A Week of Renovations

Even though we were open on Monday, the staff spent the day getting ready for being closed the rest of the week. All rooms, and closets, with carpet were emptied and their contents moved upstairs or into the studio and control room. Staff members who worked at home this week organized what was coming home with them, in between toting items and answering the phone. Producers who stopped in had a very different view of the premises than they did normally. Zydeco Connection starred on "Valley Homegrown" in the evening and that was our last production before closing down to the public.

First thing Tuesday morning our Station Manager unlocked the door for the carpet installers and they quickly got to work ripping out the old and putting in the new. As rooms were finished, furniture was moved back in. There were some changes however. The next time you're in, you will notice probably notice Philippe at the reception desk instead of Alicia. Our New Media Producer is moving into the old copy room and the copier will go into the rear conference/break room as the pre-production studio for WMCB transfers into what used to be our workshop. Some repainting of walls was also accomplished this week, putting the finishing touches on work that began several months ago to improve the efficiency and image of our space.

We'll post before and after photos here next week so keep checking back.

GCTV Programming Goes International Again!

How cool is this? As the Executive Producer and Director of Baystate Franklin Medical Center's "Healthbeat" were leaving our office on Wednesday, they mentioned that at least one episode of their show had been watched in India. Back in October a BFMC Stroke Specialist, Dr. Rajiv Padmanabhan, was featured on a segment about neurology. After finding out that we upload each episode of the program to our website's Video on Demand Player, Dr. Padmanabhan emailed the link to his relatives in India. Evidently, they gathered quite a few friends and relatives together, plugged their computer into a big screen TV, and had a blast.

In other news, you may have noticed that our logo is now on the bottom right corner of Cable Channel 15 around the clock. We were very excited recently to purchase a downstream graphics generator that enables us to have that "bug" on the screen 24/7. Next time you're channel surfing you won't be able to miss GCTV. :)

Hopefully, you also didn't miss the wonderful article that The Republican published about us on Sunday. Cori Urban wrote a great profile highlighting our important role as a medium for citizens to express themselves and stay on top of local issues. Read the piece for yourself on masslive.com.

Finally, we'd like to congratulate WMCB DJ/Host of "Speciocracy" Marian Kelner. Her book "As A Sailboat Seeks the Wind", a volume full of poetry, essays, and short stories, was published last month by Booksmyth Press. When asked about her accomplishment Marian gushed, "it's wonderful to be able to share my ideas and experiences with people in an easily accessible and engaging format".

Another Busy Week

Turkey Day is coming up and we'll tell you more about our plans for it later in this post. In the meantime let us take a moment to reflect on this week's events.

On Tuesday night, the Greening Greenfield Energy Committee (GGEC) held another of their workshops in our studio. This one, on reducing home energy costs, featured speakers from MassSave, Community Action, the Town of Greenfield, and Franklin County Home Care who introduced attendees to free programs, grants, and low interest loans. In the category of "It's a Small World", the evening was moderated by GGEC member, and WMCB host of "Various Voices", Daria Fisk. The audience came away with many good resources and enjoyed the refreshments provided by GGEC volunteers. If you missed it, be sure to watch it online as part of our Video on Demand Player at GCTV.org. It can be found in the "Special Features" category.

Another program available to watch online is the Greenfield Town Council Meeting that we broadcast live from our studio on Wednesday night. Once again the councilors moved through their business with thought and humor. They quickly dealt with issues relating to Greenfield's 2011 Fiscal Year Budget Tax Classifications and then spent quite a bit of time looking at a proposal for an Agricultural Preservation Restriction on the town farm. Though the latter matter was tabled until the next meeting, in order to receive more information from the town planning department, our local government representatives were able to disagree with each other and yet make jokes at times. This video is in the "Local Government" category and Thursday night's school committee meeting will be joining it soon.

Finally, we get to our T-day sneak peek. We alternate filming the annual Greenfield High School vs. Turners Falls High School Thanksgiving Day Football Game with Montague Community Television. They film it when TFHS hosts it and we record it when it's one of GHS' home games. It's our turn this year which means that Russ Brown and Mike Cadran of "The Dukes of Sports" will be doing a pre-game show on the field that will be full of fun facts about this historic local rivalry and what to look for this year. Keep an eye out on our homepage on Monday afternoon for a few words from Mike and Russ as they get ready for this great event. If you can't be there in person, the game will be broadcast on Cable Channel 15 beginning at 6:30pm on Thanksgiving. Be sure sure to check back here on Thanksgiving morning for a special blog post regarding other traditional holiday programming.

A Remembrance of Tom MacLean

A memorial celebration and potluck will be held this Sunday, August 29th, at 4PM at Woolman Hill in Deerfield.

Announcements, Announcements, Announcements!

After much hard work this week, GCTV staff members set up livestreaming for WMCB-lp 107.9FM. You can now listen to this community radio station twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, on your computer. Head over to wmcb.net/Listen.html to start enjoying Western Massachusetts Community Broadcasting. Be sure to check out the rest of the site while you're there because it has descriptions of each show, answers to frequently asked questions, and the station's schedule. In case you are wondering, the hours between Midnight and Noon (when you can't hear WMCB on your radio) will be filled online by a repeat of the programming that ran from Noon to Midnight.

Keeping our election page up to date also required a lot of time and effort this week. If you go to http://www.gctv.org/StatePrimaries.html you will see that new links to important election websites, the ballot questions, and video of candidate debates and interviews have been added. We've also listed the debates we'll be airing in the future and we will continue adding content to the page as we get it.

Writing about debates reminds me that we still need volunteers to help us shoot many of the events we'll be covering this month. If you would like to run a camera, manage the soundboard, or direct during a debate, town council, or school committee shoot send an email to alicia@gctv.org or call 413-774-4288. Don't forget, we will train you! To see our upcoming volunteer opportunities click here.

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!

It's All About The Governor (and the Earthquake)

What a week this was!

On Tuesday afternoon Owen, Simeon, & our Station Manager attended a session at the new Veterans' Resource & Referral Center, on Main Street, in which Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and his staff listened to the concerns of local veterans. In addition to recording the entire event (which will air on Cable Channel 15 at 2PM on Wednesday, June 30th, and be available to watch online as part of our Video on Demand Player soon) they were able to catch a quick interview with the governor to create a short news story for our homepage.

It was pretty quiet around here on Wednesday, until 1:40PM. Alicia was sitting at her desk, Philippe & Owen were working at editing stations, when Alicia felt a rumble beneath her feet. This is actually not that unusual because there is some machinery in our building that periodically sends a buzzing up through Alicia's desk and chair. The shaking this time was more pronounced, however, so she asked the guys if they could feel it. They said they could and asked what it was. Alicia replied that she thought it was an earthquake, since she remembered feeling in Ashfield the one that occurred around Albany five to seven years ago. It was a little scary while the building was moving because, even though they were gentle, the tremors had increased from the time they'd started and we had no way of knowing how long it would last.

As soon as it was over, Alicia picked up the phone and called WMCB DJ/Host of "Let it Rip", and GCTV Volunteer, Reba Rasbury. Alicia told Reba what had happened, and about her theory that it was an earthquake, and asked Reba what she thought. Reba hadn't felt anything but gamely hopped online to check it out. At first, she couldn't find reports of an occurrence but she did explain why it would make sense that we felt the effects on the third floor while no one on the ground floor did. Her opinion is that, as our structure was built by Masons, the foundation of this edifice is solid and deep allowing vibrations at lower depths to be picked up. As the oscillations traveled upward, farther away from the anchored portion of the building, their effect increased.

A few minutes later, Reba called back to let us know that a 5.5 Magnitude earthquake had been reported in Canada that was close, and powerful, enough for us to have felt it. Philippe suggested that Reba call into the radio station (476-4266) so he could interview her on the air. They talked for several minutes about the science behind earthquakes and how far their effects can be experienced. At 4PM, Reba discussed the earthquake, and other environmental issues, on her show. If you'd like to hear a segment of it, check out our website or listen to her rebroadcast on 107.9FM today at 2PM.

Later today we will welcome Governor Patrick back to our studio where he will be Mayor Martin's guest on "Mayor's Memo". They will be signing the solar farm contract here in front of an audience made up of town employees, councilors, and other officials. Before that, however, Alicia will be accompanying them on a trolley tour of Greenfield to record that event for posterity. Look for footage from all of this to be posted on our website late this afternoon or early this evening.

Whew! That's about it for this week. We'll let you how things go when we check in next Friday or maybe we'll even have a special post here on Monday.

Expanding Greenfield's Knowledge Base Through Informative Programming

Two interviews were conducted in our studio this week. Late on Monday afternoon, Dave Roulston, Mary Drew of Clinical Support Options, Greg Grueling of Green River House, and Susan Howell also of Green River House sat down together for “Franklin County Matters”. The purpose of this roundtable was to highlight the 8th Annual Wellness Fair, celebrating the empowerment of people with mental disabilities, at the Energy Park in downtown Greenfield. On Thursday, Glen Ayers, host of “The Enviro Show” on WMCB, was Drew Hutchison’s guest on “Local Bias” and the two of them discussed the ramifications of pollution. Their talk was wide ranging but included Biomass and the ballot questions that voters will be deciding during Greenfield’s election on June 8th.

Writing about “Local Bias” reminds me that we have a new producer in our midst thanks to the crew of that show. As I type this post, former guest (and local author---“First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria”) Eve Brown-Waite is sitting at one of our computers editing her own show for broadcast on Cable Channel 15. She was excited to discover all the opportunities we offer when she appeared on Drew’s show and he encouraged her to use us herself when she came to him with another project.

All three of the programs described above should be shown soon. Please check our schedule for days and times.

If you’re looking for something to watch right now---and you’re interested in dinosaurs, geology, or local history---check out independent producer Reba Rasbury’s piece on Vimeo. She says that it’s a, “work in progress”, but it showcases both her humor and the amazing Jurassic treasures that our valley holds.

Finally, a note about our board meeting for this month: our board is going on a field trip to Athol-Orange Community Television on Tuesday evening, to tour their facility, instead of having a regular meeting here in our studio.

A Week of Empowerment

This week began with women helping women. Opeyemi Parham, MD, host of WMCB’s “Channeling the Muse” organized a co-operative learning session for her fellow female DJs. First thing on Monday morning the group discussed their needs and then proceeded to teach each other what they knew. Some of them were familiar with producing live shows, others only pre-records, some upload their shows to air on their own, others don’t. During this time they were each able to share the parts that they knew and help each other to become fully versed in WMCB procedures. If you missed this session, don’t worry, they will be having another one on June 14th and Opeyemi will be sending out an email to current DJs soon.

Knowledge continued to be passed on the following day when volunteers from the Greenfield YMCA arrived at our studio for a camera training session with our station manager. In one hour they learned how to use our new HD field cameras, Manfrotto Tripods, and studio cameras. The YMCA is ramping up coverage of their many activities and now has regular timeslots for the shows they produce. Tune in to Cable Channel 15 on Mondays at 11AM and Wednesdays at 7PM, beginning May 24th, to see these great shows.

Lastly, we welcomed a new producer to our ranks this week. Hope Schneider, of the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library, was taught to edit her footage of this year’s Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest using Adobe Premiere on one of our PCs.

We’re very happy to fulfill our mission, to help expand Greenfield’s knowledge base, and this week was a wonderful example of what we (and you) can do.

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.

Thanks for supporting us this weekend!

Together we raised $500 for GCTV and WMCB! Approximately 80 people had a great time laughing and dancing at The Greenfield Grille on Saturday night. The costumes were great and a photo album will be up soon. Special thanks to our Event Sponsors: Skip Hammond, Garry Longe, and Sue Dillon; Raffle Prize donors: John Doe Jr. Records, The Country Jeweler, Bicycle World, Le Petit Cafe, Brad's Place, Valley Tees, Greenfield Games, Jonathan Peterson, Baseball Treasures, and Greenfield Garden Cinemas; Emcee David Peck (co-host of "Fat Guys on Film"); our set up crew: Jason Mazzarino, Sean Griffin, Jeff Valluzzi, Jonathan Peterson, Opeyemi Parham, Jal Kelley-Clark, and Scott MacPherson; The Frugal Jazz Project (Drew Hutchison, Ted Wirt, and Adam Scotera); J & M entertainment; The Greenfield Grille; and to those of you who watched our "Dancing with Drew" video (it was viewed more than 330 times!). You guys are awesome!!!

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.

Thanks for Participating!

Thank you to everyone who attended the GCTV/WMCB fundraiser last night. We really appreciate the support of everyone who saw the film. In addition, we would once again like to thank Greenfield Garden Cinemas and the producers of "Touchstone: Dancing with Angels" for making this event possible.

Come to our FUNdraiser & bring your friends!

To raise money for GCTV & WMCB there will be a benefit screening of "Touchstone: Dancing with Angels" at Greenfield Garden Cinemas on Wednesday, September 23rd, at 7PM.
The suggested donation is $7, but no one will be turned away. You may also call 413-774-4288 for more information.

Special thanks to Greenfield Garden Cinemas and www.touchstonemovie.org for making this possible.

The New Control Room Is Almost Here!

Our TV studio and control room will be closed from 1:30PM on Monday, August 31st to 1:30PM on Wenesday, September 2nd so that Scott & Jal can install all of our new equipment. The rest of our office and facilities, including WMCB, will be open normal hours next week. "Fat Guys on Film" & "Local Bias" will be the first two shows to record after the upgrade. They have graciously agreed to be guinea pigs, *ahem*, I mean they are eagerly looking forward to testing out our new cameras and switcher. GCTV staff will be on hand for all productions in the near future to train you and you can always catch us with a question or two via phone or email. In addition, as part of this upgrade the background music on our televised bulletin board will now be a real time feed from WMCB. Keep checking this blog for more details about what this upgrade will allow you to do when you record your shows in our studio.

In other news, "Fat Guys on Film" has been added to our Video On Demand offerings. You can actually see tonight's episode now online BEFORE it airs on GCTV at 8PM.

Tina Collins & Jenny Bird on WMCB!

(In the picture, from left to right: Tina's Mom, Coyote, Jenny, Tina)

Up & coming musical duo Tina Collins & Jenny Bird made a guest appearance today on Coyote's WMCB show, "Hopi Visions". The two did an acoustic set and an interview on the show, which will be rebroadcast on Sunday, August 23rd, from 8PM to 10PM. Coyote says, "they are as wonderful a musical experience as one can have". The two were on to promote their concert in Greenfield this Thursday, August 20th, at 7PM at Unity Pioneer Valley. For more information check out www.jennybird.com.

Podcasting coming to GCTV!

GCTV & WMCB are excited to announce that we are beginning the process of making our programming available as podcasts. To this end, we have uploaded one episode of Tom MacLean's "Imagine", where he interviews GCTV Staffer Philippe Simon about growing up during the Civil Rights movement, to www.archive.org. If you haven't heard Tom's show yet, now is your chance. Since archive.org allows us the option to embed their player, you don't even have to leave our blog to check it out!

Fun & Festivals!

GCTV is pleased to announce that our sister station, WMCB-lp 107.9FM, will be giving away 5 pairs of Friday night (7/17) tickets to the Green River Festival over the next couple of weeks. The Greenfield Business Association has graciously donated these tickets for our live DJs to give away. Be sure to tune in Monday-Friday from Noon to 6PM to see if your favorite live DJ has a pair of tickets available.

July 4th weekend is coming up and GCTV is celebrating with fireworks! Well, a recording of fireworks anyway. :) In the past, Station Manager Scott MacPherson has taped the fireworks here in town and we'll be showing them on Saturday, July 4th at 5PM and on Monday, July 6th at Midnight.

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!

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