Ubuntu developers: Stephen Michael Kellat: Mass Media Thinking

Writing about one form of
communications or another is a weird enough thing to do during
easy times. When faced with service cuts, though, it becomes
easier to do. In losing yet more channels from my Time
Warner Cable line-up, I end up facing the scenario of losing
access to more of what is broadcast contemporary moving image
content. Living in Ohio’s Ashtabula
County also presents some additional factors that don’t help
much.

Ashtabula County is not
considered within the local service area of any
domestic
terrestrial television station even though we’re roughly equal
distances away from Cleveland and Youngstown in Ohio and Erie in
Pennsylvania. As the crow flies, we’re actually closer to
southwestern Ontario though Lake Erie kinda gets in the way. My
cable television service, such as it is currently, relays local
affiliates from Cleveland and Erie of NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX. The
Akron-area
affiliate of ION
is also included in the line-up. There are two public access
channels for now, the Univision affiliate in Cleveland, and two
home shopping network affiliates from Cleveland that I do not
happen to watch yet pay for.

Now, I am a subscriber to
SiriusXM with their News/Talk/Sports
package. I can hear MSNBC, CNN, HLN, and FOX News even though
I cannot see them. With them not included in my cable line-up I
have to ensure my imagination is in good and working order. My
primary reason for maintaining that SiriusXM subscription is so
that I have access to the BBC World Service since shortwave
broadcasting to North America by BBCWS halted in 2001.

Sadly, the number of
shortwave broadcasts to North America are decreasing. A post by
shortwave analyst Kim Andrew Elliott, though, brings some
hope for the future.

As for local radio, we’ve got
locally:

• 2 country stations

• 2 religious stations

• 1 Rock and Roll station

• 1 ESPN Radio affiliate

• 1 “oldies” station

• 1 station that rotates
  between news/talk, Catholic programming, and oldies randomly
  throughout the year for no apparent reason

As
a podcast producer, I do listen to plenty of podcasts. I avoid
live streaming for the most part except
for
France24 in English via
my NETGEAR
Digital Entertainer Live box. Programs like Linux
Outlaws, Ubuntu UK
Podcast, Ihnatko Almanac,
CBC’s Laugh Out Loud
With Craig Norris and Full
Circle Podcast are among the things you can find in my
download mix.

Podcast reception is
dependent upon having proper Internet service. Right now such is
tied to my cable television service. There are no normal
alternatives to them. While wireless hotspots are available, the
bandwidth cost compared to the amount of programming downloaded
makes SiriusXM far more attractive. Then again, Leo Laporte’s TWiT
network is not available on that satellite system.