The local news ... in Arabia

By Joe McAdory

Published: June 15, 2009

Three days into the vaunted Big Switch from analog TV to digital and I am still receiving just one local station—one from Montgomery. It’s bizarre that—even with this converter box that I was instructed to purchase—I cannot receive a station from nearby Columbus, Ga., for more than 20 minutes at a time. However, scanning through my satellite channels I learned something somewhere between humorous and disturbing.

I can watch Al-Jazeera News.

That’s right, Al-Jazeera.

I can’t get most local stations, but I can learn about weather in Riyadh and hear about the Taliban’s struggle against the perceived American infidels. What is this world coming to? Someone fix my blasted television.