A.G. Gancarski
Will the Kosher Kowboy saddle up once more?
Last month, we wrote of the plans of Comcast in Jacksonville to get rid of local public access programming. That did come to pass on June 20, and the results have been catastrophic. For the most part, there is no programming at all on this channel now, and likely won’t be until Jacksonville City Council picks back up in late July.
Unbeknownst to us at the time, Rick “The Kosher Kowboy” Fryefield, a veteran of Jacksonville cable television, was mounting an effort behind the scenes to try to get his time slot back.
On May 26, Fryefield called 630-CITY looking for help, hoping to get time on the now fallow channel. He wanted to know who could help him. He’s still wanting to know, if a review of emails from the public record is any indication.
On June 3, some clarity came from the Office of the General Counsel’s John Sawyer who replied that “the now terminated contract was administered by Public Works, and I know Dave DeCamp has some familiarity with the issue. I do not know what the City’s plans are with regard to any programming moving forward, and that is a determination that must be made by the administration.”
DeCamp punted to council secretary Cheryl Brown, who in turn punted back, and so it went until June 12, when Fryefield’s position was presented in the email chain as a desire for “sharing” airtime with city council.
Indeed, that sounds like a delightful concept. The only thing that would make a five-hour Council meeting even more lively would be musical interludes of Opry style classic country. Dueling banjos during public comment would do boffo ratings, for sure. Steel guitars during endless discussions of zoning variances? Even better.
Well, a May 28 email from Mary Lawson of Intra-governmental Affairs reveals that no clarity has yet to be provided on this issue. It cites DeCamp punting the issue, saying that it “may be a matter to be taken up after the transition” and that the administration has no authority in the issue anyway.
Alvin Brown, DeCamp’s boss until Tuesday, had a cozy relationship with Comcast, going so far as to advocate its proposed merger with Time Warner.
The letter reads like parody, referring to Comcast as an “exemplary community partner.” The merger, we are assured, would have been a boon for customers in terms of technology and service.
Perhaps the former mayor knew something about Comcast that I don’t.
At any rate, it has been almost two weeks since public access cable died in Jacksonville. It has been replaced, by and large, by dead air. What could be more Comcastic?
