pic: Al Kills Analog

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Kelli,
I don't really consider myself lucky but I do feel somewhat privileged. I was there when stations were still broadcasting some of their programming in B/W. I was part of the development of stereo for TV in the US and now I have lived to see analog die and digital start.
John,
I started with a PBS station in Peoria, IL that broadcast for 1.5 hours in the morning (Sesame Street and Electric Company) and then turned back on at 4-10PM. This station was off for at least 6 hours each week night and 7-8 hours on the weekend nights when I started. As cable started being the delivery of choice, broadcasters had to maintain 24 hr ops to keep their channel ID on the cable systems. Otherwise, cable operators would put in other programming (infomercials) when we went off the air or would move us to a different channel than our over the air assignment.

What a lot of people don't realize, is that digital TV is possible/affordable because computer memory is cheap and fast so that MPEG files can be processed and decoded in your receiver.