Combating Underage Drinking

Once again the Northwestern District Attorney's office is making use of our facility to promote a common good. Late last week Jana McClure, the DA's Director of Community Outreach and Education, and Mary Carey, Communications Director for the DA, toured our studio in preparation for a shoot this Wednesday. They are putting together a short piece for use at local college orientations that discourages underage and binge drinking.

The final program will be shown for the first time at UMass in a few weeks so the DA decided to shoot a short open and close for it on location at the college. Thank goodness Wednesday was sunny but not too hot! You can see a picture (taken by the DA, David Sullivan, himself) of the intrepid crew below:
(L to R: Deputy District Attorney Janice Healy, Mary, Alicia, Jana)

The location footage will be combined with the recording made in our studio, and b-roll from various sources, by our current intern. We're happy to have made the connection between the DA's office and our intern because it will give them both a real professional experience and final product. In addition, we appreciate the exposure and recognition we are receiving from the DA's office.

We'll let you know when you can watch this public service announcement for yourself, either on Cable Channel 15 or as part of our Video on Demand Player, so keep checking back.

A Big Production Week

This week we had nine shoots on our schedule and a lot of footage to edit. Between Monday and Tuesday we had three candidates in to record their video statements for our website and Mayor Martin invited Town Council President Tim Farrell into our studio for a chat on Tuesday afternoon. Thursday was our day for location shoots; our New Media Producer taped interviews with planners of the upcoming National Prescription Drug Takeback Day (you'll be hearing more about that on our homepage next week) at a breakfast with Northwestern District Attorney Dave Sullivan, volunteer Tom L. headed over to Town Hall in order to cover the emergency town council meeting regarding the preliminary election (check out the story that's on our homepage right now), and Philippe broadcast the Greenfield School Committee meeting live. Friday was not a slow day either as our Station Manager began his workday first thing in the morning filming the latest Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Breakfast and Joe Gochinski brought two State Representatives (William "Smitty" Pignatelli of the 4th Berkshire District & Brian Ashe of the 2nd Hampden District) in for conversations in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the staff has been editing the seven sessions of last weekend's Creative Economy Summit, that even a Shelburne Falls-wide power outage couldn't stop us from getting on camera, and the Greenfield Planning Board Meeting from March 17th.

In other news, be sure to keep an eye out here, on our channel, and our website for some festive foolishness next Friday.

Election Season is in Full Swing!

As you probably know, two debates took place in our studio on Tuesday night. The Franklin County Democratic League hosted both forums, one for the 2nd Franklin District State Representative seat and one for the Northwest District Attorney position. While the debate was going on inside, several candidates had supporters out on the street holding signs and waving to passersby. Both formal events were well attended and you can watch them for yourself at gctv.org.

We're very pleased that our recording of recent debates, including those discussed above, piqued the interest of two other media outlets. Masslive.com and Northamptonmedia.com both asked for links to our event footage, which we happily provided.

In other election news, many of you know that we updated our State Primaries page several times this week to include more video candidate statements and greater Franklin County races. If you haven't checked it out yet, now is a good time to do so. In addition, Maureen Winseck, Greenfield's Town Clerk, would like us to remind you that the last day to register to vote, change your political party, or address, for the State Primary Elections to be held on Tuesday, September 14th, is Wednesday, August 25th. The Town Clerk’s Office will be open from 8:30AM to 8PM that day. Regular office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30AM to 5PM. If you have any questions regarding voter registration, please contact the Greenfield Town Clerk's Office at 772-1555 x112.

One final note that has nothing to do with politics: The Franklin County Fair Parade will be here before you know it. If you would like to help us record the event on September 9th please email alicia@gctv.org and let us know.