As former first ladies of the state, our job has always been to listen to Arkansas citizens and lend our visibility to whatever usefulness it might offer for the betterment of the state and its people. That's what we have endeavored to do when we agreed to lead a fundraising drive to save PBS programming on Arkansas educational television.

It was an effort undertaken with love and urgency after Arkansas TV's executive director Carlton Wing and the network's state commission--without any prior input from viewers--abruptly announced that PBS programming would be discontinued imminently in Arkansas because of prohibitive costs.

After a public outcry, the network graciously allowed time for Arkansans to privately raise the money needed for PBS dues. The group we were honored to lead, Friends of Arkansas PBS, raised that amount in three months by the stated........

© Arkansas Online