By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Absence, as the saying goes, makes the heart grow fonder. This certainly applies to loved ones, family, friends, favorite haunts, delicious food and secret passions.
For me, it also applies to SCETV, the statewide radio and television network.
For much of October, folks in the Charleston area weren’t able to get the network’s broadcasts thanks to wear, tear and salt intrusion on the old antenna north of Mount Pleasant. First, as the network worked to install new equipment, the radio signal went out for a while, depriving folks of NPR programming and great shows like PRI’s The World and A Prairie Home Companion.
As soon as the radio went back on the air, then it was time to take down the TV side, causing children and adults to miss programming on its three digital stations. One person in our family had such a need for a fix of political commentary by Mark Shields and David Brooks on a Friday afternoon that he (or she) resorted to finding a version online.
The point of all of this is that we should recognize the value of our statewide radio and television network, which does a whole lot more than put shows on the air. Started in the late 1950s by then Gov. Fritz Hollings, the network provided televised training to help workers get added skills in what has grown to more than 2,000 locations around the state. Unlike most state public networks, South Carolina Educational Television invested in dedicated broadcasting bandwidth, which continues to give the state some economic development advantages to potential industrial recruits.
Currently, the television side of ETV airs 26,280 hours of state and national programming every year on its 11 stations, including live coverage of the legislature, as well as web-streamed coverage of lots of Statehouse meetings and special events, such as recent disaster updates during Hurricane Matthew. On the radio side, there’s 17,520 hours of local to national programming every year, including the nationally-syndicated Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz series that the network has produced for national audiences for 30 years.
SCETV has continued to serve residents through the years despite threats to funding. Gov. Nikki Haley tried to zero out state funding for the network in the early years of her terms. That didn’t work completely, but she was successful in ending large direct state appropriations by steering the network’s funding to an indirect appropriation model in which broadcast services were reimbursed through the new Department of Administration.
In 2005, for example, the agency received $12.7 million directly from state lawmakers and had a total budget of $24.1 million. By comparison, the network’s current direct state budget is just $277,532, although it generated millions more through services and passthroughs for a total public budget of $19.2 million. That is, however, almost $5 million less than it received 12 years ago.
The impact of cuts can be seen in how it sometimes approaches programming. Years ago, the network aired debates for the major statewide and congressional offices. This year, in a tip of the hat to being perhaps less controversial, debates were replaced with candidate interviews. This new format benefits candidates, who can focus on what they want voters to hear, rather than voters, who often learn more about pluses and negatives when candidates mix it up directly.
Despite funding cuts that have impacted staff and caused broadcast infrastructure to be neglected, SCETV continues to provide outstanding media services that enhance public life. When you have to do without the network for a few weeks, you really begin to appreciate all that it does.
If the legislature wants to enhance public life more and bring people in South Carolina together in new ways, it should consider investing more, not less, in SCETV.
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