[PRCo] Re: impact of TV

[Jim Holland]

Hi Ed!

	Thanks for the clarification; Fred had written privately with
similar comments.

	I also remember that cable  *promised*  to bring TV sans
commie--mercials  --  Promises Promises!


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [PRCo] Re: impact of TV
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 11:16:24 -0400
From: "Edward H. Lybarger" <twg at pulsenet.com>
Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>

Fred's and my point is not that TV didn't kill transit.  It's
that West Penn decided to get out of the trolley business before
TV was a factor, and that TV should not be cited as a (or THE)
reason.  Obviously, people in the northern end of the service
area could view channel 3 and probably stayed home to watch it. 
But my friend from Uniontown, whose family had a TV early, says
that reception was so bad you could hardly tell what was going
on.  So how big was the novelty factor in encouraging people to
watch snow?

We also wouldn't quarrel with the argument that TV may have
advanced the date of the abandonment petition by a short
time...maybe a few months.  But that was after the basic decision
had been made.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org]On Behalf
Of
Harold Geissenheimer
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 7:02 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] impact of TV

Fred

It does not matter when West Penn first mentioned TV

The fact remains that TV helped kill transit.  I watched this at
Montour Motor Coiach 1950-51 and at Harmony l951-60 and at
Citizens Transit-Oil City l950-53. Thats was the end of evening
riding,

Also the 5 day week killed Saturday and shopping centers killed
downtown.  Citizen's purchased 5 new diesel buses in l949 and was
out of business in 5 years.

Harold Geissenheimer