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2002-02-12
It is another one of those, we can't change because that
is the way we have been doing it since negative infinity. And once a precedent
is set, it must remain that way, come hell or high water, until positive
infinity.
Or, if we change, our viewers would be confused.
Translation: I'm a dummy and don't understand the present method, but I'm
use to it, and changing to a "better" method may help most understand, but being
the ignoramus that I am, I won't figure the new way out fast enough and for a
few moments, I'm going to look like an ass, and I refuse to allow myself to be
embarrassed. So, I'm going to lie and say nobody wants to
change.
In other words, you typical, predictable
excuse.
John
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, 2002-02-11 22:12
Subject: [USMA:18160] Re: The day begins
at midnight -- or does it? An adventure in TV land.
ludicrous!
D.
I signed up on The Learning Channel's site to
receive reminders of TV shows I want to see but might forget
about. On the sign-up page I noted a couple of things and sent in
these comments:
>1. When I signed up, I entered my zip code:
20877-3501, but this was
noted as invalid. It only accepted
20877.
>2. I looked up the schedule for the World Trade Center
special. It
>indicated:
>Wednesday, February 6, 10:00
pm
>Wednesday, February 6, 1:00 am
>Sunday, February 10, 6:00
pm
>It seems that the first two are out of order.
And quickly came a
cheerful and rather interesting response:
Thanks for your note and feedback! At the present
time, our registration
process is only set up to take a 5-digit zip,
not the full 5-plus-4. That
may change soon,
however.
Regarding the program broadcast times -- Sometime back in
the early days of
television, the standard broadcast day was set at
6am to 6am, instead of
12midnight to 12midnight. This standard
has been used by television
networks ever since, even though we now
have 24-hour programming. I'm not
sure why the industry doesn't
change the system, but I guess some
traditions are harder to break
than others. If you check other networks,
like History Channel,
A&E, HGTV, etc., they all use the 6am to 6am grid
since the online
folks get their programming information directly from the
TV
scheduling departments. It's confusing, I know, and I hope that one
day
soon everyone will switch over. At any rate, when you look
at one of our
daily TV program grids, just know that it *is*
chronological, so anything
at the bottom of the grid after midnight is
actually the next calendar day.
Fighting tradition is a
never-ending battle on many fronts.
Carleton
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