Latest news with #AntiquesRoadShow
Chicago Tribune
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: The Corporation for Public Broadcast is ‘winding down.' What does that mean for public radio and TV?
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced Friday that it will 'begin an orderly wind-down of its operations following the passage of a federal rescissions package… which excludes funding for CPB for the first time in more than five decades.' The budget for the next two years was $550 million per year, or $1.1 billion total. What does that mean for audiences who rely on public radio and television? In Chicago, that includes WBEZ and WTTW, but stations across the country will all be affected to some degree. Josh Shepperd is a professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and the author of 'Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting.' A Chicago native and WBEZ alum (where he was a broadcast engineer), he shares some initial insights. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Q: What is the Corporation for Broadcasting and what role does it play in public radio and TV? A: The CBP was founded with the Public Broadcasting Act in 1967 in order to mitigate a possible political influence of the government on a publicly-funded broadcasting unit. If it were state-based media, then it would be propaganda messaging directly from the political party in power. So the CBP is one degree of separation through a corporation to a series of content creators, of which most are registered as non-profits. That's the affiliate network and there's about 1,500 of them. And what the CPB does is, it receives the money (allocated by the government) and then distributes that through block grants. NPR and PBS do get some of that, but last I read, NPR only gets 1% and PBS gets 15%, although it changes each year. But the affiliates (the individual stations) can get anywhere from 8% to 70% of their budget from the CBP. In Boston, for example, they get a lot of donations and don't need as much federal money. They'll have a sales structure where they produce a show like 'Antiques Road Show' and it will be purchased by a number of PBS affiliates. But the stations getting a higher percentage of the CBP budget are typically in rural areas, like Cairo, Illinois, that do not have the capacity for a lot of fundraising. And so what happens is, a lot of that money goes to operations and it essentially runs the transmitters or the antenna. The cutting of the CPB is a very extreme blow because it's not just an attack on certain content, it's that they're removing the capacity to broadcast at all, because there are no operational funds to be on the air. Q: Will the end result be that many public radio and television stations cease to exist? A: I think we're looking at 10-15 stations — that's a speculative number — might fall out of FCC compliance, meaning they can not afford to maintain their license. So we'll see shutdowns. It will disproportionately affect Indigenous communities and First Nations broadcasting. Almost all the infrastructural money for (broadcasting on) the reservations comes from the CPB. So almost all of them will shut down. That's 20-something stations. In areas like far southern Illinois that aren't Southern Illinois University territory, so not Carbondale — they have a TV and a radio station, and because it's based at a university, that's helped to maintain some stabilization of public media in rural areas — but a really rural part an hour or two away, those areas will be without local news completely because all the corporations that bought the local newspapers have disinvested in local journalism. It essentially nationalizes content for those areas, so that local cultures no longer exist to themselves anymore. Q: The reason the CPB is 'winding down' is because they exist to distribute federal funds and now there is zero money for them to distribute? A: It's mind-blowing in a lot of ways. I think it's possible it will come back, or it will wind down to a skeleton that can be rebuilt later. But it's like the spine within the body; without the spine, you have a bunch of organs and some flesh. It's everything. Without the CPB, you don't have public media — although you might still have NPR and PBS, because they might be able to find self-sustaining ways to continue to make programs. But it ceases to be public media as we understand it. Q: How might this affect the Chicago market? A: It's going to hurt everyone. It is safe to say that WTTW, which is one of the 10 major public television stations in the country — it produces content, it has a wide and loyal viewership — will almost inevitably have to make layoffs. It will probably affect the kinds of content they're able to produce. It will affect educational outreach. It will decimate every station to some extent. They will probably get an increase in donations for a while, and if the political winds change again, they could rebuild the CPB. But in the interim, it'll be very bad. I try to be moderate in explaining how this works, but this is an ideological project to remove local news access from rural communities, which only have one or two news sources. It eliminates access to information within one's own community. This is about changing the information ecosystem that eliminates local news and replaces it with national news. Q: The situation sounds dire. A: I would call it the most dire situation I've ever seen for any public media system in the west, including Europe. Most of the media we interact with is commercial media, like HBO or something like that. But it's fundamentally different in non-commercial and public media in that public media is built around a mission statement, not the attempt to recoup an investment and profit. It's built around an idea or a principle, and the principle is equal access to information. Before the '60s, it was all educational and called educational television, and it was there to provide equal access to education during segregation. So the idea for public media is to realize democratic access. The entire purpose of it is different from commercial media — even though I love commercial media a lot — so it's really important for democracy that we have this experiment going. And it's such a nominal cost, it's something like $1.60 per person per year.
Daily Record
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Antiques Road Trip's Christina Trevanion's life off screen from 'unexpected' health scare to cancer heartbreak
Christina Trevanion's journey to BBC fame has not come without its ups an downs as we explore the life of the famous auctioneer and valuer... Christina Trevanion has become a well-known figure on the BBC's daytime programming, known for her appearances on popular antiques shows such as Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Show. The TV star's fascination with antiques began in her childhood, when she would visit various auctions with her parents. Her passion for antiques was sparked early on, inspired by her mother Hazel's own interest for vintage treasures and the story they hold. This shared interest led Christina to study Fine Art Valuation at Southampton Solent University, laying the foundation for her career in the field and on screens, the Express reports. In 2014, Christina transformed her lifelong passion into a successful profession by launching Trevanion Auctioneers & Valuers. The auction house quickly earned a strong reputation for quality and trust within the antiques industry. Over the years, Christina has established herself as a respected authority in the field. Her commitment and skills were formally acknowledged seven years ago when she became a member of the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers (NAVA). Now that the BBC TV personality has returned to the daytime series, The Travelling Auctioneers, here is everything you need to know about Christina Trevanion - from her life off screen to her recent health scare. Christina's home and family life Christina made her first appearance on TV in 2013 as a valuer and researcher on the BBC show Flog It!. Since then, she has become a familiar face on several other fan favourite shows - Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. According to her BBC profile, she lives in the gorgeous Shropshire countryside. While Christina prefers to keep her personal life out of the spotlight, it's known she is married to Aaron Dean, and the couple have two daughters together. She has previously described their family life as "noisy, hectic, and good fun" mentioning their dog named Welly. In a heartfelt post from 2019, Christina reflected on her wedding day and honoured the memory of her late father, David, who passed away in 2013. The year before, in 2018, she expressed her heartbreak on X (formally known as Twitter) while responding to a news headline about England having the "worst ever" cancer waiting times. She posted: 'My grandfather died from cancer. My father died from cancer. I have two close friends both currently suffering with cancer. Both on long waiting lists. Both getting poorlier. This headline is so desperately frustrating." Hospital scare In February 2024, The Travelling Auctioneers narrator sparked concern among fans after posting a photo from what appeared to be a hospital bed, revealing she had made an "unexpected" visit. Although she didn't disclose the reason for her hospital stay, the image showed her arm with a drip attached and a name tag around her wrist. Life outside of filming When Christina is not on the road for Antiques Road Trip or uncovering hidden treasures on Bargain Hunt, Christina loves to spend her downtime with her family and friends. "As a busy mum of two, with a full-time job and a part-time job, I don't get a lot of free time, so when I do it is spent with my family and friends, in my garden, at home," she previously told the BBC. Based on her instagram posts, Christina seems to have a love for the outdoors, posting photos of her relaxing in her flower-filled garden or on various trips across the world. Cornwall appears to be one of her favourite spots. In September, the TV star shared a snap of the stunning coast alongside the caption: "And breathe! A thalassophile in her happy place. Oh to be back in #Cornwall."
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
A Century Since The Waterproof Watch, Rolex Still Rules The Luxury Market
In the age of digital everything, the Rolex brand of mechanical watches keeps on ticking. What's the secret to its success? A 2020 episode of the PBS television series Antiques Road Show featured an Air Force veteran learning that the Rolex watch he'd bought nearly 50 years earlier for $345.95 was a rare model, estimated to be worth as much as $700,000. The shocked veteran playfully pretended to faint and a video of the segment went viral, collecting 16 million views to date. The watch in question was made in 1971, an Oyster model descended from the world's first waterproof wristwatch, invented by Rolex in 1926. The price the veteran paid is cheap by today's standards, but at the time about equal to a month's salary. The watch was in perfect condition, barely worn. What made it especially valuable was that Paul Newman, a Hollywood megastar, had prominently worn that model Rolex in the 1969 hit 'Winning,' a film about the high-stakes world of car racing where seconds count. More than 50 years later—to millions of watch dealers, collectors, and enthusiasts—the model is today known as the 'Paul Newman Rolex Daytona.' (The actual watch, the one Newman owned and wore in the film, sold in 2017 for nearly $18 million.) In the history of modern retailing, there are few luxury brands that have survived a century or more and retained their cache—think Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier. None have the clout that Rolex has in its category. Luxury watches have long been a status purchase, but about a decade ago—around the time that China was beginning to boom and minting a generation of new wealth—prices of vintage models began to shoot up and the market for new watches exploded. Expensive brand-name watches in general became a pseudo-investment category, much like gold. Examples like the one that showed up in Fargo, North Dakota on Antiques Road Show fueled frenzied trading in vintage models, flipping of new models, and rampant counterfeiting. What makes the Rolex story unique is that a brand known for exquisitely designed and manufactured mechanical watches is, in the digital age, more popular than ever. According to Morgan Stanley, which puts out an annual report prepared by LuxeConsult, Rolex sells about twice as many watches as its nearest competitor, Cartier. According to the report for 2024, Rolex represented a third of the entire Swiss watch industry, and nearly 45% of the market for pre-owned watches. So, what's the secret to the Rolex juggernaut? For starters, since 1960 the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust named for the brand's co-founder. Unlike many luxury brands, it has been insulated from the vagaries of the stock market and activist shareholders. It isn't an asset in the portfolio of a large holding company. In fact, Rolex is a nonprofit which reports that it donates its profits to various charities involved in the arts as well as social and environmental issues. The most important factor was the decision the company made in the 1960s to position its product as an 'exceptional watch for special people,' according to Pierre-Yves Donzé, author of a book about the company's history. In an interview published by Bloomberg last year, Donzé said the Swiss watch industry at the time was still marketing itself on the basis of Swiss craftsmanship and quality. 'The idea came from Americans and the advertising company J. Walter Thompson,' he said. 'This made Rolex a symbol of social achievement, of individual success and so on.' Thus, Paul Newman came to prominently wear a Rolex Oyster in a blockbuster movie, and thousands of celebrities since have been similarly seen, photographed and filmed wearing the latest $50,000-and-up model. The company has more recently taken steps to further insulate itself from the vagaries of the market. In 2023, Rolex bought Bucherer, one of the world's largest watch retailers. To deal with the proliferation of counterfeits, last year the company began a program to sell 'certified pre-owned' watches. It was seen as a radical but brilliant move, protecting the brand by giving customers the security of knowing the watch they're buying is definitely a Rolex, and that it has been refurbished by Rolex. Like millions of other aspiring young executives, I treasure the moment early in my career when I bought my first Rolex. The metal strap was so well designed that at times I hardly knew I had it on, it fit so well. Wearing it gave me an extra measure of confidence and it was a beautiful piece of jewelry. As an example of how to build and manage a brand, the Rolex story continues to inspire and inform.
