Still here for you
Arkansas PBS committed to mission
Arkansas PBS, Arkansas’ only statewide public media network and only broadcaster with statewide reach, has been serving families with free, over-the-air programming for over five decades, reaching communities with limited or no access to reliable Internet service.
So, when Arkansas schools closed for the safety of students and families, Arkansas PBS immediately shifted focus to the services that could best help our state at this time. In midMarch, Arkansas PBS joined with the dedicated folks at Arkansas’ Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on Arkansas AMI (Alternative Methods of Instruction) to keep students learning from home, combining the skills of some of Arkansas’ most talented educators with programs from PBS Kids, America’s most trusted programming for children.
Arkansas PBS is also providing professional development to over 60,000 Arkansas educators through our ArkansasIDEAS online portal, as well as free national and local classroom content through Arkansas PBS LearningMedia. Through our many education tools, we are reaching students, teachers and families statewide, over the air and online, when they need that access the most.
A compelling team of Arkansas Teachers of the Year serves as hosts for teaching segments within Arkansas AMI, adding an engagement component and personalized Arkansas touch. And Arkansas AMI continues to innovate, adding instructional content from local community partners like Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Using the power of television, multiple digital platforms and the app environment, Arkansas AMI offers compelling curriculum-based programming each weekday through May 22, specifically designed for the state’s pre-K through eighth-grade students. This same broadcast content is available via livestream, on-demand and by archive at myarkansaspbs. org/ArkansasAMI, on the Engage Arkansas PBS app, on the PBS Video app on Apple TV and Roku, and via subscription to YouTube TV. Lesson plans from DESE augment the AMI learning experience.
Arkansas PBS’ education partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education is indicative of our state’s priority to offer unrestricted access to education for pre-K through eighthgrade students and has been highlighted nationally by The Hechinger Report, NBC News and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s podcast Playful Practice.
Arkansas PBS is producing more content on a weekly basis than before the crisis, and our audience data reflect the value of this content to our communities. Usage of ArkansasIDEAS professional development has almost doubled, and we are working to keep Arkansans informed through virtual episodes of Arkansas Week and specials related to covid-19, broadcast coverage of Governor Hutchinson’s covid-19 updates, broadcast and livestream of the Arkansas State House of Representatives, and livestreams of virtual board and commission meetings through Arkansas Citizens Access Network (AR-CAN), all while continuing to provide the national and local PBS programming Arkansans love.
Currently, 76 percent of Arkansans receive our free over-the-air broadcast signal. Rising to the challenge of providing accessibility to the remaining Arkansans, we are building wide-ranging media tools including livestreaming and added digital platforms and apps while working to expand cable and satellite coverage in areas where broadcast gaps exists.
We are exploring transmitter updates and the new broadcast standard ATSC3.0 to be able to provide universal over-the-air coverage and crucial public-safety alerts to all Arkansans. Next Generation TV will offer innovations in education content and delivery and public safety with potential to create added over-the-air channels like AR-CAN with its civics education capabilities, or literally “preschool on the air” offering much-needed early learning resources for those small Arkansans who represent the future of our state.
The past weeks have been challenging for Arkansas students, parents, educators and families. Arkansas PBS has been there through the years for the people of our state, adapting and innovating to meet the needs of Arkansans, and we are here now as a partner and supporter, remaining deeply committed to our educational mission established decades ago.
In these unsettling times, we are a daily essential as the provider of free content and services, anytime and anywhere, on-air and online, educating and informing as vital community connectors, as the backbone of Arkansas’ emergency alert system, as both the home of high school sports championships and Arkansas state government transparency.
The state network model has proven to be the most efficient in public media when it comes to serving rural populations in largely rural states and we are grateful to the state of Arkansas for the vital operational support. We are honored to serve in this moment and vow to keep our essential services front and center in Arkansas communities.