Woodstock Times

Woodstock Times - Features

1/17/2008

State of the station
Improvements on tap at Woodstock's public-access TV channel

Volunteer Richard Spool at Woodstock Public Access TV Studios.
[ Dion Ogust ]

by George Pattison

Making the most of modest resources, Woodstock's public-access cable television channel will soon introduce enhanced services including streaming video of its programs on the Internet, a new feature for emergency announcements, and the addition of a third camera for live broadcasts, according to the station's four volunteer caretakers.

Functioning as a de facto "designated entity," the volunteers - Ellen Povill, Richard Spool, Angela Sweet, and Gordon Wemp - have overseen the station's operation since the town's cable commission disbanded about seven years ago, relinquishing that role. The state's Public Service Commission requires municipalities to designate entities other than themselves to operate public-access cable channels. The town of Woodstock provides Channel 23 studio space, at the Community Center on Rock City Road, and a portion of the annual franchise fee it collects from the carrier, Time Warner Cable. In 2008 the station will receive $6,000, up from $5,000 in recent years.

Wemp, who is knowledgeable about software applications and also serves as the station's liaison to the Town Board, is currently researching technological options for streaming as much content onto the Internet as possible, at minimal cost to the station, which must pay bandwidth charges associated with the process. When it becomes available, the streaming will allow residents of the "franchise area," which covers Woodstock and West Hurley, to view Channel 23 programs on computers with Internet access. Some residents of the area are not cable TV subscribers, noted Wemp, a member of Woodstock's town board from 2002 to 2006. The streaming video will be accessible from either the town's website, www.woodstockny.org., or another address, which has been reserved for use by the station.

The station's capacity for displaying emergency announcements will soon be upgraded. Heretofore, emergencies have been announced during regular programming via a text scroll at the bottom of the screen. The use of Scala digital signage software will permit the station to replace the in-progress program with a full-screen overlay announcing an emergency such as the approach of severe weather.

Meanwhile, the station's acquisition of another camera creates the capacity for a "three-camera shoot," adding variety to multiple-subject settings like interviews and meetings, observed Povill, a professional videographer who joined the Woodstock public-access channel in 1981, soon after its inception, and has served as its station manager and program director. Povill currently directs workshops and oversees public service announcements, or PSAs. Spool maintains and repairs the station's hardware and acquaints new producers with its use and other standard procedures, while Sweet, who is secretary to the town supervisor, handles paperwork and the recording of town board meetings. The four volunteers emphasize, however, that everyone does whatever needs to be done, from sweeping the floor to organizing the carousel containing videotaped programming. The group meets once a month to discuss the affairs of the station.

Free speech

Freedom of expression and equal access are cardinal principles at the Woodstock station, which over the years has variously operated as channels 3, 6, 16, 20, and 23. "The main reason we're doing this [volunteer work] is that we are diehards about free speech," said Spool. "We have very relaxed rules," added Povill. "Public access is for everybody, on a first-come first-served basis."

The volunteer oversight group strives to avoid censorship of programming. "None of us is in the content business," said Wemp, noting, however, that prospective producers must agree to abide by the town's public access policy, which covers, among other provisions, loss of producer privileges following a conviction for libel or slander and the town's right to prevent the dissemination of obscene programming. Except for those with an established relationship with the station before 2000, producers must be residents of Woodstock. Certified studio technicians are provided to producers who require their expertise.

The channel's round-the-clock programming consists of shows created by the station's stable of approximately 30 regular producers; taped programs, mainly in VHS format, which are stored in the carousel; and the Community Bulletin Board, whose content includes meeting and event announcements, messages about animals that are lost or available for adoption, PSAs, and weather updates and forecasts. Weather information is fed to the studio from a weather station at adjacent Andy Lee Field that is maintained by the channel. The bulletin board runs constantly in the background but is invisible when a show is on the air; otherwise, bulletin board content appears at seven-minute intervals.

Regular programs are shown in increments of a half-hour, an hour, and, when feasible, two hours.

The station's studio, housed in a cozy if cramped space off the Community Center's main room, contains the tools of the TV trade: digital cameras (an analog camera can be borrowed by anyone who wishes to record an event to be broadcast over the channel), a video processor, condenser microphones, professional-quality lights, an audio mixer, and VHS and DVD recorders. It also contains traces of the station's and the town's past: a blue-painted bench from the long-defunct bowling alley on Route 212 in Bearsville, a table built by former town supervisor Jeremy Wilber. Community activists including Bill McKenna, Sam Mercer, and Ed Sanders contributed to a $13,000 renovation of the studio in 2003 that was funded in part by a grant obtained by state assemblyman Kevin Cahill.

Generally satisfied

Two of the station's producers, David Boyle and Michael Veitch, pronounce themselves generally satisfied with its operation. Boyle's government-oversight show, "Watchdog Review," has been on the air since 1987. The producer, a restoration carpenter and 43-year resident of Woodstock, discerns recent changes for the better at Channel 23. "There has been an upgrade in 'producer value' in the past year, after a gap from 1988 to 1990," said Boyle, who noted that a suggestion two decades ago by Fred Freitag, then the president of the Woodstock Taxpayers Association, prompted Boyle to create a show covering Woodstock's town government.

"The equipment at the station is sufficiently complicated that, previously, a lot of producers would leave it in an untidy condition and I couldn't get on the air. But that situation has improved lately, as part of an ongoing upgrade," said Boyle, who reported that he receives "a lot of feedback" from viewers of his program. Boyle added that he welcomes involvement in Channel 23 by new town supervisor Jeff Moran, a past producer of content for the station. (Angela Sweet, one of the station's volunteer caretakers, provides technical assistance to "Watchdog Review.")

Veitch, a musician, has produced "Progressive Issues" for approximately three years. The show's coproducer is David Menzies. The two men launched the program, Veitch explained, as a way "to get our two cents out and into the community" after both ran unsuccessfully for s Town Board seat in 2003. The show covers issues in Woodstock and Ulster County and regularly features interviews with political candidates and office holders.

Veitch describes the station's physical facilities as "adequate, not great. [The studio] could be much grander, but it works: it has air conditioning, so it's cool in the summer, and is heated, so it's warm in the winter. It is adequate for what we are doing now. The community is fortunate to have the facility that we have, but it wouldn't take much to spruce up the station and turn Channel 23 into a great studio," he said, suggesting that the town could disburse to the station a slightly bigger share of the franchise fee than it has in the past.

Meanwhile, Veitch looks forward to the upcoming availability of streamed content on the Internet, which he hopes will increase the channel's audience. "I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be a good year for moving the station forward," he said.