So what about the future? Can the idea of inviting into KETC the Stories of St Louis scale and hence increase the bonds of support between the city and the station?
We think so.
KETC is experimenting with the process - here is how KETC is again leveraging a traditional TV Program to reach out to a specific community in the city. Note how much more easy to use is the interface.
At the end of April, PBS is launching a landmark 10 hour series, Carrier, (The link takes you to some great promotional material and video. I wish that PBS would put the video on You Tube) on the USS Nimitz.
There are 125,000 vets living in KETC's area. Assuming that each of these have 5 people who are important to them - that is a group of 750,000.
Our intention is to make a major effort, as we did during The War, to give this group a voice.
Here are some comments about the show on a blog - you can see how so many young vets are excited about reliving their great service experience again.
Our hope is that just as with The war - we reached mainly the older people but did break into the young - that this time we will land squarely with the young vets and catch their parents and grandparents.
In the humdrum of life, there are moments in servcie life that take us to the edge of being human. In the promo video, we hear a man talking about the danger of working on the deck and how this danger has made him come alive. We hear another talk about the bonds of friendship that surpass anything in civilian life. We hear the pride of being service to their country and of being part of a special group.
My bet is that KETC has a chance of lighting a fire in St Louis by giving its vets a chance to show their friends and family and each other how important this part of their lives have been.
Later this year, KETC is going beyond the boundaries of St Louis with this idea of giving voice to people. They will launch a show that is a bit like American Geek. All across America teams of boys & girls are coming together with their own camera to film themselves making Robots. This fall we will see them strut their stuff and we will see which team is the coolest.
Do you think that your geeky son or daughter might like to be part of this? Do you think that they may want to see this on the web or God forbid on TV?
What kind of conversation may arise from this. What kind of friendships will develop? What kind of bond may develop between your kids and the stations that are part of this? How will you as a parent feel about the station.
At KETC we realize that the young are everything in this new world. Just as in New York in the 1890's it was the kids who became Native Americans first and taught their parents, so we acknowledge that it it will be how we involve our kids in the life of the station and in St Louis that will make the difference.
It has been our own personal experience with our interns that they hold the key to the kingdom. We are all Digital Immigrants entering a new world that us old folks know little about. This is a new world just as America was and we will take our lead from our kids - as all immigrants have to.
So we are going beyond children's programming to bringing our young into the station - into every aspect of the life of what we do.
This is a picture of the Station - looks like a building doesn't it? Well watch this space. In the fall we will be able to tell you why this building will become more than a building.
So in closing here is a sequence of slides created by the brilliant Valdis Krebs that will show you what we are trying to do.
We are trying to create the quality and the density of connections that will bring life back to the city.
Here is St Louis today - maybe your city is like this too. There are hubs of greatness in the city but, as in many organizations, they are Islands or Stove Pipes. There is little connective tissue between them and between St Louisans.
We are here right now. KETC is working to bring the groups into view and to make connection. At the moment much of the energy to make the connection is coming from the station as the catalyst.
Nature informs us though that if we can get a few linked, then they will start to make connections with each other.
Then, if we are lucky - life will emerge. What I mean by life is that the density and velocity of the connections will create something remarkable. The full potential of the city will become realized.
If KETC can help make this happen - what do think the future of the station might be?
In 1904, St Louis was the gateway to the West and a new life for millions of new Americans. This boundless confidence in the nation and in the city was embodied by the fair.
Why should St Louis not see itself as a gateway to the new New World of our time?
