Ian MacSpadden, Chief Technology Officer, Arizona Public Media (AZPM)
Wednesday May 17, 2023,
2:30-3:30 pm,
ASA Koffler Great Room & Zoom
Many of us have enjoyed public media for years. In addition to providing excellent educational programming, it is an engine for accessibility and public safety. Public media invented closed captioning, provides reading services for the blind and public safety messages to local communities. Today, with so many choices for content and communications, how does public media continue to remain relevant and keep its audience?
In this presentation, Ian MacSpadden starts by giving a brief history of radio and television and the technologies they have used. His focus, however, is on the advancements made in the digital age and how they affect public media. The mission of public media is not always the same as for-profit media, and he points out how these differences continue to motivate public media to remain a leader in the development and use of cutting edge technologies. By doing so, he asserts, public media will be able to maintain its relevancy and audience.
Ian MacSpadden has spent his career exploring local, network, and international media technologies. This has given him a front row seat to the migration of audiences from traditional broadcast media to web and mobile platforms. Recently, he led the team that launched the first PBS station in ATSC 3.0 (NextGenTv), the newest broadcast standard, as well as the first LED screen-based VR sets in Arizona. Today he is helping design the new AZPM facility in Tucson, which will be a model for making all Public Media Facilities future ready and relevant.
Compiled and Edited by Margo Vroman, Academy Village Volunteer
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