We're done!

Thanks to everyone who followed along on our blog today. As you can see from this picture we are cleaning up, so the office should be back to normal on Monday morning---just in time for the "Dukes of Sports" shoot.

Session 3: Drupal

We've reconvened for the last workshop of the day. Craig Sinclair of Amherst Community Television (ACTV) is demonstrating the ease and reach of the Content Management System (CMS) Drupal. For more information check out Drupal.org and The Open Media Project's website.

Time for a Lunchbreak

Yum! Food from China Gourmet, sponsored by Telvue. We can satisfy our stomachs and network some more.

MassAccess Conference Session 2

Attorney William August speaks about the latest developments with the Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act and other legal issues that affect public access & community television stations. For more information about the CAP act, please check out Florence's own Freepress.net.

Live from the MassAccess Spring Mini Conference!

Today we're hosting approximately 80 staffers from public access stations around Massachusetts. We'll be bringing you updates throughout the day and we are taping the workshops. We'll let you know when these panel discussions will air on Cable Channel 15 and we'll post a photo album early next week.

Right now, we're in the middle of Session 1: Member Recruitment & Retention.

Representatives from Northampton Community Television (NCTV), Wilbraham Public Access Television, & Billerica Access Television are leading this panel where lots of good ideas are being shared.

Stay tuned for more updates as the day progresses.

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.

Busy Week for Producing Content

Our field equipment (mostly the new HD cameras and Manfrotto tripods, but also some microphones, lighting equipment, and headsets) got a lot of use this week. The projects they were checked out for ran the gamut from a world record attempt to a local fashion show and we hope we'll be able to share them with you soon.

In the office, several organizations finished editing their programs including the Greenfield YMCA, The Mediation & Training Collaborative, and Baystate Franklin Medical Center. The YMCA's Sustaining Campaign show will premiere on Friday, April 23rd at 8PM.

Finally, our studio was graced with some special guests when Jonathan Mark brought a crew in on Tuesday afternoon to shoot an interview with Star Wars Defense Program whistleblower Robert Bowman and Drew Hutchison produced a two-part "Local Bias" with Garry L. Earles on the topic of bullying. The first of the two parts will air on Wednesday, April 21 at 5:30PM.

You can check our schedule or keep reading this blog to find out when all of this great new content will air.

P.S. Between Noon and 4PM today all of our editing PCs were being used by producers and about 75% of our field equipment will be checked out over this long weekend so I'm sure we'll be seeing even more pieces soon.

Government Week

Part of our mission is to provide the public with access to the processes and work of local government. This week was no exception, beginning on Monday when we started our outreach to all the candidates running in Greenfield's election in June. Within the next two weeks, we plan to have a dedicated page on our website that will include a picture, mini-biography, and video statement for each person standing for office. We really want to be your resource for making an informed decision on June 8th so please let us know if you have any suggestions.

The Mayor's Office also wants the public to stay informed so, on Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Martin brought Paul Hellmund from the Conway School of Landscape Design into our studio for a "Mayor's Memo" shoot. The two of them discussed plans for the use of the town's Davis Street property and the full video can be watched here.

Finally, on Thursday night we covered the Greenfield School Committee Meeting at Greenfield High School. There was a big crowd for part of the meeting as Greenfield teachers showed up en masse in response to a publicized agenda item, "Communication with GEA (Attorney) about Open Communication". That item, however, was moved into an Executive Session. If you watch the rebroadcast of the meeting on Saturday at 1pm on Cable Channel 15 you can see the school committee review their policies, learn about protective headgear for the GHS Football Team, and find out about plans to look at the issue of bullying.

That's all for this week. Stay tuned for more inside scoops.

Alphabet Soup---GEF & GRF

Don't know what those acronyms stand for or why they are in the title of this week's wrap-up? Well, let me tell you about the three events we covered this week.

On Monday, Philippe & Scott followed up on our story from March 17th by attending the grand opening of the new Veterans' Resource & Referral Center on Main Street. In addition to filming all of the ceremony, they recorded a second set of interviews with Mayor Martin and Director of Veterans' Services Charles Loven.

Continuing this theme, yesterday was a busy day around here. At 3pm, the brand new Greenfield Education Foundation (GEF) held a live press conference in our studio to introduce themselves to the general public. The President of this endeavor, Robby Cohn, explained that he and the other members of the board had already raised around $22,000 to assist the Greenfield Public Schools. (Now is probably a good time to say that GCTV is a great place to hold a press conference. Think about it; lots of space, the ability to broadcast your message LIVE on television, and the public can watch your event online anytime they want. Oh, and did I mention the fact that we're FREE?)

Later, Owen attended the Green River Festival(GRF)'s press conference revealing the music line up for this summer. He got a chance to listen to one of the bands play and speak with some of the event's coordinators. We hope to have that story on our homepage this evening.

The other two pieces are already on our website, and the full events will be rebroadcast on Cable Channel 15 this weekend, so be sure to check them out if you haven't yet.

April Fools!

As promised, here’s a special video from us to you:

But wait, there’s more! Tune in to Cable Channel 15 at 2PM & 6PM today for special April Fool’s Day programming.
When our New Media Producer was a teenager, she and her friends produced several programs for themselves and their local community access station. In honor of April Fool’s Day she dragged the footage out of the deep, dark, hole it had been buried in and, after much wrangling, has supplied us with two shows that are sure to leave you scratching your head. This afternoon you can watch the first three episodes of “Dragontales”, a not so sweet story about a man and the pet dragon that is thrust upon him after the death of his parents. (Did we mention that said dragon is a spoiled little brat?) Later on catch “Tales from the Cracked”, a sketch comedy show including anything the group thought was funny at the time of filming.

Enjoy! Oh, and don’t worry, everything goes back to normal tomorrow.

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.