RSU to Air a Live Presidential Forum’ at 7 p.m. Thursday

Rogers State University Public Television is excited to announce that the station will live coverage of the first joint appearance of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama since becoming their respective parties’ nominees.  Coverage will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11.

The forum, to be held at Columbia University in New York City, is designed to give each candidate a first-time opportunity to discuss, in-depth, their personal experience with service and their views on service and civic engagement in the post-September 11, post-Katrina world.

Judy Woodruff, PBS “NewsHour” senior correspondent and political editor will join Richard Stengel, TIME magazine managing editor to co-Moderate the forum.

In their first joint appearance since the party conventions, Presidential nominees McCain and Obama will discuss in-depth their views on service and civic engagement in the primetime “ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum” held at Columbia University in the City of New York.

The Forum is being organized by ServiceNation, a dynamic new coalition of 110 organizations that has a collective reach of some 100 million Americans and is dedicated to strengthening our democracy and solving problems through civic engagement and service.

PBS NewsHour Senior Correspondent and Political Editor Judy Woodruff will join Richard Stengel, managing editor of TIME, to moderate the event and question the candidates—who will appear separately—about their views on the meaning and importance of service.

The in-depth, back-to-back interviews will begin at 7 p.m. before a live audience of September 11 family members, military veterans, thought leaders, and Columbia University students. New York Governor David Paterson will welcome the audience before the start of the event.

The presidential candidates forum will kick-off the bipartisan, Sept. 11-12 ServiceNation Summitand ServiceNation’s national campaign to expand voluntary community and national service opportunities for all Americans.

RSU Public Television is based on RSU’s Claremore campus, reaches about 1.2 million people within a 75-mile radius of the campus and is Oklahoma’s only full-powered television station operated by a public university.

RSU Public TV broadcasts on UHF Channel 35, Tulsa and Claremore cable channel 19, DISH TV channel 35 and satellite systems across northeastern Oklahoma.