Our public television system is in crisis but few seem to have noticed. We in Oregon have an opportunity to do something about it, if we care enough to work for the public television we should have.

The crisis is in the almost total absence of public relevant programming in a system dominated by huge budgets, corporate funding and commodified culture. The official plea that local programming is too expensive disguises the privatization of this priceless public asset.

Public broadcasting was founded "on a bedrock of localism" by the 1967 Carnegie Commission: "to deepen a sense of community in local life…to bring into the home meetings where major public decisions are hammered out, and occasions where people of the community express their hopes, their protests, their enthusiasms, their will. It should provide a voice for groups in the community that may otherwise be unheard." It was felt these could never exist under commercial television pressures.

There are a number of reasons you find little of local or public relevance on Oregon Public Broadcasting. But OPB essentially delivers audiences to underwriters and popular programs to paying viewers - the very market forces it was supposed to escape - simultaneously selling out its responsibilities to public content and to public service.

On OPB television, there is no significant local news or public affairs, no forum for election or legislative issues, no connection for the people of Oregon. Most ethnic, socio-economic and alternative communities are invisible. Local independent producers complain of OPB’s routine discouragement. Less than 3% of prime time programming is by, for or about Oregonians, over the only medium that reaches all 3.5 million of us and was originally built by the State. Seventy percent of their $16 million subsidy is from viewers and public sources. There are plenty of issues here for public concern.

One of the best kept secrets of public broadcasting is the Community Advisory Board (CAB) which is mandatory for recipients of federal programming funds.

CABs are intended to assist stations in developing programs and policies that reflect the specialized needs of their communities; to be representative of the diverse communities served; to be clearly independent of the governing and management bodies of the station; and to be an effective way for the public to participate in the planning and decision making of the station.

The CAB has existed for only two years out of OPB’s eight year lifetime. Its existence and meetings have gone unpublicized. It is appointed, administered and dominated by station management - all against the rules. The CAB has been dead in the water since last June, waiting for OPB chairman, Bill Swindells, to replace the chair and several members who retired.

It’s prime time for interested citizens to help steer OPB onto a community relevant track. We need a vigorous and independent Community Advisory Board. We need a truly public Oregon television.

You can apply to be on the CAB yourself, or recommend someone else you think is qualified. Let your feelings about local programming be known to the station. If you’re pledging money to OPB, you can stipulate that it goes to support local programming by, for and about the people of Oregon. Ask legislators to support local programming when conidering OPB's appropriations bill, SB5552.

For more information or to become more involved, contact Friends of Public Broadcasting, a statewide coalition of public broadcasting advocates at: www.efn.org/~fopb, or write to PO Box 5031, Eugene, OR 97405. William Swindells can be contacted directly at: Chairman of the Board, OPB, 7140 Macadam Avenue, Portland, OR 97219-3099

Loren Sears is a member of the OPB Community Advisory Board, Friends of Public Broadcasting, and a television professional. He can be reached at fopb@efn.org or FOPB, PO Box 5031, Eugene, OR 97405.