C-SPAN Bus program

The C-SPAN Bus Program is an umbrella term for the activity surrounding several vehicles that have been used by C-SPAN since 1993, starting with the C-SPAN School Bus. The inspiration for the bus program was at least partly taken from Douglas Brinkley's book The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey, which described Prof. Brinkley's experiences taking groups of college students on tours of historic sites around the U.S.[1] The first C-SPAN school bus began its service in 1993, and a second bus was introduced in 1996.[2] In 2010, the C-SPAN Digital Bus and the first Local Content Vehicle debuted, and the original two buses were retired.[3]

C-SPAN digital bus, 2010

C-SPAN School Buses

The original two buses served as mobile television studios, with technical facilities and an interview area that could be used for production of live or taped content. Between them, the two original C-SPAN School Buses visited all fifty U.S. states, and over 2,000 communities.[4] They were used for many of the remote programs produced by C-SPAN, including their programs on the Lincoln–Douglas Debates, the American tour of Alexis de Tocqueville, the American Presidents series, the American Writers series, and many more.

In January 1995, C-SPAN was awarded the Golden CableACE Award for programming and educational efforts related to the C-SPAN School Bus.[5]

The C-SPAN bus has hosted over 1.5 million visitors, which includes 40,000 teachers and 800,000 students.

C-SPAN Digital Bus
The C-SPAN Digital Bus, which launched in June 2010
C-SPAN Digital Bus covering the 2016 election

The C-SPAN digital bus was introduced in June 2010.[6] It is a 45-foot Prevost coach, and was custom-built by Creative Mobile Interiors of Grove City, Ohio.[7]

Local Content Vehicles

In 2010, in addition to the Digital Bus, C-SPAN introduced a Local Content Vehicle ("LCV"), a Ford Transit Connect specially outfitted for use in producing content from locations around the country. This program was later expanded to include a total of three vehicles.[8] Each of the three vehicles is staffed by one person, and is equipped with a video camera and a laptop editor.

In 2011, C-SPAN introduced the Local Content Vehicles Cities Tour, in which all three of the LCVs would spend a week in a particular city, gathering content to be aired shortly thereafter over the course of a weekend. Typically, one vehicle would focus on history and historic sites in a particular city; another would focus on aspects of that city related to books; and the third would focus on community relations, in co-operation with the local cable provider. Between May and December 2011, the LCVs visited eight U.S. cities following this pattern. The practice was renewed in 2012, with visits to six other cities scheduled between January and June. Typically, the footage and interviews from a particular city visit would air three to four weeks after the visit took place.

In 2013, C-SPAN expanded their LCV fleet from three vehicles to six, allowing the network to double the number of cities it visits each month.[9][10]

Cities visited on LCV tours
CityProgramming originally airedExamples of content
Tampa, FloridaMay 28–29, 2011[11]Discussion with Scott Deitche about the Trafficante crime family;
Discussion of the Rough Riders in Tampa
Savannah, GeorgiaJune 25–26, 2011[12]Tour of Flannery O'Connor's childhood home;
Discussion of artifacts at the Georgia Historical Society
Charleston, South CarolinaJuly 30–31, 2011[13]Tour of the Charleston Library Society;
Interview with former Senator Fritz Hollings
Frankfort, KentuckyAugust 27–28, 2011[14]Interview with Mike Veach, author of The Social History of Bourbon;
Discussion of the assassination of William Goebel
Charlotte, North CarolinaSeptember 24–25, 2011[15]Interview with Kevin Morgan Watson of Press53 Publishing
Discussion of Gen. Cornwallis and the Battle of Charlotte
Knoxville, TennesseeOctober 29–30, 2011[16]Discussion of the 1982 World's Fair;
Discussion of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Birmingham, AlabamaNovember 26–27, 2011[17]Interview with Rick Bragg;
Discussion of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail
Baton Rouge, LouisianaDecember 24–25, 2011[18]Tour of the Slave Narratives Collection of Southern University's John B. Cade Library;
Tour of the Old Louisiana State Capitol
Beaumont, TexasFebruary 4–5, 2012[19]Tour of The Book Bazaar;
Tour of the Texas Energy Museum
Shreveport, LouisianaMarch 3–4, 201[20]Tour of the James Smith Noel Collection at the Noel Memorial Library, Louisiana State University in Shreveport;
Discussion of the history of the B-52 bomber
Little Rock, ArkansasMarch 31 - April 1, 2012[21]Interview with David Welky, author of The Thousand-Year Flood (about the Ohio River flood of 1937);
Discussion of the Presidential Gift Collection of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library
Oklahoma City, OklahomaMay 5–6, 2012[22]Tour of the University of Oklahoma's Bizzell Memorial Library's collection of works on the history of science
Tour of the Oklahoma State Capitol
Wichita, KansasJune 2–3, 2012[23]Tour of the Special Collections at the Wichita State University Library
Tour of the Kansas Aviation Museum
Jefferson City, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri		June 30 - July 1, 2012[24]Tour of the Special Collections area of the University of Missouri's Ellis Library
Tour of the Missouri State Museum's 1904 World's Fair collection

References
  1. Douglas Brinkley - Slate Magazine
  2. Home front: Area man drives C-SPAN bus | chronicle.augusta.com
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2013-09-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. http://www.thesandspur.org/news/c-span-bus-rolls-on-through-1.2389117#.T5X8N9UdySo%5B%5D
  5. HBO Takes Bulk of Prizes at the CableACE Awards - Los Angeles Times
  6. MyEugene » Maintenance Mode
  7. Creative Mobile Interiors, Inc. creates dynamic mobile marketing vehicles
  8. Decked out Sprinter is the ultimate tailgating machine
  9. Rothtstein, Betsy. "C-SPAN Rolls Out Second Fleet of Tricked Out Vehicles". FishbowlDC. MediaBistro. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  10. "C-SPAN Launches Second Fleet Of Vehicles For Bringing Local American Literary Stories, History To National Audience" (PDF) (Press release). C-SPAN. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  11. May 28-29, 2011
  12. June 25-26, 2011
  13. July 30-31, 2011
  14. August 27-28, 2011
  15. September 24-25, 2011
  16. October 29-30, 2011
  17. November 26-27, 2011
  18. December 24-25, 2011
  19. February 4-5, 2012
  20. March 3-4, 2012
  21. March 31 - April 1, 2012
  22. May 5-6, 2012
  23. June 2-3, 2012
  24. June 30 - July 1, 2012
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