Friday, July 23, 2010

What is Block Scheduling?

The topic came up this week because we are going to be switching time slots for two of our regular programs. Here at GCTV block scheduling means that we try to program certain parts of our lineup so that the same type of programming airs in a regular spot each day.

For instance, if you tune in on any weekday at 1pm you will be watching one of our Polka shows and at 2pm you can check out a variety of historical content. We hope soon to have the 9am weekday position filled with different sports and physical fitness programs. To further that goal we will be swapping the rebroadcasts of "Eaton do Ryu" and "The Greenfield YMCA Presents" beginning next week. The 9am lineup will now be: Monday-"Eaton do Ryu" (martial arts), Tuesday-"Dukes of Sports", Wednesday-"The Greenfield YMCA Presents" (aerobics & other activies), Thursday-"Eaton do Ryu", and Friday "The Greenfield YMCA Presents".

Additional block programming segments include rebroadcasts of recent town meetings, or large public events, on Saturdays at 1pm and a full day of religious and spiritual programs on Sundays. We also focus on bringing you new and ongoing content, from active producers or local sponsors, in our prime time slots from 5pm to 10pm Monday through Friday.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Election Season isn't over yet!

This week we began contacting all the candidates who you'll be voting on in the primaries on September 14th. That may seem like a long time from now but, with five candidates in the State Rep. Race for the Democratic Party and other contested races on both sides of the aisle, voters will need all of that time to make an informed decision. Within the next couple of weeks we'll be debuting a webpage at gctv.org that will feature pictures, bios, links to official campaign websites, and a video statement from each candidate. This is similar to what we did for Greenfield's Town Election on June 8th, that was so well received, but this will include not only Franklin County races but statewide ones as well.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Weekly Wrap-up

A couple of interesting topics were discussed on shows recorded here this week:

On Tuesday, WMCB DJ/Host of "Channeling the Muse" Opeyemi Parham, MD came armed for her show with a book titled, "Lies Men Tell Women and Why Women Believe Them". The episode which will broadcast tonight, and Sunday, at 6PM on 107.9FM, features an interview with the host's significant other and some good music to boot.

The following day we changed gears from love to money when Attorney David Roulston brought in three local businesswomen to discuss Greenfield's participation in the 3/50 project. If you aren't familiar with this campaign, which encourages people to buy local in an easy way, check out the story we did on it awhile back. Then tune into Cable Channel 15 on Monday, July 19th, at 9PM for this episode of "Franklin County Matters".

That's it for this week. Keep checking back here for the inside scoop on GCTV/WMCB!

Friday, July 2, 2010

This was a busy week!

Following up on a terrific end to last week, having the governor here on Friday, we spent this week following local politics, improving our website, and helping several local producers get their message out to the public.

Last Friday afternoon, about 50 people packed into our studio for a taping of “Mayor’s Memo”. Various state & local officials, citizens, and members of the media were on hand not only to watch Mayor Martin interview Governor Patrick, but to take a trolley ride around town with them afterwards. Alicia accompanied them on this trip and had a blast. It was nice for her to see politicians both demonstrating a sense of humor and discussing important issues in a realistic way. She got some great footage that you’ve already seen on our homepage but hopes to get a longer, documentary style, piece from the tour up soon.

Greenfield’s mayor returned to GCTV on Tuesday to record another episode of his show, this time featuring Lisa McGuinness championing our public schools, which will begin airing on July 6th. Other interesting guests here this week included representatives from NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) on “Franklin County Matters” and New England Farmers’ Union (NEFU) President Annie Cheatham on “Local Bias”. Jonathan Mark, of Fly By News, also brought in a couple of experts to discuss Big Pharma.

The last two shoots mentioned above, combined with Jonathan Mirin’s Piti Theatre Company’s production of “28 Feet”, filled our studio for the entire day yesterday. Producers were good about getting in and out on time so all the shows were able to go smoothly. “28 Feet”, Jonathan’s one man comedic play about dealing with his own medical issues, was open to the public and had an audience of about 20 people. You’ll be able to watch all of these shows on Cable Channel 15 soon and some of them at gctv.org as well.

Referencing our Video on Demand Player reminds us that we want to welcome Greenfield YMCA Programming to our online offerings. These episodes join videos of “Healthbeat”, “Local Bias”, “Valley Homegrown”, “Mayor’s Memo” and more. This is also a good time to mention that there is a new look to video content on our website.

We are now able to embed single videos from our Video on Demand Player so you can watch our top community coverage stories without leaving our homepage. This also means that producers will be able to link directly to their shows from, and even embed some of their episodes on, their own webpages.

Wow, we really did a lot this week! Oh, as promised, we also recorded Greenfield’s Inauguration Ceremony on Thursday and you can see it, along with some interviews with newly elected officials, on our homepage. Check it out!