Michigan National Guard enlisted to help with DTV transition

Lansing, MI (WZZM) - February 17th, 2009 - it's the day all television stations switch to digital broadcasting.

It's 155 days away but the Michigan Association of Broadcasters (MAB) is doing what it can now to make sure everyone's ready.

A Michigan State University study shows everyone knows about the transition; but 44% of Michigan residents are not ready for it. So to help, the MAB has teamed up with the Michigan National Guard.

Believe it or not, they have more to do with the switch then you think.

Monday leaders of the MAB announced their partnership with the Michigan National Guard to help educate citizens on next year's digital transition.

"People have told us that they receive most of their in-depth information over the television," says MAB President Karole White. "The Michigan National Guard will depend on television in times of emergency to deliver in-depth information."

But besides delivering and receiving emergency messages, the National Guard has a vested interested in those "over-the-air" airwaves.

Digital TV will give us better pictures and sound, but the real reason for the transition is security; it was a hard lesson learned on September 11th, 2001.

"The Emergency First Responders could not communicate with one another well and they needed additional spectrum to do that," says White.

So now, the additional analog space is for emergency crews. Chuck Mikowski, WZZM 13's Vice President of Technology, says our digital signals take up less of the air.

"The technology allows us to take the old analog signals and combine and compress them into fewer channels," says Mikowski. "Problems we had with Katrina and 9/11 were the police and the fire department couldn't talk to each other. There should be some spectrum freed up for those operations."

Beginning October 1st ,a hotline will be available from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters for any questions. That number is 1-888-MI-DTV-09.

And if you have cable or satellite television, you don't have to do anything.

Workshops will also be available at National Guard education centers. Locally, one will be held October 23rd at the Wyoming center.

For more information on the transition, type DTV in the search bar on the top of the page.