WGSF Television

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

*NOTE: This is a non-commercial Blog.*
**Comments containing LINKS to commercial web sites will not be accepted.
**Comments that do not add useful data will not be accepted.

The Internet is, by its very nature, a very open and world-wide communication medium.
Its strength in the ability to reach the multitudes is also an oft-taken opportunity for the unscrupulous to prey upon the unwary and unwilling.
Several measures and procedures are utilized to protect the WGSF on-line presence, as much as possible, from the prevalence of SPAMmers, phishers, identity thieves, and nere-do-wells in general.
NO COMMERCIAL LINKS WILL BE ALLOWED!
The Blog Administrator will be alerted by e-mail about any post, and review it.

1. Open E-mail addresses are eliminated or hidden as much as possible.
This site utilizes a special Contact form to send comments to the Admin. so that a visitor can not glean the address.
Anti-spam:

2. A list of words and topics is maintained in SPAM files that
will flag any attempt to use those key-words and and block them.
Any URL containing one of the keywords will be banned from posts, comments and logs.

3. Posts:
The Blog Administrator will be alerted by e-mail about any post, and review it.
The Blog Administrator reviews all posts and comments, and may choose from these options:
View... Edit ... Deprecate ... Delete! ... No Comment

The Blog Administrator may:

* Edit the post to make it more acceptable for publication; or
* Deprecate the post: It is retained in the files, but becomes invisible to visitors to the blog; or
* Delete the post. (Blip! It's Gone!!)
* Publish the post; The blog software Saves the post to the on-line files,and 'Pings' the internet to alert browsers (Google, etc.) that a new message has been posted.
(See also the Documentation/Manual

4. Persons may register to become a member/contributor to the blog(s). Both the registration and the contributions/comments are still subject to review by the blog Admin.

5. ListServer

The ListServer Mailing list is restricted to registered members, and the membership list is subject to review and action by the Admin.Names and address may be blocked.
A request to subscribe will generate an email requesting confirmation, to prevent others from gratuitously subscribing you. This is a private list, which means that the list of members is not available to non-members.

We will attempt to make your visits to the WGSF Internet sites as secure and pleasant as possible.

Leland Hubbell
Site Administrator

With SPAMMERS, SCAMMERS, and PHISHING attacks, These options become very necessary.

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

The Media section of the Columbus Dispatch, March 19, under Broadcast Bits, announced that WOSU-TV will cease analog broadcasting at 7:a.m. March 31.

I have no knowledge of plans to continue operation on W31AA, the Newark Translator station, when this happens.
The Channel 34 to channel 31 translator has always depended upon the channel 34 analog signal.

MORE:
March 25, 2009 - Columbus Dispatch
Dates for switch to digital only:
WSFJ-TV (51) - April 16
WBNS-TV (10) - June 12
WCMH-TV (4) - June 12
WSYX-TV (6) - June 12

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

Pigeon hole! To categorize; especially to limit or be limited to a particular category, role, etc. Society in general seems to be addicted to putting people in a box - typecasting, profiling, stereotyping. Television, like most other businesses, has long established traditions as to which occupations require a particular type of "Pigeon" to place in that hole.

I broke into commercial broadcast television in the late 1950's. The Engineering/Technical staff, the studio and properties crews, newsfilm and other occupations were definitely male oriented. Clerks, typists, secretaries, etc., were of the feminine gender. The Ladies could properly host a "Women's" or children's show, or do an on-air commercial pitch, but the line was drawn at general staff announcing duties, all male, of course.

Even within the gender defined roles, duties were strictly segregated. It was observed, with a great deal of truth, that you could tell which crew a studio worker belonged to if you saw a piece of backdrop start to fall over: The Tech guy would grab for the TV Camera; the props guy would go for the scenery.

Well, in a professional environment, I suppose that is well and good.
In a Unionized shop, imperative. But I never looked upon a school as being anything other than wide open to all students, free from typecasting, profiling, and stereotyping. Announcers, directors, camera operators, performers - "Build NO Boxes!" No pigeons stuffed into holes. Nor was I content with the "Vocational-Technical" label many tried to impose upon my classes.

Sure, I am quite proud of those individuals who found a home and a life's career in broadcasting or a related field. I am equally proud of the many who found something valuable to take with them into the world beyond the educational setting. "Don't knock-knock it until you have try-tried it" was a phrase popular at one time. Well, I believed anyone who wanted to "try-try it" should have the chance.
Many found that television had nothing to offer them. That, too, satisfies me. "What if I only had a chance. . . " What if . . ."
"What if's" are among the saddest of all things.
No, I am quite aware that each of us possess unique skills, talents,and abilities. I also know that gender, race, or other determinates should not prohibit us from at least having the opportunity to try things, even if we find that it is just not our "Pigeon hole."
I hope that I will be judged as more prone to encouragement than discouragement. Certainly, a look at the many things that were done at WGSF by all participants, adult and student, indicate that we took some wild leaps of faith.
I looked upon my role more as an enabler, one who provided opportunities, and then filled in the gaps as needed. I tried, over the years, to show how artists, technicians, thespians, journalists, and, yes, athletes, could come together, work together, and produce a television program as a team. Each person contributing their best in their personal area of expertise to become part of the whole.

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

You pass a lot of things as you drive down the road or across town, physical things. Cars and trucks in the next lane, behind you and before you. Buildings and bridges, Structures large and small, from the tidy to the tawdry, ‘McMansions’ and monuments. Even the magnificence of natural ‘wonders’ pales to insignificance when compared to the one element that grabs our attention, and our emotions - People!
Take away the human element and the most grandiose monument is just a pile of stone. Erase the names from the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, ignore the association with its reason for being, and it retains only one thought in our minds - Who built it, and why. Stonehenge intrigues us, only in part because of its composition, but primarily because somebody built it. We know ‘What’ it is, and ‘Where’ it is, but we are driven to discover the ‘Who’ and the ‘Why’ - the people connection!
So, too, with any history we may compile. The physical elements are akin to computer firmware - things to touch and see. But people, ahh, people! That is the ‘software’ that gives life to history, that makes monuments truly majestic, and puts the “Awe” in awesome. Feelings, thoughts, emotions - the ties that bind and the forces that drive us.
Yes, we can analyze, we can describe, we can measure and calculate the finiteness of things, but life is not in them. Because we are human, things are only complete when we imbue them with a relationship to our humanity.

Now, why am I writing this as a prelude to a history of a television station?
Simply because we may write all we may about trucks and transmitters, cameras, consoles, and gadgets galore, and they, like a monument, are clumps of metal and plastic. A monument to human ingenuity, perhaps, but of meaningless utility until they are brought into the human equation.
Why did someone build it? What was it used for? How did this contribute to the sharing of feelings, emotions, conquests and failures of the human spirit? That is the essence of what any history is all about. Any trip down the road or across town is significant only of the passage of time until someone recounts what people did during the trip. Those experiences are what makes the journey memorable!

The ‘journey’ for the Television Station known as WGSF involved trucks and transmitters, cameras, consoles, and gadgets galore, but it is the “people” element that makes a history of this particular institution worthy of remembering, retelling and compiling.

That WGSF had some television equipment, at least some of the time, and used it for the purpose of broadcasting television programs, was one of the few things that was shared in common with most other stations. The deficiency of equipment was more than overcome by the exuberance of spirit shared by those who participated in this “adventure.” There must have been some mystic that so enthralled teen-agers that they would trudge across town, through snow, and up a two-hundred foot high hill, to become part of it. Let’s face it; it wasn’t just for the TV toys that you expended so much effort, but for the ’games’ you played with them. Talk about the equipment if it is relevant to the story line, but the real story is the people connection.

That is what I most wish to collect with this history.
What happened? Why do you remember that? Things that went right and things that went wrong tend to stick in our minds. Yes, I have documentation on many things, physical and procedural, but the most necessary component is the remembering and retelling of the experiences, the emotions, the frustrations and “hilltop” moments as you interacted with the people you encountered there.
Share the “who-what-where-why-how” of your “life” with WGSF Television. And, if you had a life after June 30, 1976, did it make a difference somewhere along the trip from then until whenever?

Please share what ever pops up from the repository of those memories of this part of your life journey.

Link: http://wgsf.oldgleaner.com/

We have talked about converting some of the WGSF programs, like Wildcat Den to digital, and putting them on DVD, or scheduling them on the web.

There are several possibilities - various formats. I lack experience in those modes at present. I suppose the way to start is to stash something on the server and see what happens. Dan, John L., Mitch - any of you have experience in digital files and formats - .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats ???

Then, download. I watched the ustream.tv live broadcast last May from the Early Television Museum at

http://www.ustream.tv/get-started

But that is a timed schedule. The advantage is, don't have to store anything at our web site. But - you watch then,or don't see it!

OR: this blog handles YouTube Google Video Daily Motion LiveVideo and iFilm. I am familiar only with YouTube at this point; will have to learn more.

SO: Just as a starting point, I uploaded a .WMV (Windows) file to the WGSF server so you can try downloading a movie file. It is a cute thing that someone forwarded to me.
Give it a try, go to: Home Security

Then please report on how it worked for you.

If it comes through, maybe we can post some other (more appropriate) WGSF type of things.

Mr H