DISH is a town in

Denton County, Texas Denton County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 906,422, making it the 7th-most populous county in Texas. The county seat is Denton. The county, which was named for John B. Denton, was establi ...

, United States. The town had a population of 201 at the 2010 census. This community, established in June 2000, was originally named Clark. In November 2005, the community accepted an offer to rename itself "DISH" (all capital letters) as part of a commercial agreement with satellite television company

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling ...

History

The settlement was originally named for its founder, Landis Clark, who incorporated the town in June 2000 and served as its first mayor. In exchange for renaming the town to DISH, all residents received free basic television service for ten years and a free

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to ...

from

. There was no formal opposition to renaming Clark; twelve citizens attended the council meeting to support the measure.

Air quality

In 2005, energy companies began drilling natural gas wells at DISH. Town residents complained of foul smells, and of health issues they linked to the gas (natural gas, methane, and benzene) emissions from the wells. The town spent $15,000 on an air quality test, which found elevated levels of several chemicals including

benzene Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms ...

. Following that, the energy companies made changes. In response to concerns about the town's air quality, the Texas Department of State Health Services conducted air quality tests, and in May 2010, released its results for DISH, including tests of blood and urine samples from 28 DISH residents that were tested for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The agency concluded that:

The information obtained from this investigation did not indicate that community-wide exposures from gas wells or compressor stations were occurring in the sample population. This conclusion was based on the pattern of VOC values found in the samples. Other sources of exposure such as cigarette smoking, the presence of disinfectant by-products in drinking water, and consumer or occupational/hobby related products could explain many of the findings.

The state installed an air quality monitoring station at DISH, which showed that, as of 2012, air pollutants were generally within government limits. An article about the air quality in DISH by NPR in 2012 stated that "better studies are needed" to test for the health effects of drilling emissions, and also that the installation of gas wells in populated places "is way out ahead of public health evaluations of any kind to date".

Demographics

The population in 2010 was 201, and the estimated population for 2015 was 387. The population of DISH was 437 at the

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

Education

DISH is zoned to the

Ponder Independent School District Ponder Independent School District is a public school district based in Ponder, Texas, United States. In 2009, the school district was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency. It includes Ponder, DISH, and portions o ...

Ponder High School Ponder High School is a public high school located in Ponder, Texas ( USA) and classified as a 3A school by the UIL. It is part of the Ponder Independent School District located in southwestern Denton County. In 2015, the school was rated " M ...

is its comprehensive high school.

In popular culture

In the January 10, 2006, episode of Comedy Central's ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...

'', correspondent

Ed Helms Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom '' The Off ...

produced a segment about DISH. Household Name, a podcast by ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'', produced an episode on DISH, "A Town Called DISH", that aired on June 12, 2019.

References

* The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (January 10, 2006
"Helms - Ready, Willing and Cable"
*Jasinski, Laurie E. (September 1, 2006
"Clark, Texas."
*Lozano, Bert (November 16, 2005

*Moore, Dave (November 16, 2005

*(November 16, 2005
"Rename Your Town 'DISH,' Get Free Satellite TV for 10 Years; DISH Network Offer Equates to Possibly Millions of Dollars of Free Programming."
*(December 3, 2005) "What's in a name?" ''WORLD Magazine''.
"The Daily Show" January 10, 2006

External links

Town of DISH official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:DISH, Texas Towns in Denton County, Texas Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Towns in Texas Dish Network 2000 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 2000