It is with sadness that I write about the demise of one of my favorite web sites. I enjoyed watching all the videos on RootsTelevision.com over the past several years. I was even able to participate in the creation of some of the videos on that site and was always impressed with the professionalism that Megan Smolenyak brought to the site. She created a "class act." She and an assortment of co-workers, volunteers, and "hired guns" carried heavy and expensive video equipment all over the U.S. as well as to England several times, to New Zealand, and even videotaped genealogy shows on board cruise ships.
RootsTelevision.com brought new and interesting content to genealogists, using what was at the time a brand new media: Internet television. Indeed, RootsTelevision.com has been the leader in the field of Internet television for genealogists.
You can see dozens of my past interviews with leaders of the genealogy world as published on RootsTelevision.com if you start at http://tinyurl.com/yjgt6jj.
Sadly, this is coming to an end... The following is an announcement posted a few hours ago at http://rootstelevision.com/notice.html:
Dear RootsTelevision.com Viewer,
It's with mixed feelings that I'm sharing the news that I will be closing RootsTelevision.com (RTV) as of March 10th. Back in 2006, RTV was launched to fill a void. As I wrote at the time:
"We've been perplexed for a long time. These days, there's a horse channel, a wine channel, a sailing channel, a poker channel, a guitar channel, and even a shipwreck channel. So why, we wondered, isn't there a channel servicing the millions of people interested in genealogy and family history?"
The good news is that this yawning gap is now being filled. Genealogy is finally going mainstream. Some of you are probably already watching Faces of America on PBS and The Generations Project on BYU. And many, I'm sure, have heard of the imminent launch on NBC of Who Do You Think You Are? (a series I'm proud to be affiliated with, and for which, I wrote the companion book). The non-genealogical world is finally waking up to the long overlooked potential of what we roots-sleuths do on a daily basis, as you can read in this article: Roots TV Becomes New Branch of Reality TV
I'm honored to have had the opportunity to fill this void for more than three years. I hope that you have enjoyed the hundreds of high quality videos that RootsTelevision.com has produced or selected. From the viewing numbers and kind comments, I know that many of you have. It's been a privilege to give the genealogical community this resource, but this seems the appropriate time to move on. Thank you for your viewership and friendship. Og and I will miss you!
Warmly,
Megan Smolenyak2
HonoringOurAncestorsP.S. If any genealogical entities would be interested in "adopting" RootsTelevision.com, I would be open to that possibility, but would need to hear from you immediately (megan@honoringourancestors.com).
