C-SPAN’s ‘2016 Cities Tour’ celebrated its Peoria-feature work at City Hall Tuesday. The team of three C-SPAN producers are gathering interviews.
Debbie Lamb is the coordinating producer for C-SPAN’s 2016 Cities Tour Team. She says Peoria is the first Illinois community they’re covering on the tour. She says some of that is logistical. “It’s in the heart of Illinois. It’s in the heart of the Midwest and looking at the history, you’ve got Bradley University here and also a very strong partnership with Comcast folks.” C-SPAN was created by cable in 1979, and all three channels are carried by Comcast.
Lamb says they are covering a variety of historical matters significant to the Peoria area, including the mass production of penicillin at the Ag Lab, Caterpillar, the Illinois River, the abolitionist history focusing on the Pettengill collection and the distilleries.
Lamb says the 6 or 7 Peoria segments they are producing will air the weekend of October 15th and 16th. “We do have a special block for Book TV where you’ll see all the programs in sequence. That starts October 15th at 11a.m. Central Time. Then on Sunday, that history block will start at 1p.m. Central Time on C-SPAN3.”
Lamb says after the Peoria segments air on C-SPAN2 and 3 Book and American History TV programs, they will be housed indefinitely in a Peoria page online.