Local TV programming coming to rez
By Bill Donovan
Special to the Times
WINDOW ROCK, April 28, 2011
The idea of locally generated broadcasts in major reservation communities has been under discussion for more than a decade, but is now close to becoming a reality, said Kee Long, director of the Broadcast Services Department for the Navajo Nation.
"We're soon to be providing two channels to several communities," Long said.
One channel will be for local programming, such as live broadcasts of the Navajo Nation Council meetings and education programs provided by Diné College or other schools on the reservation. The second channel will relay KNME, Albuquerque's public television channel.
The content on the Navajo channel will be limited at first, said Kee, but as the station gets up and running, more programming will be aired.
"We've been getting a lot of calls from schools and other organizations that say they have available content for us to use," Long said, adding that much of it will be in the Navajo language.
The need to preserve the language was one a key point the tribe used in getting the license from the Federal Communications Commission for two low-power channels to serve the reservation.
The plan is to broadcast in digital format, although the tribe's equipment is analog. Most of the U.S. has been converting to digital broadcasts, Long noted, adding, "We're hoping to be up and running in June or July but we have to get all of the permits so if that is delayed, it won't be until the fall."
The first areas to get the new channels will be Window Rock, Tohatchi and Shiprock. He added that the signal will reach communities around these towns.
For instance, households from Oak Springs, Ariz., to Navajo, N.M., will be able to pick up the Window Rock signal.
The Tohatchi signal will reach as far as Naschitti, Crownpoint and Gallup. The Shiprock signal will go east to Nageezi and to all the communities surrounding Shiprock.
Kee said tribal officials discovered that some channels assigned to the tribe were too close to other channels, leading to potential signal interference.
For example, in both St. Michaels and Gallup, the Navajo Nation signal was right next to one assigned to KOB-TV in Albuquerque.
"When we did tests, we found some interference so we petitioned the FCC and were given permission to go one channel up."
That's all been taken care of now, Long said.
"When we first begin broadcasting, we will be devoting a lot of time to educating people on how to get us on their televisions," he said.
That won't be difficult but it may require some households to abandon their old analog TV sets - which the FCC has been urging for the past two years - in favor of one that can receive a digital signal.
"I'm pretty sure that most people are now getting digital television," Long said.
Broadcast Services is converting some of its office space to become a programming center for the two new channels, Long said.
Like many other low-power TV stations around the country, it will offer an opportunity for Navajo citizens to get involved in producing their own programming that is of interest to their community. In the beginning, Long said, the programming will focus on education and geared toward those attending school.
The stations won't accept commercial advertising but like other public television stations, will allow companies to underwrite programming in exchange for a brief mention on air.
As for bringing local programming to other reservation communities, Long said the tribe plans to apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for further funding and once that happens, more communities will be added to the system beginning in late 2012.