The following note was posted on Facebook earlier this afternoon in response to reports that We Have Signal would be ceasing production. Links have been added where possible.
The rumors of our demise are only slightly exaggerated. We Have Signal is not “cancelled”. APT has had major cuts to its funding this year – after years of already painfully deep cuts. Our entire Montgomery studio is shutting down and its whole staff being let go. We’re losing a couple people here in Birmingham and a couple at WLRH, our radio station in Huntsville. The production department in Birmingham, all five of us, are now the only production that APT has. We’re already working on three feature-length documentaries, countless underwriters and promos and special programs andWe Have Signal and now we are going to have to take up at least some of the slack of Montgomery’s production.
That is all to say that we will be airing new episodes of We Have Signal starting in October. We’ve already shot our best season yet with No Age, Sebadoh, Crocodiles, G-Side, Cults, Monotonix, Model Citizen and a bunch of other bands and have a few more shoots lined up this fiscal year with people like Lower Dens and Ty Segall. These new episodes will begin airing October 6th and will continue through April of 2012. The only questions are whether or not APT can afford to shoot another season of WHS and if we will have the time in the day to do it. The money is where you come in. We will more than likely have some kind of fundraising a few months down the road for the show. And we will have a much better picture of what our total production responsibilities are going to be in about a month’s time.
This is an extremely difficult period for public television and the services it provides. Between the worst economy in almost everyone’s memory and an often unfavorable political climate, things are, indeed, grim. But we have hope that we will still be able to bring you the best bands that you won’t hear or see almost anywhere else. Please do us the favor of advocating for public television to your friends, neighbors and federal and state legislators. And please do whatever little bit you can financially to not just keep We Have Signal going but APT as an organization. We’ll have more soon.
Good news from the folks at WHS!