Funding cut to force
public TV to drop shows

The award-winning 'Spectrum Hawaii'
is among the casualties

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii Public Television must cancel two popular local productions -- "Dialog" and "Spectrum Hawaii" -- and reduce staff and hours because of a 50 percent cut in state funding, station officials said today.

The House had proposed cutting 50 percent of the station's $1.3 million budget, while the Senate wanted to eliminate it entirely.

The final figure was $670,000 -- "lesser of two evils," said Don Robbs, HPTV executive director and general manager.

He said the effect is "devastating" and "will change Hawaii Public Television as we know it."

He said the loss of "Dialog," Hawaii's only live call-in news and public-affairs program, "will be hard on us all."

The show gave viewers a forum to express opinions on subjects ranging from health care to prison reform, he said.

"'Dialog' is Hawaii's voice," said Edward Robello, director of program production and executive producer. "For 20 years, this has been the place to ask questions and get answers, and the community has really come to count on it."

"Dialog's" final program will be broadcast June 26.

"Spectrum," an Emmy Award-winning series, has been on the air 15 years and is the only program representing Hawaii's culture and arts. It is the longest-running culture-and-arts show in the country.

Robello said it's been "an ambassador to the world. And watching the show is like discovering Hawaii all over again."

At least six jobs associated with the shows will be abolished, Robbs said.

Broadcast hours will be reduced to seven hours on weekend days and an as-yet-undetermined amount on weekdays, starting in September.

PBS Direct, a direct program feed from the mainland, will be available for viewers with cable access during nonbroadcast hours.

Robbs said the station's funding has been reduced 76 percent since 1993.