Worcester and its history of pushing America forward will be the star in mid-December when it is the featured city on C-SPAN's Cities Tour, a series that focuses on a different American city every other weekend. It will feature segments on Abby Kelley Foster, Robert Goddard, the Worcester Revolution of 1774 and others.

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WORCESTER – Worcester’s history of pushing America forward will be the star in mid-December when it is the featured city on C-SPAN’s Cities Tour, a series that focuses on a different American city every other weekend.

C-SPAN coordinating producer Debbie Lamb said segments filmed over the next week in Worcester will air on Dec. 19 and 20. Different segments will air on different C-SPAN networks.

Segments focusing on the American Antiquarian Society and famous Worcester authors will air on C-SPAN2’s Book TV. Other segments, dealing with how the city has impacted the country’s history, will air American History TV on C-SPAN3. In Worcester, those are channels 85 and 16, and 836 HD and 837 HD respectively.

Worcester is a “city of firsts,” according to Worcester Historian William Wallace, executive director of Worcester Historical Museum. The country’s first perfect baseball game, the first National Women’s Convention and the true beginnings of the American Revolution all took places in Worcester, he noted.

“Worcester is a city of enterprise, diligence and innovation,” Wallace said.

Add Harvey Ball’s Smiley Face, Francis Perkins and modern rocketry and Worcester can be said to have moved the country forward, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said.

“I’m excited about having C-SPAN here,” Augustus, a known history buff, said. “It gives us a chance to show all of the contributions Worcester has made to country and the world.”

“Without Dr. Goddard, there is no space age, ” Augustus said. “Francis Perkins – I can’t think of anyone who has been more influential in the 20th century than Francis Perkins.”

In addition, Augustus noted the fights for abolition and women’s suffrage, as well as gay marriage, all have strong connections to Worcester.

“Worcester has really pushed the envelope as far as inclusion and living up to the promise that all men are created equal,” Augustus said.

C-SPAN’s American Cities Tour began in 2011.

“The goal was and still is to get out of Washington, D.C., and provide our audience with an inside look into cities … that have unique history and a non-fiction literary culture or life,” Lamb said.

Worcester has both, with a history that arguably shaped the country, as well as a serious non-fiction literary roots with the American Antiquarian Society and a host of well-known colleges and universities within its borders, Lamb said.

Worcester became known to Lamb thanks to its ability to work together, she noted.

CSPAN is not a government-sponsored channel, as commonly believed, but rather, it is sponsored by a collaboration of cable television providers who banded together in 1979 to make sure there was unfiltered, non-editorialized access to the U.S. government.

It was local Charter Communications representatives who recommended Worcester and who first called the Chamber of Commerce to enlist that organization to help sell the city. The Chamber called Augustus’s office, who called Wallace and the city made its case to C-SPAN.

Once filmed, Lamb said all of the C-SPAN staff is edited out, leaving segments narrated by Worcester leaders, like Augustus, Wallace and professors from several colleges and Universities.

“It is being narrated by the individuals here in the city that have the knowledge,” she said. “We don’t have it. They do. We’re just excited to bring it to our audience.”

Lamb said she learned much about the city’s impact on American History in her time in Worcester, from the activity of publisher of Isaiah Thomas to how many great diners there are in Worcester.

“Seriously, we stuffed ourselves on French toast this morning at Miss Worcester. It was incredible,” she said. 

All of the segments produced by C-SPAN will all be on the network’s webpage, under the C-SPAN Cities Tour link, as well as on a Worcester specific page, Lamb said.

“It is a wonderful city and very kind people have worked really hard to help us,” she said.

Source: MassLive Worcester http://masslive.com/news/worcester