Legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite passed away earlier this evening  at the age of 92.

Walter Cronkite was known as “the most trusted man in America”. He reported on major news events like the assassination of President Kennedy, the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights and Watergate with a level of professionalism that most reporters today still aspire to (or they should).

He probably said it the best at the end of his final broadcast on March 6, 1981:

"Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away, they just keep coming back for more. And that’s the way it is."

Like many people in Ottawa, I have watched WPBS-TV from Watertown, NY,  on Rogers cable over the years. CBC has a story on their website about Rogers’ decision to replace the Watertown public television broadcaster with the PBS station in Detroit, effective August 18th. According to the story, WPBS only learned of this decision when an Ottawa viewer emailed them. WPBS’s website has an urgent message to their viewers about this.

20% of WPBS’ viewers are based in Eastern Ontario and those 20% contribute 70% of the money they raise through their funding drives. So, being pulled from Rogers Ottawa is going to have a serious impact on their fund raising.

According to the customer service rep I talked to at Rogers when I called to voice my feelings, they made this decision based on comments received over the last few years that people want PBS Detroit because it has a digital signal. She also told me that she’s been receiving a lot of calls from people who are unhappy with this decision, which she has been relaying to her management.

I asked if they couldn’t just assign it a new channel slot instead of removing it completely, but all she could say is that she has been passing questions like these upwards. Incidentally, if you have a digital cable box, you already have access to the Detroit PBS station on channel 163.

If you’re upset about this decision, the best thing you can do is let Rogers know ASAP. You can reach them by phone at 1-888-764-3771 or through their website at http://www.rogers.com/contactus. If enough people complain, they might just reconsider their decision.