Hello everyone, and welcome back to another edition of my blog, “Ask Your KRCB Program Director”.  There are some updates to our programming schedule that started in the beginning of September that I’d like to detail for you. Again, please feel free to contact KRCB at any time with questions or comments; we value your support greatly. When we choose shows to air on our television station, we do it with our viewers and members in mind.

-Stan Marvin

 The first question is, “I have heard there were some big changes that happened with KRCB kids programming. What are these changes and when will they happen?”

 Yes, there were some big changes that affected our PBS Kids line-up that started the first week in September. First and foremost after decades on the air, Mister Rogers’ has been removed from the PBS daily line-up. PBS is still making the series available to stations for weekend broadcasts. We will air the beloved series on Saturdays at 10:30 am as long as we can. However, the show will have a robust presence on the website, www.PBS.org.

We all miss Fred Rogers very much and wish he was still with us, making new episodes, but when one door closes another one opens. In this case we are happy to present a terrific new series from the Jim Henson folks, Sid the Science Kid. Sid is a computer-generated preschool comedy about an inquisitive youngster who tries to understand basic scientific questions. Enjoy!

Another change as of September is the canceling by PBS of the weekly Wednesday feeds of Clifford’s Puppy Days. Clifford, The Big Red Dog will continue on our air Monday thru Friday, at 2pm.

We have also changed the morning line-up a bit to take advantage of more direct satellite feeds and less tape delayed programming. As of September 1^st, this is the new morning lineup:

1)      Sesame Street @ 7:00am

2)      Dragon Tales @ 8:00am

3)      Curious George @ 8:30am

4)      Sid the Science Kid @ 9:00am

Question: I have heard that my beloved BBC World News may be leaving KRCB. True?

            Sadly, as program director, I do have to report that as of November 3, BBC World News, at 5pm Monday thru Fridays, will go away on KRCB. This is not our wish. The contract between BBC and the U.S. presenting station, WLIW in NY has expired. The BBC wishes to retain control of their brand and has signed a presenting contract with KCET in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for KRCB viewers, this new contract prohibits more than one station in any market from broadcasting the series. So even though KRCB was an early adopter of the BBC World News in 1999, the decision has been made to no longer offer it to us. Needless to say, we are not happy with this and continue to appeal this decision.

            The bright spot in all of this is we will have access to a new and very exciting nightly news series, produced by WLIW, called WorldFocus. It will appear in the 5pm slot as of November 3^rd. While it isn’t the “Beeb”, I think you will find it extremely informative, and well produced. With major components both on-air and on-line, WorldFocus, hosted by NBC news correspondent Martin Savidge, will offer public television audiences the voices and perspectives of citizen journalists, stakeholders, and bloggers around the world.

Another question I have gotten is, “A show I love called Unnatural Causes ran last spring and I have been waiting for it to run again. When will it make its way back into your programming schedule?”

      Fortunately, Unnatural Causes will be coming back starting September 23^rd. We will be running the four, 1-hour-long programs on Tuesdays at 9:00pm. Following the first episode on September 23^rd, we will be re-airing the local special about health care in Sonoma County at 10:00pm. We are glad you enjoy the show and are happy we could bring it back for you.