It's TV transition time -- are you prepared?

WAPATO -- Call him the boy who saved television.

Jesus Quezada, a 12-year-old who likes cartoons, "CSI" and Mexican League Soccer, took note of the seemingly endless barrage of public service announcements about the upcoming switch from analog to digital television.

The boy, who speaks mostly English, told his mother, Spanish-speaking Teresa Chavez, to order from the federal government a coupon to purchase a converter box. She, in turn, sought help from a neighbor with a computer. They are expecting their coupon soon.

If all goes as planned, Quezada's family of five will have no trouble watching their favorite shows after Feb. 17, the day all broadcast networks must have made the federally mandated switch to a digital signal.

Quezada's household is one of almost 17,000 in Yakima County that relies on broadcast signals for television, rather than cable or satellite. That's a lot for the population -- about 22 percent of the entire county, which is nearly double the state and national average of about 12 percent.

The county also has a high rate of satellite subscribers -- 45 percent compared to 27 percent in the United States.

Demographics explains part of it. Spanish speakers often have a combination of both satellite and broadcast channels, said Jon Rand, general manager of KCYU, Yakima's Fox affiliate.

Geography also plays a role, said Bob Berry, general sales manager for Univision, a Spanish broadcasting network. Cable simply has not reached many rural areas, leaving broadcast or satellite as the only options.

Most broadcast-only viewers, regardless of what language they speak, have heard about the switch, networks claim.

"I think at this point, Latinos are just as sick and tired of hearing the message as the general market is," said Berry. The bigger problem is older folks of any language not understanding the technology or owning older televisions, he said.

Rand has noticed the same thing. The station's employees have received more phone calls complaining about the number of conversion reminders than they received about the number of political advertisements, and they got plenty of those this year.

Gabriel Martinez, general manager of KDNA, a Granger-based Spanish public radio station, also believes Spanish-speaking people have heard about the need to switch.

"I think the word is out," Martinez said.

A few weeks ago, one of the station's DJs discussed the change during a talk show. Most of the callers knew about the switch but wanted more detail about how to make it.

The AARP Washington office has been adding the message to its publications read by 972,000 members in the state, said Jason Erskine, a spokesman for the agency that helps retired residents.

KCYU is ahead of the curve. It switched completely to digital Dec. 15. Staff received about 200 phone calls, Rand said. The station had hired an extra Spanish speaker just to help field them.

Most callers of all languages knew about the switch, but either didn't know how to hook up the converter box or how to rescan their channels so the box would recognize them.

Some already owned digital televisions and didn't even know it. The staff told them how to push a single button on their remote to solve the problem.

As endless as the public service announcements seem, the educational effort may go into even higher gear. A civil rights group and the federal government plan to set up assistance centers in seven U.S. cities, including Seattle and Portland.

They want to make sure all groups of people know how to get their television signals. The five segments of the population they worry about are people of color, those with limited English skills, seniors, people with disabilities and people in rural areas.

It's a civil rights issue, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Wade Henderson said in a conference call with reporters last week. Television carries information about winter storm warnings, hurricanes, road closures and other safety-related material.

"It is not just about access to entertainment," Henderson said.

The group is spending $1.6 million in grant money from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to partner with existing social service agencies for the assistance centers. They have not picked those partners yet, though Spanish speakers will be included, Henderson said.

Chavez, Jesus Quezada's grateful mother, says a few Spanish-speaking families in her neighborhood don't understand what the transition is all about or still have not heard about it, public service announcements aside.

Chavez and her children, ages 2 to 12, watch about six to eight hours of television per week. Lately they have been huddling around a space heater in their apartment's only bedroom to conserve warmth.

They like broadcast shows such as police dramas and sports. They also watch Spanish stations at the nearby home of her sister, who has cable. Novellas are among their favorites.

But Chavez also watches television for news about weather, school closures, roads and accidents. She considers it a necessity, she said through an interpreter.

"It lets me know what's going on, especially if I'm going out someplace."

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.

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