C-SPAN is launching a "LCV Cities Tour" during which the history and literary life of eight southeastern cities (one each month) will be featured on the network's non-fiction book channel (BookTV on C-SPAN2) and history channel (American History TV on C-SPAN3).
C-SPAN producers are travelling the eight-month tour in specially detailed Ford Transit Connect vehicles, which C-SPAN has dubbed its "Local Content Vehicles," or "LCVs."
The tour will visit Bright House Networks, Tampa, Fla., next week (May 9 week) with content airing May 28-29; Comcast in Savannah, Ga., the week of June 6 (airs June 25-26); Comcast in Charleston, S.C., the week of July 4 (airs July 30-31); Time Warner Cable in Charlotte, N.C., the week of Sept. 5 (airs Sept. 24-25); Comcast in Knoxville, Tenn., the week of Oct. 3 (airs Oct. 29-30); BHN in Birmingham, Ala., the week of Nov. 7 (airs Nov. 26-27) and Cox Communications in Baton Rouge, La., the week of Dec. 5 (airs Dec. 24-25).
An earlier visit to Frankfort Plant Board in Frankfort, Ky., will air the weekend of Aug. 27-28.
C-SPAN producers spend one week in each of the selected cities, visiting various literary and historic sites, and interviewing local historians, authors and civic leaders. Each member of the LCV team, led by longtime C-SPAN manager Debbie Lamb, is equipped to shoot and edit video on location as well as make presentations to the community about the work they do for the network.
Meantime, with representatives of our cable affiliates, the LCV team will visit schools, civic associations, and other key community organizations, talking about cable's longtime commitment to public service through carriage of the C-SPAN channels.
During C-SPAN's inaugural tour stop in Tampa/St. Petersburg, which begins Monday, May 9, the network also will record interviews about the city's plans for the 2012 Republican national convention. C-SPAN will do likewise during a later visit to Charlotte, NC, site of the 2012 Democratic national convention.
In Tampa/St. Petersburg, C-SPAN is partnering with local cable affiliate Bright House Networks, which is helping to advise upon and organize the week's many logistics.
A May 9 press conference at the Tampa Bay History Center kicks off C-SPAN's week of video production in Tampa/St. Petersburg and launches the national project.
"C-SPAN has two primary goals with our LCV Cities Tour," C-SPAN co-president Susan Swain said in a statement. "The first is to more systematically go beyond the Washington beltway for our non-fiction book and history programming and highlight for our national audiences some of the unique culture and history of the cities we visit. Secondly, with our LCV project, we want to continue our long tradition of partnering with affiliates in their communities, with schools, elected officials, and the general public."
C-SPAN's LCV initiative also will incorporate extensive digital and social media outreach, including use of Twitter, Facebook, foursquare, and online streaming on C-SPAN websites.
C-SPAN video from each city will be archived -- and easily searchable, clippable, and shareable -- through C-SPAN's Peabody Award-winning online Video Library.
