Dear Supporters and Users of the late lamented Reno-Sparks-Washoe community TV station:

Since the 2010 demise of community TV after a 19-year run, I have been working to bring the Phoenix back from the ashes. I'm getting close and now I need your help.

I have been contacting potential underwriters and have met some early success. I am now in critical followup meetings. They ask a lot of questions, but one keeps coming up: How much community support do you have?

The big boys know that only broad support from lots of little guys can make us too legit to quit.

Big possibilities are opening up. We may have both a brand new community channel and renovation of the old one. We also have the potential of expanding on all fronts via the airwaves —> not only cutting-edge wireless but old-fashioned/now-digitized over-the-air transmission.

And if we get this on, I will see to it that all the work we put into community radio begun in 2008-2009 will finally come to fruition. New fm radio potential has just opened up.

Further down the road, I envision building statewide radio/TV networks featuring programming produced by the people.

We are now acquiring broadcast equipment. It is a rather expensive phase.

Unlike the former structure, there is no public money available to operate this new entity.

Please donate what you can afford. To those who have already become founding supporters, thank you so much.

You may contribute online by clicking in the TV set image, below.

You may also send a check or money order payable to U-News, P.O. Box 10034, Reno NV 89510.

Because of the corporate onslaught, community stations have been dropping like flies across the country. We must get non-corporate alternative media off the endangered species list.

I know times are tight, but this is important. Retrogressives have a much bigger megaphone.

Keep up the good work and the good fight. And stay tuned.

Thanks.

Be well. Raise hell.

Andrew Barbano
CesarChavezNevada.com
NevadaLabor.com
ReSurge.TV / Barbwire.TV
P.O. Box 10034
Reno, NV 89510
775-882-8255 [882-TALK]

CWA 9413/AFL-CIO

Railway engineer gives his perspective on the fiery and fatal Trinity, Nevada, tractor-trailer/AMTRAK crash
UPDATED 7-3-2011

Support the return of community broadcasting to Reno, Sparks and Washoe County, Nevada — To donate, just click within the TV set image, below. Thank you.

TALKING UP CLEANER CARS — Andrew Barbano interviews Susan Clark, Ph.D., co-founder of REA250 / REA250.com, and Bob Tregilus of the Alternative Transportation Club, EAA / ElectricNevada.org. In the foreground is AccessCarson director Keith Barnett. (4-28-2009 / Larry DeVincenzi photo)

March 3, 2011

Dear Friends and Former Colleagues:

A plentiful plethora of programs once cablecast on the now-defunct Sierra Nevada Community Access Television (Reno-Sparks-Washoe) now reside on a sputtering RAID server at the former location in Reno's Meadowood Mall. Production guru Steve Halliwell says it's in serious need of reformatting. There are a whopping 5+ terabytes of shows on the drive. (None of which are my old Barbwire shows. What was I, chopped liver?)

I've explored uploading them to an FTP server (it would take more than five days) or purchasing another drive and transferring them. A bit too Herculean of a task, according to experts I've contacted. Over and above all that, SNCAT producers usually kept copies of their shows, as did I. Since SNCAT went down, I've only had one request from someone looking to retrieve programs.

So, I am sending this bulletin to all --> and I mean ALL --> of my SNCAT and related e-lists. Pardon any irrelevancies or duplications as part of this last gasp in the next-to-last chapter of what's the use.

If you are looking to save your reruns for posterity before the Klingons nuke the Starship Enterprise, please contact Mr. Halliwell at <media.shalliwell@live.com>

Send him your show titles along with any other descriptive which might help him find them. There are LOTS of shows on the drive.

There will be a small service charge to dub the programs.

Please respond by Ash Wednesday, March 9. Death rays from Mars turn SNCAT to ashes shortly thereafter.

In addition to trying to save your old shows, I am trying to coax a Phoenix into rising from those ashes.

Both the City of Reno and the new proprietors of the former SNCAT location want to see a new version of public access return to Reno-Sparks-Washoe.

It will take the formation of a new 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation and it will require some capital investment. Anyone who would like to volunteer to serve on an exploratory committee, please let me know. I'll have time to work on it after César Chávez Day IX on March 31.

It's worth it, dammit.

This community invested 20 years in public access and the execution must not stand. I served on the founding board and am in contact with several of the die-hards from that happier time. We are ready to rock 'n' roll.

Thanks for all your past and future efforts.

Keep up the good work and the good fight.

Be well. Raise hell.

Andrew Barbano
CesarChavezNevada.com
NevadaLabor.com
ReSurge.TV / Barbwire.TV

CWA 9413/AFL-CIO

SUNDAY FEB. 21, 2010 — LIVE REGIONAL TV+webcast 6:00 p.m.
Rerun at 9:00 p.m. PST
SUING FOR SCHOOLS: A Barbwire Special
The case for making Nevada finally obey her constitutional mandate to provide for public education
Can we do any worse with a judge running the system?
Interview with Sen. Harry Reid

The Barbwire originated from Carson City during the 2009 and 2011 Nevada legislative sessions.

TALKING UP CLEANER CARS — Andrew Barbano interviews Susan Clark, Ph.D., co-founder of REA250 / REA250.com, and Bob Tregilus of the Alternative Transportation Club, EAA / ElectricNevada.org. In the foreground is AccessCarson director Keith Barnett. (4-28-2009 / Larry DeVincenzi photo)

Barbwire column on the depredations of Charter Communications and the Reno City Council wins 2009 Nevada Press Assocation first-place award