PBS Idea Channel

PBS Idea Channel is an inactive YouTube channel examining the connections between pop culture, technology, and art, hosted by Mike Rugnetta.
==Concept==
The channel focused on “complex ideas,” which were the novel combination of two or more pre-existing ideas, and “concepts,” which were the “big, old, and impactful ideas, the ones that have names and long Wikipedia entries”. The concepts informed “an episode’s theoretical framework.” Mike described his aim as being “to present these often unexpected relationships between one or more concepts, media properties, or theories as observation.” Mike had a rule that he “wouldn’t do an episode about something that [he] couldn’t have a 10-minute conversation with someone for whom it was their favourite thing.”
In 2015, Mike described the point of the channel as being to see “how when you take two things that don’t seem to play nice and put them next to one another, what kinds of things fall off in that collision.” He has stated that, as far as he and the channel are concerned, “every video game and every piece of media does actually carry political messages.”
==History==
The channel’s first video, Idea Channel | March 14, was uploaded on March 6, 2012. Every episode was followed by a “Comments Response,” in which Mike responds to comments, “in the hopes of uncovering new ways to approach and understand the ideas” discussed.
Some Idea Channel videos were used in classrooms.
===Record wall===
The background of each video features a “record wall,” with a different combination of records in each episode. The playlist consisting of each record is available here. Mike also made a mixtape of the artists.
===Ending===
On June 30, 2017, the channel uploaded Idea Channel is Ending, announcing the channel’s end. This was Mike’s decision, and was not “something that [he} came to quickly or lightly.” The final scripted video was uploaded on August 31, 2017. In it, Mike discusses critical thinking and the channel’s fan community. The final video, Comment Responses: Thinking With Others, was uploaded on September 8, 2017.
On September 8, 2017, there was a final Office Hours event held in New York City as a farewell to the channel.
==References==
Category:Commentary YouTubers
Category:Educational YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2012