BROADBAND MUSIC MAN

Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative
Vol. 2, No. 5 | September/October 2012
connection
Broadband
Music Man
PRTC connection helps local
producer make and share
music around the country
Inside:
•Government offices go digital
•Fiber nearing 200-mile mark
•Dressing up rotisserie chicken
from the ceo
The wait is over — it’s football
season in South Carolina!
A
cross the Carolinas, teams from the
peewees to the pros are about to test
themselves on the field. And while
at the Dandridge house we wear Clemson
Orange on Saturdays, I have a lot of respect
for the effort all football players and coaches
put into the games.
When I look at successful teams, I’m struck
by how similar the dynamics of those programs parallel our team at PRTC.
Whether you’re talking about a football team
or a telephone cooperative, every member has
his or her job to do that contributes to the
group’s overall success. Like the players on the
field, our team members count on each other
to do the best job they can. Our managers and
board of directors act like a coaching staff,
maintaining a vision for success and coordinating the different units within the team to
accomplish our goals.
For any good football team, the performance on game day is the result of weeks or
months of workouts, practices and game plans
that take place out of the public’s eye. Similarly, on our fiber buildout project, months of
engineering, planning and budgeting have gone
on behind the scenes. Rest assured that when
your home or business is switched over to the
fiber network, we have prepared and tested the
network for optimal performance.
The new fiber network is incredibly important to our cooperative because — like with a
football team — we’ve got to have top-notch
speed to stay ahead of the competition. While
our existing broadband has greatly improved
things for members (some of whom you’ve
read about in previous issues), technology
has moved forward with fiber networks. As
the industry changes, PRTC is changing right
along with it.
2 | PRTC Connection • September/October 2012
For an update on the progress our crews
have made on this fiber project, please take a
look at Page 3. Elsewhere in the magazine you
will see how local and state officials use broadband to work more efficiently and help citizens
engage their government in ways they never
could have before. On Page 6 you will find the
story of how music producer Joe Taylor uses
broadband to work with artists and production
companies around the country, all from his
home in Colleton County.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to huddle
up with this magazine. We’re proud of the
work we’ve put into it and our other projects.
And while our work may not draw the attention that football teams across our great state
draw, we’re still working hard to be No. 1 with
our members. ✦
is a member-owned cooperative
providing a complete
telecommunications solution (voice,
Internet, digital TV and wireless
phone) to the homes and businesses
of Colleton County, South Carolina.
Board of Directors
District 1 - Brian Ackerman
District 2 - Cynthia “Cindy” Colson
District 3 - Donald Wood
District 4 - Joanne Herndon
District 5 - Michael Crosby
District 6 - Furman Hodges
District 7 - Heath Griffith
District 8 - Gloria Warren
District 9 - Travis Avant
District 10 - Lynn Tanner
Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative
connection
is a bimonthly newsletter
published by Palmetto Rural
Telephone Cooperative, © 2012. It
is distributed without charge to all
member/owners of the Cooperative.
Send address corrections to:
Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative
P.O. Drawer 1577
Walterboro, SC 29488
Telephone: 843-538-2020
www.prtc.coop
Produced for PRTC by:
www.WordSouth.com
On the cover ...
Jason Dandridge
is Chief Executive
Officer for PRTC
Grammy-nominated producer
Joe Taylor mixes a track on his
sound board in Colleton County.
Broadband allows him to work
with musicians around the
country. See page 6 for more
details.

90%
of video customers
converted to Mediaroom
More than 90 percent of PRTC’s video
subscribers are already using Mediaroom, a state-of-the-art new television service. “Overwhelmingly, the
feedback has been positive,” says PRTC
Chief Technology Officer Tony Stout.
The service includes new features
such as remote DVR access, Xbox
integration and the fastest channel
change in the industry.
If your service has not already been
upgraded, please call 843-538-2020
to schedule an appointment. The upgrade is free for existing TV customers.
 Changes to
Emergency Alerts
The FCC requires television providers to
broadcast emergency alerts from the
National Weather Service, Homeland
Security and other agencies in the event
of severe weather or other potentially
hazardous circumstances in a viewing area. PRTC must comply with these
regulations.
However, these alerts have been changed
to now appear as a two-inch banner of
text scrolling across the bottom of the
screen. After it runs once, the alert will
disappear without viewers having to
dismiss it.
While these alerts can give our members
the information they need to stay safe,
the previous full-screen format interfered
with programming. This change will
disseminate the necessary information
without interrupting your favorite shows.
Fiber connections ready
in East Walterboro
Hard work from employees and contractors from all sides of the company has led to
major progress in PRTC’s fiber-optic network installation. Nearly 200 miles of fiber have
been laid across Colleton County with more miles being added each week.
The biggest milestones have been reached in East Walterboro, where construction is
complete. Customers in the areas around Welch Creek Road, Ruth Lane, Neda Circle,
Coolers Dairy Road, Merrick Drive, Sawmill Road
and Sudbury Road are now eligible to upgrade to
fiber optics. Fiber construction is also complete
in the Jacksonboro exchange and around the
Highway 17 widening project. Members in Lodge
are being scheduled for fiber conversions over the
next two months.
Now that the major construction work is done
in East Walterboro, crews will soon begin work in
the North Walterboro area starting with Academy
Road and Winchester Road to Jefferies Highway.
“Since the last issue of Connection, we’ve made
significant progress on the fiber project,” says
Chief Technology Officer Tony Stout. “It’s important to keep our members updated, and I’m happy
to have good news to report. It won’t be long before members around our service area start getting Bubba Avant and Troy Winningham install a fiber drop.
to tap into the power and speed of fiber optics.”
Video on Demand
New Release
Schedule
For a small rental fee, PRTC's Video-onDemand service gives you access to
new movies right in your living room.
Some titles are available eight weeks
before they come to Netflix or Redbox.
Sept. 4
Safe
The Five-Year Engagement*
Sept. 11
Snow White and the Huntsman*
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Sept. 14
Arbitage*
Sept. 18
The Cabin in the Woods
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel*
Sept. 25
Marvel’s The Avengers
Oct. 2
Dark Shadows*
People Like Us
Oct. 9
The Raven
Oct. 11
Prometheus*
Oct. 16
Moonrise Kingdom*
That’s My Boy
Oct. 23
Savages*
Madea’s Witness Protection Agency
Oct. 30
Step Up: Revolution
Titles subject to change.
*Available through VOD before Netflix or Redbox dates.
Digital
Democracy
Broadband gives citizens
new ways to interact with
government
C
ity councilmen aren’t always
known for being hip.
But the Walterboro Council uses
some of the coolest gadgets on the market
to stay up to date with the town’s affairs.
During meetings, each council member
uses an iPad to view the agenda, budgets
and reports from city departments.
“You probably would not expect a small
southern town government to be involved
in technology like that, but we’re trying
to stay on top of things,” says Mayor Bill
Young.
Sitting in an office at city hall, Young
swipes his finger across the iPad screen to
go from a planning report to an agenda
for an upcoming meeting. Before he moves
to the next document, he pauses to play a
Black Eyed Peas song on the tablet. “Every
day I learn a new way to use these,” Young
says of the iPads, which were purchased by
the individual council members.
More and more, local, state and federal
government agencies are finding ways to
use broadband-powered technology to
interact with residents and improve their
workflow. And that means everything from
reducing paper and printing costs to saving
time for residents. “Most of the things
people need from our office, they can now
handle remotely,” says Tommy Hill, the tax
assessor for Colleton County.
The California-based Center for Digital
Government has noted that local governments around the country are using the
Web with increasing regularity, especially in
a recession when tax revenues are down.
“Many [governments] have found ways to
provide better information security, transparency and citizen engagement with innovative uses of social media and advanced
decision support tools,” says Todd Sander,
the Center’s executive director.
The need for speed
Multimedia Mayor — Walterboro
Mayor Bill Young and other city council
members use iPads for agendas, documents and notes at meetings.
4 | PRTC Connection • September/October 2012
Heather Landry, Colleton County’s technology director, says the ability to update
information quickly is one of the biggest
benefits of moving city and county data
online. Paper maps or reports were often
only reprinted annually, meaning the documents wouldn’t reflect changes in zoning or
tax rates that could have been made months
back. “Rather than using these paper maps
that we have to print every year, you can go
on to the computer where we have up-todate information,” Landry says.
Hill says the ability to store tax information digitally has helped his office considerably. Before broadband connections, Hill’s
staff had to find and flip through large
maps, locate parcels and hope the data on
the map was current. With a high-speed
connection, they can find accurate, current information with just a few keystrokes.
“We've streamlined things so the information is updated on the day it’s done,” he
explains.
But the large maps and other files can be
15 to 20 gigabytes each, which would not be
manageable without broadband. “You won’t
get that with dial-up,” Landry says. “You
won’t get it done.”
Connected communication
This summer, the City of Walterboro
launched a new website (walterborosc.
org), replacing a page that was about eight
years old. City manager Jeff Lord said that
having more virtual visitors on high-speed
connections allows the site to do more with
regular updates, videos and social media
integration.
On the city’s Facebook page, which has
more than 1,300 friends, staff posts updates
on everything from curbside recycling to
relevant news articles. “People expect a website to be constantly updating and flowing,”
Lord says. “It’s an opportunity for us to get
the word out on things.”
The site includes special tabs for visitors
and businesses looking to open in Walterboro. Lord says the website could very well
be someone’s first impression of the town.
“If somebody is looking to come to Walterboro they’re going to look at our website,”
he says.
But for those already in the Lowcountry,
Colleton County’s site (colletoncounty.org)
allows residents to pay traffic tickets, stay up
to date on county events and search job listings. Residents can pay property taxes and
have access to all sorts of tax data, including
a tax estimator. “They don’t have to come
to the office to get information,” Landry
says. “If they can do it remotely, that’s usually better for them.”
And if residents are sending in digital
Tax information — Colleton County technology director Heather Landry and tax
assessor Tommy Hill compare digital information to data on a tax map.
forms rather than hard copies, that means
fewer forms need to be printed. In a recent
Center for Digital Government report,
Sander says there are significant cost savings
in moving documents online. “Counties
across the country are aligning technology
initiatives with executive strategic priorities
to provide vital cost savings and administrative efficiencies,” he says.
Lord puts it more simply. “Everything is
through the Internet now,” he says. “Everything.”
Citizen participation
Such means of communication can give
citizens unprecedented access to their government.
In an issue brief posted on its website,
the Center for Digital Government outlines
the ways that digital documents are easier
for the public to access than paper copies,
even with something simple like a meeting agenda. Any changes to the agenda
require redistribution and leave older copies
obsolete. Paper copies can also be easily lost
in stacks of other documents. “The desired
goal of transparency in governmental processes is not necessarily fostered by paper
documents,” the brief states. “All of these
complications make it much more difficult
for the public and government employees to
access correct, up-to-date information.”
Lord agrees and said sharing documents with the public is simpler than ever.
“Because information is so much easier to
move, it’s easier to make available,” he says.
The city council has all of its agendas and
minutes available online back to 2005. The
city has also posted its budgets and audits
online since 2004, allowing citizens to instantly access files that would have required
a trip to city hall.
“If someone wants to look back and see
what happened, it’s there,” Lord explains.
PRTC CEO Jason Dandrige says he’s glad
to see local governments using the cooperative’s network to work faster and improve
service to area residents.
“Local officials have a tough job trying to
oversee an area as large and diverse as ours,”
he says. “We’re lucky to have forward-thinking leaders who are using technology and
broadband for innovative solutions. Having
progressive local governments makes things
better for businesses and residents in our
area.” ✦
September/October 2012 • PRTC Connection | 5
T
here’s one major reason why
Grammy-nominated producer and
guitarist Joe Taylor is a big fan of
PRTC’s broadband.
“It keeps us out of New York,” he says
with a laugh.
Taylor, a Columbia native, lived in
Manhattan for 17 years because that’s where
work was for musicians. Playing with groups
like Duran Duran and rubbing elbows with
celebrities like Roger Moore is fun, he says,
but the fast-paced, crowded atmosphere is
not for him. He prefers the laid-back feel of
Colleton County. And because of PRTC’s
broadband, he can have the lifestyle he
wants while still staying connected to the
musicians around the country. “Now I just
bring them all to me,” he says.
Gigabytes of Grooves
High-speed connections are convenient
for downloading MP3s, but when you are
sharing 30-gigabyte uncompressed music
files that are in various stages of production, Taylor’s 10 mbps high-speed connection is essential.
“I can take those files and just upload
them,” Taylor says. “I just couldn’t do that
without broadband.” Before broadband
became available, musicians like Taylor had
to ship hard drives around the country and
hope they arrived intact and on time.
Raw music files take up so much space
because each instrument or voice — from
lead vocals to cowbell — has its own track
which can be amplified and altered to be exactly what the producer wants. On an album
he’s producing, Taylor said he spends about
60 hours on each song tweaking the sound.
One week, when Taylor and some fellow
musicians were working on a project at the
studio in Colleton County, the bass player
got a call from New York. The producer
Guitarist and producer Joe Taylor uses broadband to send the music recorded in
his Colleton County studio around the world.
on the line said he was working on a song
that needed a better bass track and he asked
Taylor’s bassist to record a new bass line.
Using broadband, the producer uploaded
the song without the bass to Taylor, who
downloaded it, played it for the bassist and
recorded the new bass line. He then uploaded it for the producer. “By dinner time
he had his new bass track,” Taylor says. “We
just shot it right back to him. We do that all
of the time.”
Digital shift
In addition to the production side of the
music industry, the business side has also
been radically changed by what Taylor calls
the “digital shift.” Instead of needing big
record labels to promote their music, musicians can go directly to the public through
6 | PRTC Connection • September/October 2012
their websites, social media and download
services like iTunes. “They don’t need the
label anymore,” he said. “Individual artists
can do their own thing.”
Taylor has launched his own Moonwatcher Music label with his own stable of
artists. But none of it would be possible
without his PRTC connection. “We literally
couldn’t be here without it,” he says. “It’s
not just broadband, it’s reliable broadband.”
Taylor thinks that if more musicians
could find rural places with high-speed connections, there would be more people doing
what he does. “I don’t know of any other
place like this where you could get this kind
of service,” Taylor says. “There are so many
artists that could migrate to areas like this if
they had this connection.” ✦
PRTC LowCountry Kitchens
Quick dinners with a rotisserie chicken
Between ball practice, dance lessons, carpools and work, you have little time to cook. But you
still want to feed your family something warm and nutritious. Take a few minutes to stop by
the store, pick up a rotisserie chicken, along with a few ingredients, and dinner is in the bag.
Rotisserie Chicken Chili
Chili that tastes as if it’s cooked for hours,
but it takes just minutes using rotisserie
chicken.
1 (29-ounce) can white beans
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon good quality chili
powder
4 cups chicken broth
1 rotisserie chicken (skin removed
and meat shredded)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
Sour cream and crushed tortilla
chips for topping
Drain and rinse the canned white beans.
In a medium bowl, mash half of the
beans with a potato masher until chunky.
Reserve the beans until needed. Add the
oil to a large Dutch oven and heat it over
medium-high heat. Add the jalapeno,
onions and garlic; saute until soft and
fragrant, about 5 minutes. Season the
vegetables with salt and pepper, to
taste. Add the cumin, coriander and chili
powder and continue to saute for 1 more
minute to toast the spices. Stir in the
chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add
the beans and continue to simmer for 20
more minutes, tasting for seasoning as
you go. Stir in the shredded chicken and
cilantro; simmer until heated through,
about 5 more minutes. Ladle the chili
into bowls and top with a dollop of sour
cream and crushed tortilla chips.
Rotisserie Chicken Tetrazzini Rotisserie Chicken
Rotisserie chicken and store-bought
Casserole
Alfredo sauce make this a winning dish on
a busy day.
1 rotisserie chicken
8 ounces dry linguine, broken in half
1 jar (16 ounces) Alfredo sauce
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken stock (canned or
homemade)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Heat oven to 350°. Bring 2 quarts water
to boil; add linguine. While pasta is
cooking, sauté mushrooms in olive oil
until golden. Add garlic and cook for 2
minutes longer. Remove mushrooms and
garlic from pan and add chicken stock.
Over medium heat, stir up browned bits.
Then add Alfredo sauce. Remove from
heat. Drain pasta and toss with chicken
and Alfredo sauce with mushrooms.
Pour into the prepared baking dish and
sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake uncovered
for 30 minutes or until top is golden.
This casserole is pure comfort food.
1 stick butter or margarine,
melted
1 bag seasoned stuffing mix,
divided
1 rotisserie chicken,
shredded or chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 to 1 1/2 cups chicken stock, canned or
homemade
Preheat oven to 350°. Pour melted butter
into bottom of 9- by 13-inch dish, then
sprinkle with half of stuffing mix. Place
shredded or chopped chicken on top of
stuffing mix. Combine cream of chicken
soup and sour cream, then spread over
chicken. Sprinkle remaining stuffing mix
over sour cream mixture. Pour chicken
stock over top. Bake for 30-40 minutes or
until casserole is hot and bubbly.
September/October 2012 • PRTC Connection | 7
292 Robertson Blvd.
Walterboro, SC 29488
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*
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*After 6 months of service, price will convert to the current bundle price of $129.99 for the “3 For All” and $59.95
for the “2 For All” per month. With all PRTC services, contracts or equipment charges may be required. Applies only
to residential customers where services are available. Taxes and fees billed separately. For Digital TV services only:
additional fees may apply for set-top boxes, HD service, further video upgrades or additions. The free PRTC gift cards
provided through this promotion may not be used towards initial order/payments/deposits. Expires 12/31/2012.
Hurry, offer expires Dec. 31
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100 long distance minutes
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