I was one of many people disheartened by the de-funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) here in the United States. It was sad enough that congress took away the funding, but even more sad that they took away funding that had already been awarded! Full disclosure: I work for an organization that receives some funding from CPB - or at least it used to. And even though we were affected, I don't think it will have much bearing on my job - but I could be wrong. The reason I work for a CPB funded organization in the first place is because 14 years ago, when I was looking for a new job, I specifically looked on our local PBS station's web site for employment opportunities - which eventually led to my current job.

PBS stands for Public Broadcasting Service - a publicly funded non-profit television organization which receives a lot of its funding from CPB. I have been a consumer of PBS television nearly all my life. I remember was I was little and growing up in the late 1970s, I would watch Sesame Street on channel 7. This was back before we had cable TV, and we only got a handful of stations on the over-the-air antennae. As I got older I spent more time watching PBS because I enjoyed their nature and documentary shows. After getting married, and especially after having kids, I began to rely on PBS even more. It was a great place to learn something useful amongst the ever-increasing crap on TV. My small kids loved Clifford, Between the Lions, Curious George and Arthur. My wife and I regularly watched Nature and Nova - something I still do to this day. I enjoy watching all the many mini-series that PBS airs now-a-days, but I also still watch some of the regular programs too - like Secrets of the Dead.

After congress voted to de-fund CPB, I finally decided to donate to my local station. I feel bad that it took me so long to do it - especially since I've been enjoying the content for so many years. However, give I did! And it appears that I wasn't the only one either. I am hearing of an out-pouring of money since the defunding. That is good, and hopefully our local station will still be able to air many of the shows that I have come to love.

One benefit of donating now is that you gain access to PBS Passport - the online archive of PBS shows. My wife and I have been taking advantage of that and watching series that we never quite got around to - like Miss Scarlet. That is a wonderful series about a "lady detective" in Victorian London. Of course it was produced by Masterpiece, which always does a good job. If you are a murder/mystery/crime/English TV fan then I highly recommend that you give it a try. And if you are a fan of great television without tons of advertising then I encourage you, even more strongly, to donate to PBS and help keep this great resource alive.