PBS debuted in the U.S. on October 5, 1970, from Boston, Massachusetts. It has since moved to Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C., but looking at the its natal chart, its mission has always remained the same: good family entertainment and solid information.
Its original programming schedule has a three-fold attack. They aimed mornings at children like Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood; they filled afternoons with instructional help from Julia Child and others; evenings were McNeil/Lehrer news report and Paul Kangas’s Nightly Business Report.
Within a short time after its debut, This Old House, Frontline, The American Experience, and Antiques Roadshow joined the retinue and has stayed with it since becoming cultural icons.
Today, its top shows are Masterpiece’s (no longer Theatre) Downtown Abbey, Antiques Roadshow, FRONTLINE, NATURE & NOVA. Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood was retired on August 31, 2001, after running a vaunted 31 seasons.
A reliable Saturn Bucket
PBS debuted with long-lived and reliable Saturn as the handle to its bucket formation. Its part of fortune, also in Capricorn, is in the sixth house, depicting how PBS began with established names capturing experts in each field. Saturn opposite Venus shows how it built upon that basis, and then created its repertoire of experts like Ken Burns’s American documentaries, chef Lidia Bastianich and Martin Yan.
For the network’s a 9 am (assumed as I could not find neither the actual time nor the first show aired) Boston birth is 07 Scorpio 04 or “the moon shining across the lake.”This magical symbol captures well the non-commercial programming that PBS pioneered.
PBS’s successful delivery
Its midheaven of 15 Leo 15 suggests in the Hyperion Symbols a “package delivery van” is an interesting metaphor for how the network delivers its message: through a series of local station franchises that pay dues to carry its broadcasts. This has proved very profitable for the station and helped it keep up a high level of well-produced shows, vaunted experts and varied programming so it can remain competitive with the cable networks.
As for its success, one has only to look at that crowded eleventh house stellium showing its variety and myriad of fans. The preponderance in Scorpio spans the twelfth house of large organizations and government funding to the supplementary donation of first house of individual foundations and “friends”, or as PBS says during its donation drives, “viewers like you.”
