When Peter Sugatt meets students, they usually aren’t familiar with C-SPAN — until he mentions that it’s the “boring channel.”

“As soon as I say boring, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah!’” Sugatt said.

Sugatt is the driver this week of the C-SPAN bus, which is making its rounds through central and upstate New York. The bus stopped Wednesday in Syracuse, making appearances at Onondaga Community College and LeMoyne College.

C-SPAN is a nonprofit cable station — owned by the cable television industry — that broadcasts federal government proceedings. The C-SPAN bus is on the road for 10 months of the year. It’s one of the few ways the network can advertise, since the station doesn’t air commercials.

The bus typically stops at different universities and high schools on its tours.

“The purpose is really educational outreach, just to show students what C-SPAN has to offer,” said Jenae Green, a marketing representative for C-SPAN.

Green said the touring schedule for the bus is pre-planned, and C-SPAN reaches out to universities and high schools in the area of its stops to gauge their interest in hosting the bus.

C-SPAN representatives contacted LeMoyne officials about a month ago to ask whether the bus could make a stop at the college, said Joe Della Posta, director of communications for the college.

“We just thought it was a great opportunity for education for the students and everybody who works here,” Della Posta said. “Especially with the election season.”

In addition to Syracuse, the bus has made and will make several stops in the state this week. It was in Buffalo on Monday and Rochester on Tuesday, and will be traveling to Albany Thursday.

It will then make its way to Manhattan on Friday morning and Long Island that afternoon, and then to Hofstra University — the host of the first presidential debate. The debate, between Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, will be held Monday night.

Inside the bus is a cluster of touch-screen computers and monitors. There’s also a live production studio near the back of the bus.

“So even if we’re on the road, we have a camera and we can have people on the bus and have a full production,” Green said, adding that the station has conducted interviews with a number of presidential candidates on the bus.

The bus offers free tours at its stops, which Green said are typically for students who might not know much about C-SPAN.

“The goal is, if you’ve never heard of C-SPAN, you can come on the bus and kind of learn what we’re about,” Green said.

Published on September 21, 2016 at 9:35 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu