As of Friday, June 12, 2009 the business has bid adieu to what now is considered an obsolete method of transferring media; analog television broadcasts. This may mean close to nothing for those with cable or satellite, but for our country, it means that our brothers and sisters, friends and grandparents, neighbors and work associates, millions of them have just been cut out of the loop.

Suggesting that society put business aside and take care of mankind first might be asking too much. Instead, consider this; most of the people without cable are the same people without computers and cell phones, which means they rely on easy access media for their news. In the case of a major emergency, i.e. a natural disaster, being left out of the loop can easily prove fatal.

Unacceptable by all standards, but of course, that’s just the way it goes around here.

Potentially unassuming field reporter and close personal friend @nykcsa has long stood as my personal No.1 news guy. Most recently @nykcsa has been logging his experiences at the forefront of a nationwide movement to ensure that our under served, low or fixed-income community members are not left behind in the digital transition. In San Antonio, as with the rest of the country, the communities most effected by the switch include the elderly and a large cross-section of those most affected represent an ethnic minority.

Even before being approved for federal grants to head up the DTV campaign here in San Antonio, Texas Media Empowerment Project (the grassroots org for which @nykcsa serves on the board of director’s) could foresee the potential debacle ahead. Though a national DTV converter box voucher program had been set in place early last year, assuming the system would operate effectively was a mistake on the part of Congress. @deannecuellar, head of Texas MEP, warned Tony Wilhelm of the NTIA that the underfunded program would leave millions in the dark.

Just as predicted, the DTV coupon program temporarily ran out of money, providing even more incentive for Texas MEP and media justice groups around the country to stand in solidarity as they pushed to assist those in need. In conjunction with local media and other concerned non-profits, many steps were taken to raise awareness about the program including bilingual television spots, workshops, demonstrations, phone banks, and rallies, not to mention hundreds of house calls. This was only phase one; getting people registered for the $40 coupons promised to each household.

The problems being reported to @nykcsa now that the transition has taken place are mostly complaints that television stations are not streaming as promised. Reason being is that some of our local television stations have yet to output their digital signals at full-power. Given the fact that great efforts were exhausted over the last five months to inform the public of a pushed back switch date, originally set for February 17, residents are understandably upset.

|@TexasMEP spent 30 min. on phone w/ Lynn from SEside-she & friends disgusted by stations not being ready, cable poaching, RCA antennas #DTV|

- via @nykcsa

With a national transition of this caliber, a proper amount of attention and concern would be ideal, and our government officials would not be able to place the burden on the backs of hundreds of volunteers. Luckily, for thousands of families in our United States, an honorable bunch of media mavens and their respective community members are driven by a common heart and have vowed to help lift those who are seemingly held down time and again.

P.S. If you’d like to follow my friends and I on Twitter, my handle is @POPBASS
Thanks for reading.