By Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist Published Sep 23, 2013 at 3:05 PM

When families struggle in our community, organizations like the Salvation Army step up to help fill the void.

Knowing how stressful the beginning of the school year can be, a recent effort with WISN-TV Ch. 12 and WNOV-AM 860 and others allowed some students get the supplies needed for success in the classroom.

The two-day phone bank on WISN and collection drive on WNOV, along with Educator’s Credit Union, Community Financial Service Centers, Krispy Kreme, Professional Insurance Agents of Wisconsin and AAA of Wisconsin and the generosity of the community, the Salvation Army delivered stuffed backpacks to Auer Avenue, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hi-Mount and Lancaster schools last week.

With $53,000 raised through the WISN drive, more than 1,300 students are ready to meet the educational challenges in school.

Former Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer LeRoy Butler made a special guest appearance at Friday’s event at the Milwaukee Public Schools.

You can find more on the August school drive here.

58 DAYS: On Friday night, Time Warner Cable and the Journal Broadcast came to a retransmission deal, bringing stations back to subscribers after a 58-day block out that started on July 25.

However, the stations didn’t all return to where they were on the program guide when the switch was turned back on. Time Warner Cable sold the station positioning – in Milwaukee to the Game Show Network – while talks with Journal Communications stalled.

The stations affected by this agreement were WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee; WGBA-TV and WACY-TV, Green Bay/Appleton, Wis.; KMTVV, Omaha; KMIR-TV; KPSE-LP, Palm Springs, Calif.; and WTVF-TV, Nashville.

While the HD station spots stay the same, the other signals were bounced to other spots. WTMJ, since its creation in 1953, has been branded at Ch. 4. The branding remains the same, yet it is now on Ch. 2 for Time Warner Cable subscribers.

For a while, the channel positioning was considered a sticking point in the negotiations. However, if you are a long-time subscriber of cable or satellite, you may already be used to channels on the guide not matching where they would be found on air. For instance, WGBA-TV Ch. 26 was on Ch. 7 on Time Warner in Green Bay. After this past ordeal, it is on Ch. 13 for most, but 10 in Marinette and 14 in Cleveland, Wis.

"This is the result we were working so hard to achieve. It was essential for us to receive fair market value for our products and services so that we can continue to invest in the high-quality local and network programming our viewers deserve," Andre Fernandez, president and CFO of Journal Communications, said in a statement.

"We're very happy that all our viewers and customers can again receive our award-winning local newscasts, network programming and community service initiatives," Fernandez added. "We're pleased that Time Warner subscribers will again be able to see NFL Sunday Night Football, 'The Voice,' and the rest of the NBC/CBS new fall seasons. The agreement also guarantees they will have access to special programming, such as the 2015 Super Bowl and the next two Olympic games."

You can read more about the conclusion of the block out here.

Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist

Media is bombarding us everywhere.

Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.

The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.