The C-SPAN Bus Program is an umbrella term for the activity surrounding several vehicles that have been used by C-SPAN since 1993, starting with the C-SPAN School Bus. The inspiration for the bus program was at least partly taken from Douglas Brinkley's book The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey, which described Prof. Brinkley's experiences taking groups of college students on tours of historic sites around the U.S.Douglas Brinkley - Slate Magazine The first C-SPAN school bus began its service in 1993, and a second bus was introduced in 1996.Home front: Area man drives C-SPAN bus | chronicle.augusta.com In 2010, the C-SPAN Digital Bus and the first Local Content Vehicle debuted, and the original two buses were retired.
C-SPAN School Buses The original two buses served as mobile television studios, with technical facilities and an interview area that could be used for production of live or taped content. Between them, the two original C-SPAN School Buses visited all fifty U.S. states, and over 2,000 communities.http://www.thesandspur.org/news/c-span-bus-rolls-on-through-1.2389117#.T5X8N9UdySo They were used for many of the remote programs produced by C-SPAN, including their programs on the Lincoln–Douglas Debates, the American tour of Alexis de Tocqueville, the American Presidents series, the American Writers series, and many more.
In January 1995, C-SPAN was awarded the Golden CableACE Award for programming and educational efforts related to the C-SPAN School Bus.HBO Takes Bulk of Prizes at the CableACE Awards - Los Angeles Times
The C-SPAN bus has hosted over 1.5 million visitors, which includes 40,000 teachers and 800,000 students.
C-SPAN Digital Bus
The C-SPAN digital bus was introduced in June 2010.MyEugene » Maintenance Mode It is a 45-foot Prevost coach, and was custom-built by Creative Mobile Interiors of Grove City, Ohio.Creative Mobile Interiors, Inc. creates dynamic mobile marketing vehicles
Local Content Vehicles In 2010, in addition to the Digital Bus, C-SPAN introduced a Local Content Vehicle ("LCV"), a Ford Transit Connect specially outfitted for use in producing content from locations around the country. This program was later expanded to include a total of three vehicles.Decked out Sprinter is the ultimate tailgating machine Each of the three vehicles is staffed by one person, and is equipped with a video camera and a laptop editor.
In 2011, C-SPAN introduced the Local Content Vehicles Cities Tour, in which all three of the LCVs would spend a week in a particular city, gathering content to be aired shortly thereafter over the course of a weekend. Typically, one vehicle would focus on history and historic sites in a particular city; another would focus on aspects of that city related to books; and the third would focus on community relations, in co-operation with the local cable provider. Between May and December 2011, the LCVs visited eight U.S. cities following this pattern. The practice was renewed in 2012, with visits to six other cities scheduled between January and June. Typically, the footage and interviews from a particular city visit would air three to four weeks after the visit took place.
In 2013, C-SPAN expanded their LCV fleet from three vehicles to six, allowing the network to double the number of cities it visits each month.
Cities visited on LCV tours CityProgramming originally airedExamples of contentTampa, FloridaMay 28–29, 2011May 28-29, 2011 Discussion with Scott Deitche about the Trafficante crime family;Discussion of the Rough Riders in TampaSavannah, GeorgiaJune 25–26, 2011June 25-26, 2011Tour of Flannery O'Connor's childhood home;Discussion of artifacts at the Georgia Historical SocietyCharleston, South CarolinaJuly 30–31, 2011July 30-31, 2011Tour of the Charleston Library Society;Interview with former Senator Fritz HollingsFrankfort, KentuckyAugust 27–28, 2011August 27-28, 2011Interview with Mike Veach, author of The Social History of Bourbon;Discussion of the assassination of William GoebelCharlotte, North CarolinaSeptember 24–25, 2011September 24-25, 2011Interview with Kevin Morgan Watson of Press53 PublishingDiscussion of Gen. Cornwallis and the Battle of CharlotteKnoxville, TennesseeOctober 29–30, 2011October 29-30, 2011Discussion of the 1982 World's Fair;Discussion of the Oak Ridge National LaboratoryBirmingham, AlabamaNovember 26–27, 2011November 26-27, 2011Interview with Rick Bragg;Discussion of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham JailBaton Rouge, LouisianaDecember 24–25, 2011December 24-25, 2011Tour of the Slave Narratives Collection of Southern University's John B. Cade Library;Tour of the Old Louisiana State CapitolBeaumont, TexasFebruary 4–5, 2012February 4-5, 2012Tour of The Book Bazaar;Tour of the Texas Energy MuseumShreveport, LouisianaMarch 3–4, 201March 3-4, 2012Tour of the James Smith Noel Collection at the Noel Memorial Library, Louisiana State University in Shreveport;Discussion of the history of the B-52 bomberLittle Rock, ArkansasMarch 31 - April 1, 2012March 31 - April 1, 2012Interview with David Welky, author of The Thousand-Year Flood (about the Ohio River flood of 1937);Discussion of the Presidential Gift Collection of the William J. Clinton Presidential LibraryOklahoma City, OklahomaMay 5–6, 2012May 5-6, 2012Tour of the University of Oklahoma's Bizzell Memorial Library's collection of works on the history of scienceTour of the Oklahoma State CapitolWichita, KansasJune 2–3, 2012June 2-3, 2012Tour of the Special Collections at the Wichita State University LibraryTour of the Kansas Aviation MuseumJefferson City, MissouriColumbia, MissouriJune 30 - July 1, 2012June 30 - July 1, 2012Tour of the Special Collections area of the University of Missouri's Ellis LibraryTour of the Missouri State Museum's 1904 World's Fair collection
References
External links
Departure of the first C-SPAN Bus from Washington, November 8, 1993 C-SPAN School Bus Special, July 11, 1994 - 2 hour 30 minute retrospective on the first seven months of the first C-SPAN School Bus. Booknotes interview with Douglas Brinkley on The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey, April 18, 1993. C-SPAN Bus FAQs Creative Mobile Interiors page on the Digital Bus Creative Mobile Interiors page on the LCVs MSNBC tour of Digital Bus with Chuck Todd, Savannah Guthrie, and Brian Lamb