Weekly Wrap-up #2

Tah dah! As promised, here is the second installment of our series informing you about the past week at GCTV:

Pleasant sounds filled our office this week. On Monday night "Valley Homegrown" showcased a talented singer/songwriter from Boston, Thea Hopkins, whose American Short Story Folk Music has earned praise from many---including the iconic group Peter, Paul, & Mary. If you missed it, when it aired live at 7PM, be sure to catch the re-run tonight at 9PM or next Saturday, April 3rd, at 10PM.

Thursday caught one of our independent producers pulling double duty. Beth Adams, host of "We Are the Ones" on Cable Channel 15 and "The Singing Wilderness" on WMCB 107.9FM, produced both of her shows back to back. She began in our radio studio where her guest, musician Helen Fortier, sang and played her guitar live for the listening audience. Afterward, the two made their way to our television studio. Helen performed several songs and then sat down with Beth for an in-depth interview.

In addition to our in-studio musical acts, there were two government related productions this week that GCTV Staff covered in the field. On Tuesday night, Owen took a couple of cameras over to Greenfield High School to document a presentation by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Then, on Thursday night, Philippe returned there for a Greenfield School Committee Meeting featuring three architectural Power Point Slideshows. The DOT Forum will be broadcast tonight at 5PM and the school committee will re-air tomorrow at 1PM.

Well, those are the highlights from this week. Be sure to check in next Friday for more. Oh, and don't forget that this coming Thursday is April 1st. Will we have some silliness on air and on this blog in honor of that special day? Perhaps. You'll have to see our TV schedule, and come back here, to find out.

New! Weekly Wrap-up

We put our heads together here, after the tempestuous time we had last week, and decided that posting a synopsis of life at GCTV each Friday wouldn't be a bad idea. (It also might be cathartic for our staff.) To that end, I bring you, (dah, dah!) the first GCTV Weekly Wrap-up:

Our week started as usual on Monday morning with a "Dukes of Sports" shoot. Producer, and co-host, of the show Russ Brown brought us a huge bag of freshly popped popcorn---for which we thanked him greatly. (Always feed the bears in our office!) The only event that marred this day was the final fallout from our technical heck week in which we found that the March 11th Greenfield School Committee Meeting's video file had been corrupted beyond saving.

Tuesday was a boisterous one around here, with about twenty students from Federal Street Elementary School in our studio to help Jonathan Mirin's Piti Theatre Company film "Salmon Falls". Piti Theatre's website describes this show as, "an interactive theatrical event where audience members ages 5 and up are invited to help us tell the Deerfield River's story with movement, song and storytelling." Tuesday evening, a different group filled our studio. The Greenfield Kiwanis Club held their monthly meeting here, and got in some camera training, ahead of their two day auction extravaganza which will be shown live on Channel 15 on May 5th & 6th.

Four shoots rounded out our production week---"Encore Body Art" & a Greenfield Town Council Meeting on Wednesday and "Local Bias" & "Healthbeat" on Thursday. The town council meeting lasted 3-1/2 hours and Alicia would like to profusely thank volunteers Jal, Donna, & Shawn for going the distance. (A belated thank you goes out to Tom Roulston who stepped in at the last minute, last week, to run a camera for two hours at the Greenfield School Committee Meeting.) Al Norman was Drew Hutchison's guest for the "Local Bias" episode that will begin airing on Wednesday and be on the lookout for April's "Healthbeat" which will focus on Advances in Obstetrics and National Volunteer Month.

So far, today is relatively quiet, though I know I shouldn't really type that. Check back next Friday for the second installment of GCTV's Weekly Wrap-up. ---Alicia

It's Been One of Those Weeks...

So, we have good news and we have bad news. The good news is that we now have two presentations available online dealing with the Stretch Code as it relates to the Town of Greenfield becoming a greener community (in the "Local Government" category in our Video on Demand player) and we were able to air most of last night's Greenfield School Committee Meeting live (after not being able to go live with Tuesday night's Stretch Code workshop). The bad news is that, due to several technical glitches, the March 9th Stretch Code presentation is missing its first fifteen minutes and we may not be able to air the school committee meeting this weekend or get it online until next week. The meeting's video file was corrupted and it will take some time to figure out how much of it we can save. We are working hard on it and taking steps to ensure that future shoots go more smoothly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and we will stop feeding the gremlins after midnight.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

The Greenfield High School Music Parents Association Telethon last night raised more than $5800. The students had a lot of fun and are grateful to everyone who called in a pledge. If you missed seeing this exhibition of talent be sure to check our homepage tomorrow evening for a short documentary.

GHS Music Parents' Telethon Hits Our Airwaves!

Tonight, from 6PM to 9PM, GCTV will be turning Cable Channel 15 over to Greenfield High School Band & Chorus members (and their parents, of course) to help them raise money for the wonderful music programs taught by Paul Calcari. When you tune in tonight you will hear all kinds of music from Jazz to Broadway, solo performances, small groups, and even an interview with Greenfield Schools Superintendent Susan Hollins. Host Dan Guin will be encouraging you to call 413-774-4300 and support these amazing young people.