This Sunday, October 31, 2010 at 12:30PM on KERA, Channel 13, the  McCuistion Program focuses on the final episode of a six-part series – 20 Years of McCuistion: Healthcare and Wellness.

In the last 20 years, healthcare has gone from being a personal issue to a public policy debate that has Americans divided.

This 20 year retrospective features various controversial views:  liberal,  conservative and libertarian. You’ll want to tune in to get a rational perspective on a national furor that impacts 17% of our GDP.

We encourage you to view all McCuistion TV episodes, where you can both watch the videos and interact with the McCuistion team and other viewers.  You can also follow McCuistion TV on Twitter.

Join us this Sunday as we talk about things that matter… with people who care.

Join us this Sunday, July 4th on KERA, Channel 13 at 12pm as we discuss the state of freedom in America.

Why do countries around the world now seem to outstrip the United States in terms of free market philosophies as well as tax issues, from the flat tax to social security? Can the US catch up?  During this installment of McCuistion Television, Dennis McCuistion is joined by three panelists on location at FreedomFest.  Discussing the state of freedom in America are:

Daniel Mitchell – Senior Fellow at the CATO Institute
Michelle Muccio – Washington D.C. Representative and Production Associate at The Acton Institute
Larry Abraham – The late Larry Abraham was the co-founder of PanAmerica Capital Group, Inc. and long-time author and editor of the Insider Report, an international geopolitical investment newsletter with over 10,000 private subscribers, worldwide.

Thank you for joining us as we talk about things that matter… with people who care.

All McCuistion TV episodes can be found in the program directory, where you can both watch the videos and interact with the McCuistion team and other viewers. You can also follow McCuistion TV on Twitter.



A celebration of 20 years of McCuistion Television Programming…

Thursday, November 19^th at 7PM- Arlington Hall at Lee Park was the site of a gala event – the very first, celebrating the McCuistion Program’s success and 20 year run on KERA, Channel 13, Dallas PBS. A success from start to finish- from harp music at the welcome reception, to desert, conversations and a standing ovation for the co-founders, Dennis McCuistion: Host of the program and Niki Nicastro McCuistion: Executive Producer/Producer. Guests included program panelists, loyal viewers, funders and board members.

The event was emceed with grace, humor and style by former board member and close friend, Terry Brock, CPAE, an internationally renowned marketing coach and consultant. He illustrated the last 20 years with inside stories that captured audience attention and highlighted the social media work made possible by a Searle Foundation grant. Terry walked us through the new website and blogging Niki has spearheaded with Orangecast, our new social media consulting firm. He showed us how to easily access past and present programs, comment on blogs and stay tuned even when an airing is missed. This work takes the program to another level, yet is still in progress so we hope you join us, comment and Twitter your friends and associates to follow us.

Conversation at each table was hosted by a lead person and included:

Hasan Pirkul on education, Jerry Fullinwider on oil and energy in Russia, Iran and Iraq, Ed Wallace on world history,  John Goodman on healthcare, Terry Brock on technology, Cary Clayborne on capital markets, Steve Pejovich on the  Berlin Wall, Larry Steinberg on the Middle East, Dennis on the credit crisis and Niki on terrorism and the Roots of War documentary.

A video of the best of the last 20 years programming Niki had produced for the evening’s event included comments from program guests and supporters from, Christopher Kennedy Lawford, Gail Cooksey and her team and Jim and Carol Young congratulating the host and producer on their 20 year TV anniversary. Highlights included candid clips of what goes on behind the scenes to make the program production work. A fun and surprise ending featured Dennis in makeup, commenting that he didn’t look one day older than when the program started, and attributing it to good makeup and shots. The video is posted at the top of the page.

Terry Brock interviewed Niki as the filmmaker- co-interviewer on the controversial Roots of War documentary.  Scheduled to air on KERA in January of 2006, the documentary was funded in part by the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation, one of our major TV funders. It aired first at the Angelika to community leaders. Protested by the Freedom and Justice Foundation, the KERA airing date was postponed. Niki spoke to what had occurred and what was done by her and Phil Smith, lead camera and co-editor of the documentary, in the ensuing years to get the program back on KERA. She felt compelled to honor the funder’s expenditure and trust and took her own time and money to do so. More of this story can be seen at www.therootsofwar.org. The documentary is going to be posted online as well.

Dennis capped off the evening by talking about the future of the program, its collaboration with the University of Texas at Dallas (http://som.utdallas.edu/iecg/) School of Management and the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance and how the program will benefit and grow as a result.  We recently taped several programs with their assistance in providing us the very best panelists from around the world. Take a look at programs 1807 (Corporate Governance) to 1810 (Wall Street: Capitol of Greed or Builder of Capital – airing on December 27th) for programs that profoundly affect our daily lives.

And of course what would the festivities have been without the host introducing key guests who have been part of our success, from Willis Duff to John Goodman, PhD, CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis, among others you’ll see on the upcoming excerpts of that night. A sterling moment highlighted energy guru Jerry Fullinwider, who in 1942, played with his then band in the very room the evening’s gala was held in. Paid the royal sum of $25 for the evening, Jerry had to spend $5 of that fee to buy the music they played. We learned Jimmy Dorsey had tried to hire him but Jerry decided to stay in college and eventually go into business. As one of our benefactors, we’re sure glad he chose that route.  But to show he did indeed have talent then and now, a trumpet magically appeared and Jerry played a few bars to resounding applause.

The evening ended with a standing ovation for the co-founders, Dennis and Niki and a promise of more good programming. Stay tuned where as always we talk about things that matter with people who care…

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Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/Producer

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The McCuistion programs will be featured at 10PM CST Sundays and Monday mornings at 2AM, on 112 Cox Digital cable, Oklahoma City and Tulsa- OETAokla 13.2 and in Tulsa 11.2.

In the digital age, marked by radical transparency, all bets are off. Don Tapscott, author of The Naked Corporation said, “You can’t hide anything anymore.” Tapscott, who joined us on a McCuistion segment, about 12 years ago, refers to a core truth of the “see through age.”  But even he could not have predicted the point of no return, where the digital economy and social media can perhaps influence governments, election outcomes and civilian reactions.

Transparency in Action

The massive demonstrations in Iran, aimed at reversing election results and getting local and worldwide popular sympathy, were brought to us, live, through social media… On June 12th, Iranian voters went to the polls to select their next President. When the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the next president, instead of his opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who seemed to have had a fairly comfortable lead, tens of thousands of Iranians, women, young people and old, took to the streets in protest. The Iranian government restricted coverage by the news media and networking sites. Yet, the whole world watched the protests and the increasing violence and government retaliation via Twitter and text. Cell phones are ubiquitous in the Middle East. Over 50% of the Iranian population is under 30 years of age. They are savvy in communicating via social media, and they were determined to have their voices heard, which led to a perfect storm. For the first time ever, in a situation like this, civilians from the outside may be affecting the political outcomes inside a country that restricts its citizens freedoms. The whole world watched and commented, as the ‘news’ was broadcasted by protesters and the major news media: CCN, Fox, CSpan and others. Each in turn picked the news up and re-broadcasted what they saw, heard and got.

When tuning into the news, one could hear a commentator say- ‘wait I just got a text,’ followed by an announcement: ‘Breaking news from a civilian in Iran…’ Citizen journalists in the street, active participants in the protests and observers used Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube to get word out, or organize and support the street protests. Social media was used to actively tell the story and show the chaos and brutality, and sometimes to offer deliberate ,confounding mis-information.  Regardless, the social media outlets gave voice to a very different story than the one the Islamic Republic of Iran wanted told. Twitter became the most reliable source of communication inside and outside the country. Internet giant, Google, wasted no time. It started translations in Persian, which could and should dramatically help spread information. Facebook was first with the results of the election, and may in fact be a big reason behind Mousavi’s “successful” campaign. His page not only attracted huge numbers of fans,  but it organized and announced street protests, and warned against police activities. Facebook was first with news of Mousavi’s house arrest.

In the new world of radical transparency, journalism as we know it may be a thing of the past. David Sifrey, founder and CEO of Technorati says,” People trust The New York Times and The Washington Post, but there are a huge number of people who are going outside the bounds of traditional media to these new media forms to get their information, and more importantly to participate in the discussions around news and topics.  PBS, one of our most respected sources, as early as September of ’08, sent a message that engaged dialogue with their member stations titled: Why Bother To Use Social Media? They posed the following:

1. Audience behaviors are changing rapidly and audiences increasingly expect a participatory media experience.
2. Handled properly, social media can enhance traditional broadcasting with high quality content no station or producer can create.
3. Social media can foster public dialogue.
4. Social media can build powerful links between people, stations productions and content.

In the digital age and beyond, the Internet as an active way to communicate is here to stay. We can’t stop the avenues it opens into the interior of a landscape. The Iranian protests may well be known in the future as the “Twitter Revolution”. And a new door to the future of information may well have become mainstream.

We welcome your opinions.  How has the digital age affected you?  How are you using social media and how has it changed your business or interactions with others?

Thanks for joining us…

Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/ Producer

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