Localism and Low-Power Public Television on the Flathead Indian Reservation

Aw, it's just a mouthpiece for the tribe. . . . I can't figure out why the Indians wouldn't let us get the University station. . . . It's about the only TV that I watch. . . . It's a tremendous resource that is undervalued by most people. . . . You can't use those channels, we already bought a transmitter for that frequency. . . . KSPS from Spokane has all the PBS anyone needs. . . . What happened to Mystery? Can't you follow the schedule?

All of the above comments have been made about Salish Kootenai College's public television station at one time or another in its eleven-year history. Salish Kootenai College (SKC) is located on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana. SKC-TV is an over-the-air television station with four transmitters serving about eighteen thousand people, primarily on the reservation. The college has matured from a commuter institution, with six sites scattered around the 1.25 million acres of mountains and valleys of the reservation, to a centralized campus in Pablo, Montana. Student numbers total about 1,200 with over fifty tribes represented in its diverse population. The station has grown with the community and evolved as technology has allowed. This paper will explore the concept of low-power television (LPTV) in relation to SKC-TV.

SKC-TV began operation in 1988 with a low-power television transmitter and a translator. Television translators rebroadcast a signal on a different channel. In 1990 we added a translator that tripled the number of people served, and in 1993 a solar-powered translator was added to increase our service area to the south end of the reservation.

The Value of Local Service

As more outlets for entertainment become more accessible and more channels provide smaller slices of the demographic pie, what is the value of localism? It seems that a good part of what makes a community a community is the things that people have in common, their collective understandings. Those understandings come from sharing knowledge of what is happening in the community through things as simple as a television reader board of local messages or as complex as a ninety-minute documentary.

SKC-TV has originated a variety of programming: local sports, Salish and Kootenai language classes, an early childhood development class, Montana Serenade (a musical series), and local production of The Messiah. Cookin' with the Colonel is one of our viewers' favorites and has been written about in the New York Times. Cookin' is a thirteen-part series that features "Colonel" Doug Allard and his recipes for wild game--and we do mean wild. Some of the dishes featured have been duck jambalaya, wild game frittata, mountain lion, bison shiskabobs, and crispy grouse scallopini. A unique feature of the program is Bearhead Swaney, the taster. During the program, Doug and Bearhead trade barbs about everything from their hunting prowess to the virtues of garlic and broccoli. Doug runs a very successful trading post and auction business on the Flathead Reservation. He is a former secretary of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CS&KT). Bearhead is a former tribal councilman and council chair of CS&KT. In the seventies he became a well-known Indian activist and environmentalist. His specialty is acerbic criticism. On a break during the taping of one of the programs, Bearhead commented, "You know, Doug, of all the things we've done for the tribe and Indian people, you know what we're going to be remembered for? You for cooking and me for eating! And when the book of eating is written, I'll be one of the main chapters!"

Our longest running program is Extension Focus, a weekly half-hour format program with the local county extension agents. The program features everything from the usual home-ec and ranching/ farming issues to taxes, health insurance for the self-employed, 4-H, and...