of Education took on the reepon-the design and construction of the Television System Installation of the trane- and testing was completed in 19(7 when the fedlity began regular broadcasting to the East Tennessee area The question ia often asked aa to why the WSJK-TV channei 3 transmitter ia located at Sneedville instead of Knoxville The answer is that the Federal Communion- tions Commission (FCC) requires that all television stations on the same channel have the outer edges of their 1 coverage pattern separated by IK miles After consider able study It waa determined' that the Sneedville site was the beat location available which offered maximum coverage of the service area of the station outside of the-Atlanta commercial channei 1 station coverage area vln the early stages of the station's broadcasting' were produced In studios at Johnson City and of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and where they were put on the air Thia continued until 1(71 when the UT studios Building became the program No tVEfc RgMMCD SW66T6K WW EASE THE RAIN OF HCMfc- i 1 Jesse Butcher of Corryton was one of those who influenced me to reconsider my decision to drop the subject of privies He baaed his argument on the high level of a Bicentennial duty by saying: you leave the outhouse issue there are a lot of things that should come to light because the privy is a part of our heritage and should not be taken lightly In keeping with the Bicentennial theme we should die- cum the matter a bit further" Then he said ia part "Spring of the year was usually pk digging time in East Tennessee and certain people were known far and wide for their pit digging ability One such person in our community was a man named Charlie Stout who had the reputation of digging the neatest squareat pita in the whole county A pit by Charlie Stout was a urarfc of art and appointments were made months in advance for hk services the outhouse was an anchor for one end of a clothes line and Mr Stout took paina to replace the clothes line after the privy was moved over his nice neat pit This moving was done by rolling the privy on -sections of four-inch pipe and the old pit filled with the -u will go down la my mind as one of Charlie contributed so much toouremi ROBERT MCDONALD of Morristown recalled had prankster-friends up at Berrien who built a very unusual outhouse with a glass door opening on a fine view bf the St Joseph River It was fitttod with regular commode seats and nad an overhead flueh-tank with a wood-handle puU the time each first-time occupant had gazed out upon the beautiful expanse of the river below hia or- fGov1 Originatioa point At one time before the new studios were completed the station operated out of rooms in the bid -UT Band Room in the basement of Neyland Stadium The station is not a University of Tennessee focUity Ik is owned by the State Board of Education and ia operated as a public service by that organisation Its only relationship with UT ia that its i an the campus to Knoxville AT THE PRESENT time WSJK-TV ns hr aU phases of its of the Tmesi The programs basically fall into two categories: Instructional and general audience The first group Inchidea prodrama broadcast for formal claso-room use or aa pfofeoeional levM training In this area W5JK ranks in the top of all Public Broadcasting i facilities in terms of the percentage of teacher in-service in the nation surveys indicate that Ftom left Hop Edmd program manager Al Curfit I 1 BE M- fcJlf Vm owin wlRd HI MraHVm Aft yA da gMMamsi jumSwA i mm gnmniv wiftimBiif jbv rwnnavg imbmk hi wNiiNnii mopnr nnl chmf ongmoer and Mite Knight chef engineer away and then there was the natural reaction to pull the nk The chain then released a i on the I within the hied tank The of the befi could be heard in the house and it took to regain enough composure to come Mrs Ambrose of Maryville advised she was hot at aU loathe to see the era of the privy pass she said "I was a city gal and have always loved tiaise very pretty bathrooms called facilities' as you say Unfortunately I have been forced to use a few' outhouses and 1 must say 1 have never found it a Joy avenge week of ia-ochool programming I am to I pjn Monday through Friday an average of over I mil-: non viewer Impressions ia maintained Aa average of nearly UJN children in East Tennessee watch each program broadcast to the schools Local production of programs for the general audience has increased neartyl (fold ia the to the point that for at least one I 1(79 tnostation was executing work than any other of the more than 2M i aion stations in the A Last year WSJK-7 xdided Tthebt of locally produced i fell under State Board of Education i of a I would add that living through the era of the privy eras like living through tnc DcpraMkn It waa an experience you don't want to live through again but sraa something you can't seem to forget On the Inside Odd opens Wedasoda nt Side Dinner Theater Page G-L The UT Deportment of Speech and Theater and as part of the New 'u Monday through -Page G-S writes that It's time to plant aula See hia column -Your Lawn and Gar-ran Page G-i A complete Rsth of TV kanPageGft THE STATION HAS a volunteer with its many auxiliary functions It I of Channel and constate of i to be a part of the I by WSJK-TV and its policymaking At present tho of Channel are helping wkh exhfoit at Lawson McGhee Library Also the station ia planning for a diversification of Its activities into the area of consultation with school Sea LOWELL THOMAS Page G-S i ifrTT-i Jan At foe console ora Frank Mftar instructional supervisor and Hssn Towsty art dvector for WSJK-TV channel 2 ft tot to 1- VwM wm noncj bakq raiaadl writer and Dick Rsmsr.