A Quieter Week

Our big production of the week was recording the Greenfield High School Music Department's Annual Holiday Concert. Around 4:15pm on Wednesday, Otis and Alicia headed over to the school to set up this three camera shoot. Unfortunately, after an hour and a half of setting up and running cables, they discovered that one video feed was unavailable so the event became a two camera shoot. Our volunteers Sam & Melissa were up to the challenge and we think the final product still looks great. If you couldn't attend the concert, or you want to hear it again, tune in to Cable Channel 15 tonight at 7PM, tomorrow afternoon at 1pm, or (for you night owls) 11PM on Sunday.

In other GCTV news, "Local Bias" returned to their regular production schedule this week---taping an interview with David Brock on Thursday morning. As Creator and Executive Producer of the show Drew Hutchison minimized his involvement, in order to concentrate on his duties as the film & television teacher at GHS, the rest of the cast and crew has been stepping up to fill in the gaps. This has meant recording the show at some odd times but guesthost Dr. Andrew Blais has found no shortage of guests willing to participate.

Weekly Wrap-up

We were busy with election stuff at the beginning of the week, covering the state rep. race education debate at The Greenfield Grille on Monday night and recording the get to know the Democratic Primary Candidates event in our studio on Tuesday night. Both events are available to watch online and you can look at a slideshow of pics, taken prior to Tuesday's, on the right hand side of this blog. (Thanks again to Joe Gochinski for providing GCTV's staff and production volunteers with yummy snacks for the second event!)

Unfortunately, we can't cover every important event that occurs in town but, thankfully, our volunteer producers tend to some of the gaps. Susan Laing recorded last night's planning board meeting and we hope to bring you the footage from it soon.

In other news, this week our board gave final approval to our new logo and you'll be seeing it soon. Finally, Drew Hutchison has produced two new "Local Bias" episodes in which he interviews the men running for Northwestern District Attorney. Drew and the staff worked hard to turn the second episode around in record time so it was recorded late yesterday morning and by 5PM it was available to watch online at gctv.org.

Whew! What a Whirlwind of a Week!

Continuing our theme from last week, a lot of work in our office revolved around Greenfield's Town Election on Tuesday. Monday was spent in frenzied activity putting the finishing touches on our on our website and pre-produced pieces. Owen & Simeon spent some time over at GHS, on Tuesday, talking to candidates and volunteers who were forming the gauntlet voters had to walk through before entering their polling place.

Election returns were delayed on Tuesday night because of a morning power failure at the polls and the breakdown of Precinct 2's vote tallying machine. Both of these technical issues combined to cause a large number of ballots to require hand counting and the unofficial totals weren't delivered to our studio until after 9PM.

Joe Gochinski & Drew Hutchison did a phenomenal job hosting our election returns show. They were informative and really integrated well with our pre-produced segments. GCTV's staff and volunteers would like to send up a shout out to Joe for providing snacks that also kept our energy up at the town council meeting the next night. Yummy!

The Greenfield Middle School Band's Spring Concert also took place on Wednesday night and we covered it too. Since it couldn't air live, it will air tonight at 7PM on Cable Channel 15.

Thursday night we were back out in the community broadcasting the Greenfield School Committee Meeting live from Greenfield High School. The staff who weren't working on that shoot spent the day cleaning up, helping producers edit their shows, and generally winding down.

Today has been less hectic so more cleaning up and organizing has been accomplished, along with some catching up on work that didn't get done over the last week and a half.

Make sure to check our Video on Demand player for anything you missed this week and tune in tonight for Sunday's GHS Graduation at 5PM.

Weekly Wrap-up (with a Shout Out)

Being closed Monday for Patriot's Day was really nice and our staff took full advantage of the three day weekend to travel to all kinds of exotic places like NYC, New Jersey, and, of course, a goat farm in Shelburne Falls.

We hit the ground running on Tuesday morning, however, with Community Action's Mediation & Training Collaborative (TMTC) beginning an almost day-long shoot in our studio. Thanks to a grant, they were able to hire two of our independent producers (Jimmie Bailey & Drew Hutchison) to set up the technical aspects of the production and run cameras. Drew & Jimmie helped the shoot to proceed smoothly and, as Betsey Corner of TMTC said, "they were worth every penny".

On Wednesday, our studio was again in use most of the day---this time by three separate shoots and a tour. In the morning, we recorded a video statement, for our website, by one of the candidates in Greenfield's upcoming election (Don't forget to vote June 8, 2010!). After lunch, a group from Ludlow Public Access Television (LPTV) in Vermont stopped by to check out our facilities. They are about to move into a new space and were visiting several nearby stations to get ideas for their architect to use in the planning and renovation process. Not long after they left, Mayor Martin and Sandy Shields (Director of Greenfield's DPW) came in to tape a new "Mayor's Memo" focusing on Greenfield's Solar Farm project. When they had finished, Philippe and Alicia spent the rest of the afternoon setting up for the Town Council Meeting which was broadcast live from our studio that evening.

Thanks to a respite on Thursday, Alicia finally had time to evict most of the dustbunnies from our studio. Her thorough sweeping job means that when the crews for "Silly Wizard" and "Kid Trivia" come in to record shows this afternoon their feet will not be producing crunching sounds as they walk across the floor. Yay!

In other news, "Valley Homegrown" director Richard Roy is participating in the World T'ai-Chi and Qigong Day Celebration here in Greenfield this weekend. A group meditation for world peace and awareness of T'ai-Chi and Qigong will be held Saturday, April 24th, from 10AM to 11:30AM at Beacon Field. The event, which is sponsored by J. R. Roy Martial Arts Studio & Dial/Self, will be held rain or shine. It's free and Richard hopes that he'll see many of you there.

Local Bias' Triumphant Return!

Dah, dah! Make sure to tune in to channel 15 tonight at 5:30PM for a brand new episode of "Local Bias" featuring Greenfield's own Mayor William Martin. Host Drew Hutchison and his crew are back, after after their short winter break, bringing you a wide variety of interesting interviews with new episodes every two weeks.

Local Bias Going On Short Hiatus

Fans of "Local Bias" do not despair! Though no new episodes of "Local Bias" are set to be recorded until after the new year, the show will continue to air throughout the holiday season. We'll air some of host, and executive producer, Drew Hutchison's favorite episodes while he and producer Jimmie Bailey take some well deserved time off to be with their families. If you missed them the first time, in the coming weeks you'll have another chance to hear the views of John Ward (discussing nuclear and sustainable energy), Dan McKenna the president of Principle Profits Asset Management, Inc. (on responsible investing), and author Eve Brown-Waite ("First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria"). Enjoy!

More Reasons to Come Party with Us!

This video was originally conceived as a spoof of the "Where the Hell is Matt?" videos but took on a life of it's own. Our star, Drew Hutchison (producer & host of "Local Bias"), just couldn't stop playing with the costumes provided to him by producer and camera operator Alicia Brody (GCTV Technical Assistant). Even Scott MacPherson (GCTV Station Manager), who edited this promo, could tell that it was a lot of fun to make. Special thanks to Peter John Ross, of Monkeyboy Records, who made his music available online for anyone to use, free of charge, as long as he is given credit.

Special thanks also go to our producers, volunteers, and supporters who made cameo appearances in the video and/or let us film on their property. These people include: George Gohl (co-host of "Fat Guys on Film"), Greenfield Town Councilor Mark Maloney, GCTV intern Jal Kelley-Clark, Brent Eaton (producer of "Windchanger", "Dark Horse", "Silly Wizard", "Eaton do Ryu", and "Encore Body Art"), and Al & Wendell at Bart's Cafe in downtown Greenfield.

Paaaarrrrrrrrrty!!!!!!!!!

Come party with us! This exclusive event (only 120 tickets will be sold) is going to be a lot of fun. We'll have prizes for the best costumes, great music, and a wonderful atmosphere. Purchase your tickets to this fundraiser in advance, cash or check only, at our office. Also, keep your eye out for a promo spot for this event featuring "Local Bias" producer, and GCTV Board Member, Drew Hutchison. We promise laughter will ensue.

New Local Bias Promo

"Local Bias" Producer Drew Hutchison has been busy augmenting his Youtube.com offerings. In addition to this new promo you can watch all three parts of his interview with Eve Brown-Waite, author of "First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria", on our youtube channel.

Franklin County Fair Parade Coverage

Don't forget to tune in on Thursday, September 10th, at 5:30PM for LIVE coverage of this year's Franklin County Fair Parade. Our usual hosts, Russ Brown ("Dukes of Sports") & Tom Dillon (Dillon Chevrolet), will be joined this year by Russ' new co-host on "Dukes of Sports", Marisa Dalmaso-Rode. Marisa adds her winning personality to the great commentary by Russ & Tom.

NEW THIS YEAR! Check back here tomorrow for EXCLUSIVE, WEB ONLY, CONTENT from the fair parade. "Local Bias" producer & host, Drew Hutchison, will be walking the parade route and bringing us interesting stories and pictures from inside the parade itself.

Finally, once the parade has concluded we will join the Greenfield School Committee Meeting, which starts at 6PM, live---already in progress.

Check Out The Revamped WMCB Blog!

Drew Hutchison, GCTV board member & liason to our community radio station, has been hard at work redesigning WMCB-lp 107.9FM's blog and it looks great! It is easy to find what you are looking for, there are some interesting links, and the content is up to date. Check it out here. Thanks Drew, way to go!

We have Video On Demand!

So, you only caught part of Drew Hutchison's interview with Governor Deval Patrick on "Local Bias"? Did you miss last week's Ways & Means meeting? Perhaps you decided to enjoy the beautiful weather outside instead of attending the latest School Committee meeting? Well, that doesn't have to mean that you aren't informed. You can now watch GCTV programs on your computer, whenever you want! Go to www.gctv.org/VOD. We will make every effort to get meetings up within 24-48 hours after they occur.

Governor Patrick's Appearance on Local Bias

Today Massachusetts' Governor Deval Patrick arrived at our studio to be interviewed by Drew Hutchison for next week's "Local Bias". The governor was gracious and funny and accompanied by his adorable dog, Zoey. If you can't wait to find out what the governor said to Drew, make sure you tune in to the first airing of "Local Bias" on Wednesday at 5:30PM. We will be posting more photos from the governor's visit shortly but, in the meantime, enjoy this group shot.

It's campaign season!

GCTV would like to remind candidates for political office that we are a great resource for imparting your views to the electorate. Producer Drew Hutchison ("Local Bias") is available to consult any candidate wishing to utilize GCTV in this manner. Please call our office for more information.

Local Bias has a new website!

Drew Hutchison, producer & host of "Local Bias", has created a brand new blog for his show. He plans on updating it regularly and uploading lots of video. Check it out by clicking on the link on the right hand side of this page under the heading "GCTV Productions".

Whew, it's been a busy day!

All four of our cameras have been checked out for the long weekend and five of our six computers were in use today. Producers have been in and out of the office all day long working on some interesting programs. Drew Hutchison interviewed Mark Maloni, of Community Action, this morning about Ballot Question #1. That interview will begin airing next week. Don't forget, if you have an idea you want to turn into a program, pick up the phone and call us or come on by. We'll teach you what you need to know to get started.

Help us to make this blog even better!

We hope you like the changes that have been made. Please let us know what you think and if there is anything you'd like added to this blog.

Also, speaking of comments, if you are one of our regular producers please fill out our survey the next time you are in our office. We want to make sure we've been doing well by you for the last 20 years and how we can keep going strong for the next 20.

In other office news, a lot of editing has been going on here this week so you can look forward to more new programming on Channel 15. "Elmer & the Elder Tree", a play for children, premiered today; a new musical comedy special featuring Drew Hutchison & Lenny Zarcone should be completed soon; and a show about district heating in Greenfield is being produced by Wendy Marsden, a volunteer for both Co-op Power and Greening Greenfield, with the kind assistance of Tom Roulston the producer of "Franklin County Matters".

One interesting thing that happened at our office.

On Thursday morning, the crews for "Local Bias" and "Last Stop, Bingville" arrived at our studio for their shoots. They were joined by Robert Tobey, host of "Bread & Roses" on Valley Free Radio down in Northampton. Robert was here to observe part of the shoots and to pick the brain of "Local Bias" host/producer, and WMCB Board member, Drew Hutchison. "Bread & Roses" will, hopefully, soon be televised on both Northampton Community Television (NCTV) & GCTV. Drew, along with our Technical Director---Scott, acted as great sources of advice and encouragement. For those of you unfamiliar with Robert Tobey, he is also a photographer and writer for the Valley Advocate. I caught him snapping some photos of us working and it made me smile. ---Alicia