| |
 | | |
Home
> All About Engineering > Projects
> Aboriginal Broadcasting
| | |
| |
Aboriginal
Broadcasting
|  |
Types of Engineering
involved: Communications
Broadcasting uses communication technologies to send one television or
radio signal to a lot of people at the same time. About twenty years ago, the
only television shows people could get in the North were filmed and produced in
the south. These shows might have been entertaining, but they certainly didn't
represent what life is really like for people living in northern Aboriginal communities.
So, over time, a number of local, Aboriginal communications societies began producing
programming "of social, cultural and linguistic importance to their own peoples."
The first of these was Inuit Broadcasting (IBC) in the eastern Arctic, which was
established in the early 1980s. Television Northern Canada (TVNC) was formed in
1991 when IBC and a number of other societies, like Inuvialuit Communications
Society and Northern Native Broadcasting, joined together. They formed a pan-Northern
broadcaster which serviced communities from the Yukon/Alaska border to the Atlantic
coast of Labrador.
From 1991 to 1999, TVNC served an area of 4.3 million
square kilometers, a bit over one-third of Canada. It had an audience of about
100,000 people, more than half of whom were Aboriginal. These people came from
15 different Native language groups. Each of the languages, plus French and English,
were represented during TVNC's 100 hours of weekly programming.
From
1997 through 1999, TVNC's Board of Directors worked very hard towards their next
goal; the creation of a pan-Canadian broadcast network focused on Aboriginal programming.
It applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC - Canada's broadcast licensing body) in June 1998 for a license to create
the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). The license was awarded in February
1999., APTN began broadcasting from its Winnipeg headquarters in September 1,
1999.
APTN now broadcasts Aboriginal programming produced in both the
North and South to more than 8 million homes across Canada via cable television,
direct-to-home satellite and wireless services. It's license was modified in early
2001 so that it could show case more Aboriginal television, film and documentaries
from outside of Canada. The network is now allowed to broadcast up to 30% of its
content from shows produced in places like Australia, New Zealand, Finland and
the United States.
Television broadcasters require communications engineers
in order to maintain, modify and program both the equipment used to film shows
- cameras, microphones, computers, VCRs - and the equipment used to broadcast
shows - satellites dishes, antennas etc… They also require other types of
engineers, like building and civil engineers, to maintain their buildings and
facilities. There are many opportunities for engineers in the broadcast industry.
| | | Back
to Top |
| |  |
| | Copyright © 1999 - Native Access
| |
