National Educational Television (NET)

NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION (NET)

National Educational Television (NET) was an American educational broadcast television network that was owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Operating from May 16, 1954, to October 4, 1970, it was replaced on October 5, 1970, by its direct successor, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which continues in operation and has memberships with many television stations that were formerly part of NET. (More from Wikipedia)

As an experiment, Reuben Ortiz decided to see how the Coronados and the Real Americans would sound if their music were combined. Ginger Ortiz recalled: “There was a kind of realism to this music. It was a nice contrast to what we’re always supplying as the Coronados: those dreams that our audiences want.”

The result of this merger of the two bands is Silverbird. Their career was launched on May 2, 1971 on one of the Fanfare programs on National Educational Television (NET), a precursor to Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

(August 2013)