Belfast Community TV Cable Channel 2

2009-12-18T07:48:00.003-05:00

Article about BCTV is published in local paper.
I was thrilled when local reporter, Ethan Andrews expressed interest in writing an article about BCTV. I was even more thrilled when Ethan came along on a couple shoots and asked me lots of questions. He then spoke with Mark Kuzio, and Rev. Joel Krueger about their experience using community TV. The result is an accurate and well researched article. Below is the article for all to read. Thanks Ethan!

Belfast's community television station hits its stride
By Ethan Andrews | Dec 17, 2009

On a recent afternoon, Ned Lightner, Belfast Community TV's station manager, drove to Camden to tape an episode of "Reigning Cats & Dogs," a pet adoption show produced in collaboration with the Camden-Rockport Animal Rescue League. That morning, he had taped a service at St. Margaret's Church in Belfast. Later that afternoon, he would film an episode of a monthly program called "Staying Healthy" for Waldo County General Hospital. I was along for the ride.

Laura Stupca, the shelter manager and regular host of the show, met Lightner at the door. After a quick microphone check, performed over the roar of a vacuum cleaner, Stupca disappeared and returned with a beagle named Jackson, who, like the two dozen animals that would appear on camera over the next 30 minutes, was looking for a home.

The format of "Reigning Cats & Dogs" is straightforward. Lightner follows Stupca around the shelter. Close-ups of cuddly animals are intercut with shots of Stupca talking. To keep costs down, Lightner tries to film the show in a way that will require as little editing as possible. He keeps track of how much time has passed and plans in advance how shots will begin and end.

Occasionally he edits something out. Wrapping up a long clip in CRARL's elderly cat room, Stupca made a plea for viewers to consider an older cat. "It's nice to give a little love and affection," she said.

Lightner stopped the tape. "Did you say infection?" he said. "I think I did," Stupca said. The line didn't make the final cut.

BC-TV is in its fourth year. Lightner traces the idea for the station back to 2005. At the time, Belfast belonged to a regional public access consortium. It cost the city $500 per month, and Lightner said the programming was "not good." The schedule was thin, leaning heavily on broadcasts of church services, and very little of it was truly local.

Belfast could do better, he thought, and in January 2006 he approached the City Council about sponsoring a public access channel. After some negotiations that included a sponsorship from the Institute of Lifelong Learning, the City came up with $10,000 and space on the upper floor of the Belfast Boathouse to get the station started.

BC-TV started broadcasting in May 2006. It was the third public access station Lightner had started from scratch. The first was in York, Penn., and one of the first shows he produced was a pet adoption show along the lines of "Reigning Cats & Dogs," called "Best Friends."

One of his least favorite parts of running a public access station was, and continues to be, asking people to underwrite the programming, but from a fundraising perspective, pets were an easy sell, and the production side was uncomplicated - what he calls "show and tell."

Hoping to track the impact of "Best Friends," Lightner requested the adoption rate from the shelter from before the program aired and compared it with statistics after the show had been airing for some time.

"The adoption rate doubled," he said. "Unfortunately, the number of animals brought into the shelter also doubled."

"Reigning Cats and Dogs" is somewhat unusual in that is is produced in collaboration with another public access station. The show alternates between Lightner's visits to CRARL and episodes filmed by the Rockland public access station at the Rockland Humane Society.

Until recently, community television station managers had little to put on the air except what was produced locally. Ideologically, this was no problem - the lack of "locally-produced content," as it is called in community TV circles, is the reason public access channels exist. In reality, and especially in smaller cities like Belfast, there are not enough people interested in making TV shows to fill the schedule.

Historically, station managers swapped videotapes or DVDs through the mail to fill in the gaps. Some of the programming at BC-TV is lifted from satellite TV, including "Democracy Now!," NASA TV and Mosaic, a collection of Middle Eastern TV news that Lightner likened to the film "Rashomon," in which a murder is told from the perspectives of five witnesses, including the deceased.

The ad hoc program exchanges made a quantum leap in 2008 when entrepreneur Robert Nichols of Rockport started the programming clearinghouse PegMedia.org. The acronym stands for Public, Education, and Government, after the three channels cable franchise operators are required to reserve for locally produced programming. The website allowed public access station managers to upload and download programs produced by other stations around the country.

"People say, well, it's not ‘community' because it comes from other states," Nichols said. "But we have many kinds of community - ones that spread across regions ... For instance, if someone does a show on wind power in California, someone in Knox County might be interested in that."

Today, the site has 1,400 registered members, a figure that includes station managers and producers. In Maine, 50 stations are active users.

In one week in December, 43 hours of BC-TV programming were locally produced, 47 came from PegMedia. Another 25 came from satellite. BC-TV airs "Smart Boating," a program produced in Massachusetts that Lightner thought would have relevance in coastal Maine. Locally produced shows have also made their way to stations around the country, and in this, Lightner sees them serving the secondary function of promoting Midcoast Maine. "We always say, 'Here we are in beautiful Belfast,' so it gives a wonderful vibe of what the place is like," he said.

"Fiddlers Showcase," a documentary of the Northport event of the same name, has been picked up by 57 stations from as far away as Texas, according to Lightner. David Hurley's "Tai Chi Through the Seasons," a program devoted to the slow-moving martial art, has been another hot export.

Three local churches broadcast their services on BC-TV, including First Church, which has contributed to the station for two years. The church owns a modest video camera and two volunteers tape the services, edit them down to an hour in length, and pass them along to Lightner, who airs them the following Sunday. Pastor Joel Krueger said the televised services have been good for members of the congregation who aren't able to come in, and on several occasions, he has heard from people unaffiliated with the church who happened to see the program.

When I asked if members of his congregation were watching the services at home rather than come to church, he laughed. "It's not that good of a program," he said.

Understatements aside, public access channels have a reputation for appearing amateur. But Mark Kuzio - perhaps BC-TV's largest contributor, after Lightner - wouldn't have it any other way.

A potter by trade, Kuzio was a complete novice when he first approached the station to do a show. His work had taken him on the road to trade shows, where he invariably met people, and driven by the necessity of selling his wares, they talked. Years worth of brief conversations with relative strangers - conversations that left him wanting to know more - were in his mind when he decided he might want to do a television show about, as he describes it, "people talking."

At some point, he broached the idea with Lightner, who encouraged him, and after a bout of cold feet, Kuzio found an eager co-host in Tim Woitowicz. The first episodes of the "Mark & Tim Show" were shot with the help of a video savvy high school sophomore. They went through several more camera operators over the next year-and-a-half. As they filmed more episodes, Kuzio educated himself with books, magazines and obsessive experimentation. After 30 shows, he felt like the show had run its course and he struck out on his own.

He hit up friends and relatives for enough money to put together a small editing studio, which resides in a room adjacent to his pottery studio. On the day that I visited, he had just finished a Christmas themed episode of his man-on-the-street show "Main Street Soapbox." The show was filmed in front of Tozier's Supermarket in Searsport, a place he particularly likes because of the variety of people who shop there.

For the most part, "Main Street Soapbox" episodes focus on one question each -- "What T's you off?" "What is art?" "Miss America" and "Michael Vick" are among the topics that appear on a list he keeps pinned to the wall of his studio -- but for the Christmas episode, Kuzio, like Santa Claus, had a list with questions ranging from "What's the worst thing about the Christmas Season?" and "Do you think there are more suicides at this time of year?" to softballs like, "Have you ever been kissed under the mistletoe?"

Fast-forwarding through the episode on his computer, he paused on a shot of a man looking to be in his 30s or 40s. Onscreen, Kuzio the interviewer asked, "What nationality is Santa anyway?" to which the man replied, apparently without irony, that Santa is an Israelite.

Referring to the tape, Kuzio said there's a fine line between what he calls "real reality TV," meaning warts and all, and making somebody look like a fool - something he tries to reserve for himself. With regards to the Israelite Santa, Kuzio though the man was sincere and unselfconscious, so he left it in. Onscreen, the interview ended and the man started to walk away then turned back toward the camera and shouted his name. Kuzio turned away from the computer with a look of revelation and said, "He wants people to know who he is."

Kuzio recently sent a letter to station managers who have aired "Main Street Soapbox." He is taking a break from the show and plans to devote his energies to making experimental videos - videos-as-art. In the letter he expressed hope that they would consider airing the work when it is complete.

This year, the City of Belfast reclaimed the top floor of the boathouse and BC-TV moved to an office space above Alexia's Pizza. The City also granted the station another $10,000 for operating expenses.

Lightner, who earns his living as a videographer, has been able to cover some his own costs by filming programs for the local hospital, the animal shelter and other organizations that want to promote their activities via community television.

"My ideal work is where I'm creating engaging community programming and getting paid for it," he said.

Despite being the station manager, and by a long shot, the most prolific contributor to BC-TV, he takes pains to say that anyone can, and should, submit programs for broadcast. "I'm just taking advantage of this community service that's available to anyone," he said. "I just happen to be really into it."

2009-12-18T07:24:00.002-05:00

Tis the Season
"The Bob Hope Christmas Special", "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", these are my childhood holiday TV memories. They were traditions in my family as much as going out to choose a tree. Since BCTV is only 3 years old, its difficult to say any of our programming has gained status as a tradition, but we do seem to be developing some recurring seasonal specials. Once again we will be televising the Nutcracker Ballet, as performed by our own Atlantic Ballet Company. This performance was recorded at the Camden Opera House and features many local dancers. Also coming back this year is "The Live nativity" a performance of sorts that takes place under the stars in front of Belfast's First Church. The production is once again being presented by the Belfast Bay Ministerium. We at BCTV have rummaged through our movie collection to bring back that cult holiday classic "Santa Claus captures the Martians".
New this year is a benefit concert recorded at a local church to help raise funds for the Good Shepherd food bank. These programs will air several times during Christmas week, so our airtime will have a distinct holiday theme.
May you have a Merry Christmas and perhaps BCTV holiday programming will become a tradition here in Waldo County.

2009-11-17T09:04:00.002-05:00

Waldo County General Hospital produces new monthly program
The Community relations department at Waldo County General Hospital had gotten so much positive response to the Midcoast Womens Health Conference programs when they aired on BCTV this past spring, that they decided community TV would be an excellent way for the hospital to reach the Waldo County citizens with wellness information. Staying Healthy is produced by Toni Mailloux of Waldo County General Hospital and hosted by Andrea Walker also of WCGH. The program can be seen Thursdays at 7 pm as well as other times throughout the week. The programs have a "magazine" format in that there are various segments within each program. The first program includes segments on "fighting flu", "healthy recipes", "exercise to stay healthy", and "dealing with grief during the holidays". Having a program dealing with health issues is a welcome addition to our local programming mix. We hope it will gain a strong local following as it continues to develop.

2009-11-04T09:02:00.002-05:00

Live Election Night Coverage a great success
When Ethan Andrews , political reporter for "The Republican Journal, and Village Soup emailed me a few days ago wondering what we were doing for election night coverage and offering to help out, I jumped at the chance. Enlisting the support of Diane Wood at the Government channel, we decided to go live from 9pm on election night until the final results came in. I called Dave Crabiel, who I had worked with before on election night and he agreed to be the live anchor. Our live set was actually two chairs in the hallway outside the council chambers. We had a view of the action in the voting area, while not interfering with things. Ethan and I went around town getting short "field reports" which David could call upon to make a graceful transition from one guest on our "Live" set, to another. Diane switched between live camera and tapes. Jack Penny ran the live camera, and Denise Beckett agreed to be "producer". Her job was to coordinate the guests who would sit in with Dave. We actually ran our coverage on the Government access channel, but it was a whole community effort. We had lots of great guests, from the superintendent of schools, to the city manager, as well as the various candidates. We also got results as fast as could be. We had acceptance and concession interviews.And I think we had a lively and interesting production. I feel proud we pulled it off and I hope folks in town enjoyed the show.

2009-07-21T22:09:00.002-04:00

City Funds BCTV
This posting may seem a little late, but when city council was going through its budget and voted to fund BCTV to the tune of $10,000 for the year, we were not sure it was really going to happen, but apparently it has. Yippeee!
The city receives about $55,000 a year in franchise fees, and those fees traditionally are used to fund access channels, but in Belfast that had not been the case. After 3 years, the city council expressed its support this year by indicating that we were a valuable community resource. The vote to fund our request was unanimous. Funding will pay our rent and utilities as well as equipment maintenance and replacement. We are very grateful for the support from the city.

2009-07-21T21:32:00.005-04:00

BCTV to go hi-def and tapeless, (Sort of).
It has been a couple years since BCTV bought a new video camera and in the technology world that's a long time. With recent equipment funding from the city of Belfast, we are buying a new high definition video camera that records to memory cards. There has been a recent breakthrough in recording to memory cards that has made the technology very affordable. Our new camera records to standard SD cards. A 32 gig card can be purchased for about $100 and can record 6 hours of video. So what are the advantages of recording to a memory card? You don't have to buy tapes. You don't have "dirty heads" and ruined recordings. There are no moving parts to break. The camera uses a lot less power, so a battery lasts a long time. The camera is more rugged without the fragile tape transports. My favorite feature is that the memory card can be removed and plugged into a computer and the files can be transfered quickly. No more real time tape tranfers. This is useful for those of us who like to record a program with a couple cameras and then using the multi-cam feature of our editing software we can create a progam that looks like it was "switched" from a mobile production truck. I also find it helps turn around an event such as a high school football game quickly. I used to film a game on a Friday night, get back to the station at 9pm and download the 2 hour game in real time. Around 11:30 pm I would do the post production and be done around midnight. If I can download the memory cards in a few minutes, I might actually get the game edited by 10 pm. In the real world of the community producer, those two extra hours of sleep are appreciated.
I mentioned that the footage is hi-definition, and at present we really transmit only standard definition. By acquiring in high-def, we will be ready when the tranmission equipment is upgraded. Oh, the camera costs about $1000, so if we like it, we may buy a second one.

2009-07-21T21:02:00.003-04:00

BCTV and Alexia's Pizza team up with artist Dave Hurley to create Mural
When we moved into our present offices above Alexia's Pizza in beautiful downtown Belfast, we notices a large black plywood panel beside our downstairs entrance. We couldn't help but think that it was an excellent location for a mural. We spoke with artist David Hurley who has created numerous murals and has a great sense of humor, and he liked the idea. In fact, he and Ted, the owner of Alexia's, had spoken about a mural with a Greek theme. Dave, who is also the star of our "Tai Chi through the seasons" program, came up with a humorous and slightly Sci-Fi mural idea. The concept includes Pizza flying saucers and a BCTV-2 Blimp. Ted agreed to pick up the cost of creating the mural, and BCTV will acknowledge Alexia's as a station underwriter for a couple months. Dave is going to be creating the mural over the next couple friday evenings during the "Belfast Art Walks". There will be a certain "Street Theater" aspect to Dave's project. He is going to wear a suit, courtesy of "Goodwill" and will be using an old briefcase as his paint holder. We will film the creation of the mural for an upcoming "Somewhere in Waldo County" episode. Stay tuned!

2009-07-06T23:17:00.002-04:00

Juke Joint Marathon scheduled
With the North Atlantic Blues Festival bringing blues fans to the area this weekend, BCTV has scheduled two evenings of the blues for Friday July 10 and Saturday July 11. These programs feature some of the many great performers who have appeared at the festival in recent years.On Friday night the marathon begins at 10:30pm and on Saturday the blues begin at 4pm. Around here catching the blues often means fishing for bluefish but this weekend it has a more musical connotation.

2009-05-26T07:54:00.002-04:00

Classic Arts Showcase and all other satellite network programs are back

It has taken us quite a while to get our satellite dishes up and running, but finally we are back with our regular programs. We presently air the NASA channel from 8-9am, then at noon we show Democracy Now! on Link TV. At 2 pm we show DV world news and at 2:30 we air "Mosaic" middle east news both on Link TV and Classic Arts showcase airs 4-6 in the afternoon and again from 4-6 am. We are pleased to offer these programs to our community and welcome other programming suggestiions you may have. Of course our focus is on local programming but we also show select programs that may not be available to our community otherwise.

2009-05-13T12:42:00.002-04:00

Come visit us in our new home at 93 Main Street Belfast

We are pretty much moved in and although space is tight, we have a great view of Main Street.

To visit us, just drive into the center of town and look for the door to 93 Main street, which is located on the up hill side of Alexias Pizza. We are on the second floor just to the right at the top of the stairs. The Bangor Daily News and Mike Hurleys' Belfastmaine.com are our neighbors, so we are a local media center of sorts. Thanks to Minuteman Signs, we have a large decal on our second floor window, announcing our location. This is an exciting move and there is definitely a vibrant sense of energy here in the middle of Belfast. It is also much more convenient to run out and get a cup of coffee.

2009-03-31T04:35:00.002-04:00

BCTV Moving

After three years operating out of the Belfast Boathouse, the city of Belfast has asked us to move out. We have found a new location for our office in the middle of Belfast, above Alexias pizza. Our transmission facilities are being moved to city hall. We are in the process of relocating the equipment and are temporarily not transmitting. We should be up and running within a day or so with local programming. The satellite dishes that provide us with programming such as NASA, Classic Arts Showcase, Democracy Now!, and Link TV will need to be reset, and that may take a bit longer. In the meantime we will be playing local programs 24 hours a day.

2009-01-21T08:36:00.001-05:00

New Boating Series

Smart Boating is a professional quality show series that informs and educates recreational boaters about a variety of topics from "How To Protect Your Boat From A Hurricane" to "How To Compare Quality Among Boats"so that they will have a more enjoyable and safer experience on the water. In between the "how to" shows are ones that focus on interesting boats: USCG boats, Electric boats, PT boats, Hovercraft, Classic speedboats, etc.. Recreational boaters traversing both inland and ocean waters will enjoy and learn from this program. Program airs Wednesdays t 7pm as well as other times throughout the week.

2008-12-31T06:52:00.002-05:00

Jack Penney joins BCTV staff

We are thrilled to have a new part time employee at BCTV. Jack comes to us as part of a federal senior employment training program. He has a had a very interesting and diverse career and brings wonderful life experiences with him. Currently when not working at the station, he is going to college. At the station he is busy learning different aspects of how BCTV operates. He is a valuable addition to our operation even if he is just a Penney.

2008-12-31T06:39:00.002-05:00

New procedure for those dropping off DVD's

Many folks mail us DVDs to air, but some folks prefer to drop them off at the station.

We have in the past left the outer door unlocked for folks even when no one was in the office.

Recent security concerns have forced us to lock the front door when no one is around.

We are at the station most days even though we do not have formal business hours. I suggest you call 323-2430 just to confirm we are around. If not, you can drop off your DVD at Ned Lightner's house at 32 Church St., Belfast or put them in the mail. Our address is: BCTV PO Box 1075, Belfast, ME 04915.

2008-10-07T08:20:00.002-04:00

Eating Healthy on a Budget

The Belfast Coop Store is producing a new series for airing on community TV stations.

Funded in part by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation, this new mini series will be the first locally produced cooking show to air on BCTV. The program is being produced by Fran Clementson who is the education coordinator at the Belfast co-op. The show is hosted by both Fran and Erica Buswell, who is also part of the co-op's staff. The programs will be a half hour long. The first episode was produced recently and features potatoes. The recipes include Julia Child's Potato Salad, French Salad Nicoise, and Indian Potato Soup. Part of the program also included useful information on growing and storing potatoes as well as cost per serving for each recipe. During these uncertain economic times a program such as this may be quite useful to our community. Video production was done by Insight Productions. The first show is scheduled to debut on Thursday October 16 at 7 p.m.

2008-09-16T18:59:00.002-04:00

Art night in to debut in October

Waterfall Arts, a local non profit arts group, will be presenting a series of films made available to BCTV by the National Gallery of Art. These programs range in subject matter from how art is created to historical and archaeological documentaries about art related topics. They are of excellent quality and viewers are in for a big treat. Programs are introduced by Waterfall Arts founder Alan Crichton, who also lets viewers know about the galleries and programs taking place locally at Waterfall Arts. It is really great to have this collaboration between BCTV and Waterfall Arts, as it is helps strengthen both organizations. Waterfall Arts will use its excellent resources to help publicize the program, and BCTV will provide publicity for the work of Waterfall Arts.

2008-09-16T18:43:00.002-04:00

High School Sports on BCTV

Once again Insight Productions is producing a series of Belfast High School games for BCTV. Eight regular season and two playoff games including football, field hockey and soccer will be televised this season. A change from previous years is that more "away" games will be covered. With the high cost of gasoline, local folks may find watching games on TV an alternative to driving. Games are taped and reshown the following days at various times. Mike Estrada and Tim Downer will once again be the primary announce team, but other folks with particular knowledge of local teams will step in as "color" announcers. So far, 3 games have been shown and upcoming game schedules can be found by clicking on the schedule section of our blog.

2008-09-03T06:52:00.002-04:00

Reigning Cats and Dogs

A new weekly series debuts this week on both Belfast Community TV and Maine Coast TV 7 in the Camden area. The half hour program originates from the two largest animal shelters on the midcoast. The program showcases animals available for adoption and provides information about pet care and shelter activities. Local shelters are noting an increase in animals being given up for adoption by owners who no longer can afford to own a pet. The program is being co produced by Ned Lightner and Craig Mathieson. "Reigning Cats and Dogs" can be seen Thursday evenings at 7:30PM in both Belfast and Camden.

2008-08-07T07:41:00.003-04:00

Some ideas gained from CTAM meeting
Every few months the Community Television Association of Maine gets together. I like to attend these gatherings because I get to meet with fellow community TV folks to share ideas and discuss issues common to those of us who run small town TV stations. The most recent meeting was held in Bridgeton, at Lake Region Community TV. I was looking forward to the meeting not only because they were serving lobster, but because I hoped to reconnect with their program director, John Likshis.
John and I met back in 1979 when John ran the educational access channel in Portland. Many years later John and I both worked at Maine PBS, he as the head of marketing and I as the studio manager in Lewiston. John runs a vibrant TV station and I envy his impressive studio facilities, and his many programs produced by numerous volunteer producers. John was a great help to BCTV when we were starting up, by practically giving us their old station automation equipment.
Usually I find talking with folks at the meeting as informative as the "official" meeting presentation. The formal presentation was by Karla Ficker, board president and producer of a gardening show on "Valley Vision", the community TV station serving North Conway NH. Karla told us about the many interesting programs produced at Valley Vision. Besides her gardening show, I was particularly interested in "Valley Inc" a program produced with the local chamber and featuring profiles of local businesses. I am scheduling a meeting with our chamber to explore the idea of producing a similar show. Steve Galvin of Norway community TV told me he had found an old (1961) TV series called Diver Dan on archive.org. He said it was sort of a kids show with a camera shooting through a fish tank with a guy in a diving suit and puppets. I have downloaded 24 episodes and they should soon be showing up on BCTV. Steve also gave me some advice on inexpensive file conversion software. Our server runs most happily when provided with MPEG2 files, but many programs I can download off the web are of different file types. I have purchased the software and soon fans of "Uncle Jay explains the news" will once again see these humorous and politically oriented shorts on BCTV. I had stopped showing the program when I discovered that our server occasionally crashed trying to play the mov files. So once again I got some good ideas from the meeting. I would like to thank Diane Mende, of our sister station, Bel TV for giving me a ride to the meeting. Diane is also to be congratulated for being elected as a new board member of CTAM. Feel free to contact me if you are interseted in learning more about CTAM or would like to come to the next CTAM meeting. Lucky for you, the meeting will be held right here in Belfast in late September.

2008-07-24T12:00:00.002-04:00

Wanted: Underwriters for station

An all volunteer public access channel has considerably fewer expenses than a broadcaster, but even our modest operation has operating expenses. Whether it is paying our electric or phone bills, or maintenance on our equipment, we are funded through the generosity of local individuals and businesses. At this point we do not have "memberships" like public TV, though we are exploring various avenues of funding. Presently we do offer station underwriting. Underwriters may underwrite our programming for as little as a month or up to a year, and the costs vary from $90-$200 a month depending on the length of commitment. In exchange the station will place 3, 20 second announcement within our local programming blocks each day. Those messages reach about 2000 cable subscribers in the Belfast/Searsport area. We work with the underwriter to place their message adjacent to programming appealing to their target audience. Besides supporting our station, underwriters benefit by reaching a local audience with the power of television. Similar to public television, our underwriting guidelines do not permit some things that you see on commercial TV. There are no prices mentioned, no direct calls to action and no comparative language such as the best pizza in town, however it is still possible to create an effective message for a business within those restrictions. If you would like to learn more about underwriting opportunities, please feel free to contact Ned Lightner at 207-323-2430 or nlightner@verizon.net

2008-07-10T12:38:00.002-04:00

Summer Productions at BCTV
Whether its Mark and Tim having fun with tourists, or "Somewhere in Waldo County" doing a program about Aquaculture, this is the season when its good to wind up your video cameras and get outside and create some shows. As for me, I am cranking up another season of gardening shows. This coming week I head down to one of my favorite restaurants, "Primo" in Owls head. They have perhaps the ultimate "kitchen gardens" and hopefully we'll get some cooking tips along with gardening ideas. For those of you who don't have a video camera, thanks to the Maine Community Foundation, BCTV has a camera we can lend you. Just get in touch with me (Ned Lghtner) and I can get you checked out and making TV. I can be reached via email at nlightner @verizon.net or by phone at 207-323-2430.

2008-06-30T07:57:00.002-04:00

New Promo now on BCTV
Thanks to Mark Kuzio, we now have a new promo encouraging members of the community to produce programs for BCTV-2. Mark who with Tim Woitowitz produces the Mark and Tim show, began producing their show using BCTV camera equipment made available to the community by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation. Soon they bought their own camera and editing equipment. They found numerous local underwriters who help defray production expenses. They now distribute their program to several other community TV stations in Maine. The current show has Mark and Tim goofing with tourists in Camden, but programs have taken field trips as far as India and England. Their program can be seen Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. and other times of the week on BCTV-2

2008-05-29T11:58:00.000-04:00

Program Director’s report 5/29/07

Facilities: We have been dealing with some server issues, which were affecting not only the quality of images as well as the reliability of the server. With a great deal of effort Bob Nichols was able to fix the problem. I am very thankful that Bob was able to help us out.
The utilities (electricity and Dish TV service) have remained relatively stable and average about $100 a month. Insight production has donated the phone service so there are no phone bills.

I have made arrangements to barter some vests, caps and shirts from the “”Maine Thread” embroidery business. Insight productions is donating the production cost to create an underwriter message. The vests will be provided to crew people during productions to clearly identify them as Belfast Community TV crew. I have found vests preferable to other clothing items, as they can be worn over outerwear, and fit many different sized people.

Programming: I recently made arrangements with the Camden Conference to show the 2006, 2007, 2008 Camden conference presentations on our station. We aired their “China” conference a year ago and it was very interesting and well produced. I imagine the other conferences will be just as interesting.

A program entitled “Maine Social Justice” has also begun airing on our station it is produced by Pete Sirois at Madison public access but includes subject matter from throughout Maine. This week for example the subject was about a recent mock funeral for Sears Island.

“Math Education our youth and you” is a 4 part series produced by an educator in Rockland who is created these programs hoping to assist parents in improving their children’s math skills.

I continue to produce “Somewhere in Waldo County” and believe I will be producing new programs every other week. Other programs in the pipeline include:
The 2008 Summer Video Guide, which highlights businesses and events of interest to visitors and local folks alike and is seen several times daily between mid-June and September.
Gardens of Waldo County has been renamed “Coastal Gardens” due to its expanded distribution, however local gardens will continue to be featured this season.
I am also working with a producer at Rockland public access to develop a “pet adoption” program from Knox and Camden animal shelters. I have been unsuccessful in interesting our local shelter to become involved, but many area people adopt from the shelters in Rockland and Camden.

2008-05-21T08:40:00.004-04:00

Perils of Pedestrians debuts on BCTV
When speaking with other community TV station managers I always ask whether they have discovered any interesting programs that serve the needs of their community. That is how I learned about "Perils of Pedestrians". It is a monthly television series promoting awareness of issues affecting the safety of people who walk and bicycle.The program interviews advocates and government planners about problems such as missing sidewalks and crosswalks, dangerous intersections, speeding traffic, and obstacles to wheelchair users and people with disabilities; and solutions to such problems. This may not at first seem very interesting but I found the show quite interesting especially when it showcased innovative solutions that some communities have found to solve problems that we in Waldo County might be facing.

2008-05-21T08:07:00.005-04:00

Somewhere in Waldo County debuts this week

A new program has begun airing this week on BCTV. "Somewhere in Waldo County" is produced by Insight Productions and as its name implies, focuses on places of interest in Waldo County. Although Belfast Community TV has a wide variety of interesting shows, there are still not very many programs that are created specifically for the local community. This new program uses a"point of view" production technique. This technique has the camera operator also serving as interviewer and viewers seem to be watching the program through the eyes of the interviewer. There is a sense of informality that this technique creates and hopefully viewers will find the approach engaging and enjoyable. The premiere program is about a small alternative high school that began operation this year. The river school has only 5 students this year, but has hopes to grow while offering an alternative approach to learning. The program tours the school and interviews teachers and students. There is also a visit to the Waldo county probate court where students are creating a mural as part of their art curriculum.
Producer/Host Ned Lightner hopes to create 2 programs a month. He also hopes to find a local underwriter to offset production expenses. Future that are being developed include a visit to Jody Johnstone's Swanville pottery, a program about the new Goodwill store opening in Belfast, and a visit to Northport Music Theater.

2008-04-14T07:41:00.003-04:00

A local Rite of spring

Recently the Waldo County YMCA staged two River races. The St. George and Paasagassawakeag races have been held every spring for almost 30 years. This year, for the first time ever, the YMCA decided to have the races filmed to not only be shown on area public access channels, but also to provide each race paricipant with a DVD. There was still snow along the river banks and the weather was brisk, but it was a lively event to watch and the one hour program that was produced should be entertaining to see. There were many local participants, and you may just recognize a neighbor. It is wonderful that the Y has provided us with this program and we hope other organizations in our community will do the same.

2008-04-07T16:03:00.002-04:00

Penny Dreadful is coming!
What small town TV station does not have a "Creature Feature" with a creepy host.
In this part of Maine Eddie Driscoll was the host of "Weird". I miss that "its so bad its good" stuff. That's why when a fellow program director told me about "Penny Dreadful" I was excited. I contacted her, and she is sending us some programs. I think it may be just the programs to air on Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. What do you think? We hope to start running these shows in May. Here is her web site if you wish to check her out. http://www.shillingshockers.com

2008-04-03T12:35:00.001-04:00

Program Director's Report for April 3, 2008

Facility: We have managed to make it through the coldest winter without freezing, but the offices have been about 40 degrees at times, which makes us bundle up. Generally the equipment has been working well. We purchased a 500 gig hard drive to backup our server's contents. The plan is for me to backup the server about once a week and keep the backup drive at my home, so that if the station were to be destroyed by fire, flood or locusts, we would have our programming backed up. Thanks to the Residence at Tall pines becoming an annual station underwriter, which has provided the funds for the hard drive as well as covering the cost of our utilities. If we pick up just one additional underwriter, we should be able to cover our utilities and a few other modest expenses for the year.
Recently we have been receiving programming over the internet. Jerry Klaimon is now producing our PSA's at his home and then I download them here at the station saving Jerry a trip. The Maine Video Activist network is now doing the same thing and I believe more programming will be distributed this way in the near future. It is inexpensive to distribute programs this way.

Programming: I'd like to welcome back Dave Johnson as a community producer. Dave recorded a lecture at the UU church and I gave him a lesson on editing and burning a DVD, and he produced a show. Linda Best has also been busy lately creating programs. She has been using the BCTV camera to gather footage for several projects. Karen Saum has also returned from Panama to produce “From Every Village Green”, a program commemorating Iraq war's 5th anniversary. Karin Spitfire, Belfast's poet laureate, has had me record a special program of poetry readings, that took place on March 28th at the Belfast Library. “Love Letters to the World Hot Poems Hot Art” was also a fund raising event for the interfaith fuel fund. The one hour program is scheduled to air several times during the week of April 7. The YMCA has also had me record a highlight program of the St. George and Passagasawakaeg river races. A one hour program is scheduled to air the week of April 14th. I have also been working with Waterfall arts, to develop some art related programming for the station.

2008-03-03T18:05:00.002-05:00

2008-02-11T15:46:00.000-05:00

Chicken Poop for the Soil debuts on BCTV
Robert Skoglund AKA "The Humble Farmer" is producing a weekly one hour program that mixes his wit along with vintage jazz. Humble says that the program is basically a radio show with his monologues presented directly to the camera and with the musical selections heard while photos that Humble has taken are shown. Humble had a radio show for many years on Maine public radio. This new show allows him to speak his mind without worry that some station manager will pull the plug on him. His program can be seen and heard on BCTV Thursdays at 10:30am Fridays 9pm and Saturdays at noon starting the week of February 18.

2008-01-30T10:01:00.000-05:00

Community Television Association of Maine Meeting
On Tuesday January 29 the winter meeting of the community Television association of Maine took place. This organization has about 24 community television station in its membership. Belfast community TV is one of the members. It is a worthwhile organization to be involved with. It was at a meeting of CTAM that I met Bob Nichols who provided BCTV with the video server that allows us to play much of our local programming. CTAM allows community TV station staff to discuss common issues and work together to try to preserve this valuable community resource that is under threat constantly from multimedia companies that would rather not provide such channels to towns. I am involved in an archive project that hopes to preserve some of the more interesting or historically significant programming produced by these stations, so that they may be accessible to all well into the future. We are also working to share programs that are produced in one community but may be of interest to others. Several of our local programs are shared with other community TV stations including, "A new Vaudeville Revue", "The Mark and Tim Show", "Andrews and Andrews at the Auction" and "Gardens of Waldo County". We carry programs produced at other stations such as, "Second Act", "Cooking with Henry", "Notes from upriver" and "traintime". If you are interested in learning more about the community television association of Maine, you can go to their website ctamaine.org

2007-11-15T12:05:00.000-05:00

BCTV-2 Program Director’s Report, Nov 15, 2007

Equipment and Facilities: Although our server has been working great, we need to be prepared for a malfunction. My greatest fear is that a hard drive could fail and we might lose data. We therefore need to develop a good data backup plan. Currently we have saved some files our “edit” computer, but when we get some extra money, I think we should buy a backup hard drive.
Our facility is looking quite a bit neater due to the hard work of Tim Woitowitz and a young fellow involved in the restorative justice project. We were able to reorganize the outer loft area, moving much of the city owned construction debris to a corner of the loft. We also reorganized the equipment storage area.
There have been a couple chilly days in our office and we have had to run a small space heater in order to keep the temperature reasonable warm. Last month our electic bill was $84. I suspect it will be higher for the next few months.

Programming: I recorded a pilot for a potential new series “Tai Chi through the seasons” with David Hurley. This may be a good morning alternative exercise program.

Waterfall Arts has provided us with the keynote presentation by architect Pliny Fisk at their recent “Art and Nature symposium”. We are also going to be showing the “Roast” of our new ex-mayor,Mike Hurley. Many thanks to Diane Mende for making this program available to us.
Another local program airing this month is the Waldo Couny Fiddlers’ showcase that took place recently at the Blue Goose in Northport.

There will be a gathering of mid-coast video folks taking place on November 30th in Rockland. I am hopeful to meet some new people who might contribute programming to the station.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2007-11-02T10:39:00.000-04:00

BCTV-2 Program Director’s Report, Nov 1, 2007

Equipment and Facilities No technical issues to report on, as everything seems to be working well.
Programming: We have added a daily morning show provided by NASA TV. It is educational programming geared to teachers and students and airs daily from 8-9AM.
The first KWRED-TV program has begun airing on the channel. This monthly half hour program is produced by the Knox, Waldo regional economic development council. It is interesting and well done and I believe it is a great addition

2007-10-31T09:45:00.000-04:00

Get Spacey in the Morning

We are pleased to announce that we have gotten clearance from NASA to televise portions of their public feed on BCTV.
After reviewing their regular schedule of programs we decided to Televise NASA's "Education files" which air from 8-9AM daily.
NASA describes Education file segnments specifically designed for students and teachers. "From the wonders of space to our amazing planet Earth-inspiration and learning is the mission of the Education File". We welcome viewer comments, and if people would prefer that we continue our live shot of Belfast harbor instead, we can

2007-10-18T11:47:00.001-04:00

BCTV-2 Program Director’s Report, October 18, 2007

Equipment and Facilities: All equipment and facilities are working well.
Our monthly utility bill was $91 for electricity and $13 for dish network.
Programming: We are now regularly showing a 1 hour block of Link programs, DW Journal and Mosaic. We are also showing “Explore Specials” which are documentaries provided to us by Link TV which are about international and national issues that seem well done and don’t seem to promote a particular political agenda. A new monthly program produced by Knox-Waldo Regional Economic Development Council is going to begin airing the first week in November. It's entitled KWRED-TV. I look forward to seeing the first episode.
Our weekly schedule is now being carried in the Village Soup Citizen.
The Journal and Independent have said they will begin carrying the schedule as well.
We have been showing a short documentary produced by Mayoral candidate, Michael Shell entitled "Land of the Midnight Sun". It does not include Michael or espouse a particular political agenda, so I did not judge it to be a political campaign video. It was more a profile of senior citizens. Michael is encouraging people to watch the documentary as part of his campaign.
We are also showing the 2007 Pie & Story Festival, numerous Belfast High School sporting events (both girls and boys), and a new season of Vaudeville revue shows. Both Vaudeville and The Mark and Tim Show are now being shown on various other public access stations around the state. Belfast is gaining a reputation for producing local shows, Not a bad thing.

2007-10-15T09:32:00.000-04:00

NEWS FLASH:
Belfast Community TV-Channel 2 has become an affiliate of “Link TV, Television Without Borders". Link TV operates out of San Francisco and broadcasts programs that "engage, educate and activiate viewers to become involved in the World". Their programs provide a unique perspective on international news, current events and diverse cultures, oftentimes presenting issues not covered in the mainstream media.
Beginning October 16, BCTV-2 will broadcast DW Journal and Mosaic. DW Journal is an international news and business report that comes to us from Berlin’s Deutsche Welle Network and provides a European viewpoint on international events. Mosaic is a Peabody Award-winning compilation of news reports from the Middle East including Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, the Palestinian Authority, Iraq and Iran.

DW Journal will air Tuesday-Friday at 2:00 pm.
Mosaic will air Tuesday-Friday at 2:30 pm.
We'd love to know what you think of our new programs.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

Democracy Now, airs Monday-Friday at noon. An award-winning independent national news and interview program.

Present Danger, airing Monday, Oct 15 at 9 pm, Wed, Oct 17 at 8:30 pm. Important show on fire prevention for those who burn wood for heat. Check our listings for additional airtimes.

The Mark & Tim Show airs Tuesdays at 7:30 pm. A local funny, off-beat talk show that moves from location to location. Check our schedule for additional air-times.

A New Vaudeville Review airs Mondays at 6:30. Presented and MC'd by Ando Anderson, a show that harkens to past vaudeville shows featuring local talent doing humorous skits, poetry, dancing and musical numbers.

Belfast Area High School Sports, girls and boys. Our Field Hockey Team is in the playoffs !!! Check our schedule for airtimes.

Northeast Historic Films offers old footage graciously loaned to us by the folks at Northeast Historic Film in Bucksport where they have a state of the art storage facility.

Check our schedule for additional airtimes for all these programs.

GREAT NEWS ! The Waldo County Citizen (a/k/a Village Soup) and The Republican Journal are now carrying our weekly program schedule!

2007-09-20T12:14:00.000-04:00

BCTV-2 Program Director’s Report, September 20, 2007

Equipment and Facilities: The “bugs” in our server have mostly been resolved and scheduling and airing of programs seem to be running smoothly.
We are working on timed switching to different channels using our satellite in order to diversify our non-local programming slots.
Our monthly utility bill was $84 for electricity and $13 for dish network.
Programming: We have been running our regular schedule of programming. New this month is High School Sports. We will be showing 10 Belfast Area High School games, both girls and boys. Featured sports will include Field Hockey, Football and Soccer.
We have a new station underwriter -- "The Fertile Mind Bookshop”. I produced their video at no charge in order to get them to sign up for three months. As we look toward October, there will be a new season of “A New Vaudeville Revue” and we will once again record the “Pie and Story Festival”. I am also hoping to record at least one election debate or forum.
Ned Lightner

2007-07-12T10:02:00.000-04:00

BCTV-2 Program Director’s Report, July 12, 2007, 2007

Equipment and Facilities We have been struggling recently with our server. Recent revisions designed to add features have created some glitches which we continue to work on with the software developer. We are also working out a bug with our satellite dish which is making the playing of “Democracy Now!” unreliable. We are working on this problem.
Our office space is relatively comfortable and the ocean breezes do indeed keep our space cool on hot days.

Programming: We have received our second “Mark and Tim Show” and The program looks like it will be a humorous addition to our local program lineup. We are also going to be airing a new season of “Gardens of Waldo County” . 7 new shows have been produced, and we should have new weekly programs to take us through August.
We have discontinued showing LC and company as it is now being carried on Maine Public Television, and our airing would be redundant. We continue to encourage local producers and have been making our video camera available to several people.

2007-06-28T11:09:00.000-04:00

BCTV-2 Program Director’s Report, June 28, 2007, 2007

Equipment and Facilities We have finally developed our training manuals so that we will be able to offer some workshops on using our video camera. We have been giving some one on one informal training to individuals and that has ben a good approach for now, but it will be good to offer a classs to the public. We have not set a date for classes yet.

We purchased a second satellite receiver funded by local people interested interested in having Democracy Now ! shown on our channel. The program is airing from noon until 1PM on the channel as of June 27th.

We have had our first 90 degree days and so far we have been able to keep the BCTV offices cool enough to work in so I am optimistic that we will be able to operate without air conditioners. We have not received our first electricity bill, but clearly it would be great if we did not have the cost of air conditioning.

Programming: Several new programs have been airing on the station. I have produced the Summer video guide which airs daily on the station. It is a video that is targeted to visitors to the area about things to do and places to visit in the area. It is revised monthly in order to include timely events.
The Mark and Tim show is a funny new location interview show produced by Mark Kuzio. The show premieres Tuesday at 7:30 pm and receives several additional showings each week. They plan to produce two shows a month.
We are also airing a 13 minute program promoting Arts in the Park which takes place on July 7 and 8.
Karen Saum produces a twelve minute program of an open house of Michael Shell which includes an entertaining rap. We have begun airing programming on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Jerry klaimon is producing Community announcements which run between programs. He has produced a couple promos to encourage people to send him announcements.
We also have produced a promo that explains how folks are able to access our program schedule by going to our blog. Thanks to Karen Saum for her wonderful voice talent for the spot.
We do need to look at underwriting support. Presently we do not have a development person and we are therefore lacking underwriting support.
I recently attended the summer meeting of the Community Television association of Maine. I volunteered to be involved in developing community TV archives which will be stored at New England Historic film. I believe there may be some interesting Maine produced programs that I may come across, that we may be able to show on the channel.
I did get a chance to meet some folks from Lincoln County Community TV. I even got an interesting documentary that was produced by a Boothbay resident about a volunteer effort by some Mainers to assist in home reconstruction in New Orleans. It is called “Promises were made” and will air several times next week.
Nancy Sossman is sending our weekly schedule to our local papers, and I anticipate that our schedules will be appearing in the papers shortly.

Respectfully submitted by:
Ned Lightner

2007-05-31T08:15:00.000-04:00

BCTV-2 Program Director’s Report, May 31, 2007

Equipment and Facilities:
The City of Belfast has separated the power in the boathouse so that BCTV is now on its own electric meter. We will be needing to pay for our own electrical usage from now on. It will be interesting to learn how much power we do consume. I am certainly finding myself being more diligent in turning off computers and monitors whenever possible,
We did purchase a 500 gig hard drive, to expand the amount of material we can have on our server. The 300 gig drive in our server is nearing capacity and I believe it will be able to store an additional 200 hours of programs with the new hard drive. The new drive cost $113. To give you a sense of the cost of storage dropping, we purchased a 12 gig drive for our first non linear AVID edit system in 1991 and paid $2000 for it.
We are currently playing with our windows and fans to see how we are able to best keep our facility cool. I am hopeful that an air conditioner will not be necessary, but our equipment which was helpful in keeping our space warm in winter is not as useful for climate control in the summer.
We are dealing with a problem with our email address. For the time being our station email is BCTV2@yahoo.com. We hope to get our old email address back shortly.
Personnel:
Nancy Sosman, our part time office manager has done a fine job organizing our DVD library. She has learned how to program our server and to do some editing.
She is also quite helpful as we develop our teaching manuals for future camera and production workshops. She is new to video and has been great at giving me feedback if a point was omitted or is unclear. I believe our manuals will be a valuable resource to community producers.
Hillary Gocze, a senior at Champlain College, is our summer intern. She will be devoting 200 hours this summer to BCTV. She has her own camera and editing computer, but is borrowing one of our tripods. She is working at producing some PSA’s and promos as well as short documentaries that will run between our regularly scheduled programs.
Rachel Reed is a young lady who was my most reliable student production person when I taught some video production classes at Belfast Area High School. She has expressed an interest in volunteering “as much as I can so I can do everything”. Ah isn’t youthful enthusiasm wonderful. I am hoping to teach her to download programs off the internet and also to put programs on our server. I will be working with Nancy to determine what will work out best for us.
Programming:
An author’s talk presented by Belfast Free library featured Stacy Mitchell, an articulate speaker and author of “Big-Box Swindle”. We are airing the talk on the station. A new series of Gardens of Waldo County is in production, and the first program of the season airs next week. The Mid-coast Summer Video Guide is also scheduled to begin airing in mid-June. We have begun to expand our programming on weekends so that there are TV shows on from 2-10PM , as well as 9-noon.
Respectfully submitted by:
Ned Lightner

2007-05-31T07:38:00.000-04:00

The following is a copy of a talk I recently gave to the Belfast rotary Club, I thought it might be of interest to folks reading our blog. Ned Lightner

I’d like to thank John Cheston and the Rotary Club for inviting me to speak before you today. John knew I was involved with Belfast Community TV and thought some of you folks might want to know more about these local TV channels that those who subscribe to Cable TV in this area are able to see. He mentioned that quite a few of you folks are local business people and it might be helpful if I could direct my talk to a business audience.

First of all I am the “volunteer program director for Belfast Community TV, which celebrated its first year in operation on May 1st. There may be a
number of you out there who get Cable and therefore may not have seen our channel. We reach about 2,500 homes in the Belfast and Searsport area. Belfast community TV is one of 3 access channels on the cable dial. Access channels are cable channels made available to local communities by the cable company as required by National and state laws and as negotiated with each community with which the cable company has a franchise agreement. Communities allow a cable operator to string their cable lines across city streets but in return the cable company may pay a franchise fee, provide free service to schools and municipal buildings, provide access channels, and even provide funding to operate those channels. The exact deal varies from community to community. In Belfast, the city received an initial grant form the cable company to equip local access channels. The city also receives a 5% franchise fee, which is based on percentage of cable service revenue. In many communities that fee is used to fund the operation of these cable channels, but in Belfast that is not the case. The city does however fund the operation of one of the channels. You may be asking yourself 3 channels? Why are there three channels. Well there are three different kinds of acces channels. The City’s channel is the “government Access channel” It televises live city council and other municipal meetings that take place in the city council chambers. Diane Mende who was a part time general assistance director for the city was offered the position of running the government access channel. She works 20 hours a week videotaping city related meetings and events. I know that I have appreciated being able to tune in to channel 7 to watch meetings from time to time, whether watching them live or on later replays. For someone with small children, it has helped me feel connected with what is going on in city government. A second channel is the educational access Channel. The city has given that channel to MSAD 34 and it is run out of the High School. Greg Applestein is an English teacher who also teaches video production classes and runs Channel 5. Recently I have caught some of the school concerts that he and his students have recorded and played back over the station. In some communities educational access channel have been used to offer telecourses, offer call in homework hotlines, or televise live school board meetings. Unfortunately with the financial pressures at MSAD-34, there just hasn’t been the resources to create those kinds of programs. So that Brings me to Belfast community TV.
It is a “public Access channel, that is not restricted to a particular mission. Whatever programs we receive from the community within limits of decency, and not violating state laws, are open to be shown on the public access channel. This past year for instance, we televised a local candidates forum in conjunction with the local chapter of the league of women voters. We also televised the Belbast vibrancy summit which took place live at the boathouse on the Waterfront. Such a programs could quite possibly also be shown on the government access channel. We also televised High School sports, a seminar on energy efficient building that took place at the Waldo county Technical Center. Both of those programs could have quite reasonably been shown on the educational access channel. On the other hand Ando Anderson’s “New Vaudeville review” and the church services from the First Church in Belfast are examples of programs that would not be appropriate for the government or educational access channels.

At this point I’d like to take a moment to tell you haw Belfast Community TV got started. Prior to last year, If you were to tune to Channel 2, You would most likely see a power point display that carried community announcements from throughout central Maine. It was operated by the Penobscot Cable consortium, was made up of about 17 communities from Bangor and Brewer to Ellsworth and Belfast. Belfast paid the consortium about $10,000 a year. About half that money went to pool resources for legal advice and coordinated franchise negotiaion, but the other half went to fund the operation of this regional pubic access channel. Well that channel was not very successful, there was very little programming on it and it was plagued with technical problems. The consortium pulled the plug on that channel in January of 2007. That meant that the channel was as they say in the business “going dark”. Because I have had an interest in community programming I approached terry St. Peter at city Hall and asked whether there was any chance that Belfast might be able to have its own public access channel. As some of you may know, prior to being Belfast’s city manager, Terry was the city manager in Augusta. He knew me as the Station manager for the Cable company’s local channel and had been a guest on some of our local programs. Terry was open to the idea. He did say that the station would need to be operated by a non profit organization, that there was still some equipment grant money reserved from the cable franchise, to fund the startup, and that there was an unisulated second floor attic in the boathouse that might be made available. On the other hand, he did not want the city to have to pay any ongoing operating costs. “So Ned, why don’t you come up with a proposal”.
First I was able to get the support of the Belfast Institute of Lifelong learning to serve as the local non-profit. I had known that BILL as it is called was instrumental in helping launch other organizations such as “Come Boating” and New years by the Bay. Next I asked a few folks that I knew, who I thought might be interested in this endeavor to be part of an “advisory Group” . This group was really crucial as we developed our guidelines and imagined what this station might look like. The group came up with our name, “Belfast community TV” . We did not want to call ourselves “public access, because we felt that might give the station the image of having shaky out of focus and boring shows that nobody would watch. We wanted something more exciting than that. We developed our mission statement which states that Belfast Community TV’s mission is to reflect and strengthen the unique character of Belfast, Maine in order to enrich the lives of residents and visitors to the mid-coast region, by fostering communication, free speech, artistic expression as well as creating opportunities through television and other electronic media.
So we put forth a proposal to city council and thankfully they said yes.
We received our initial equipment grant which paid for items such as a lazer transmitter, station automation equipment, dvd recorders, computers, Satellite receivers and other technical stuff so we could begin transmitting. I was also able to get some equipment donated from my old employer,Maine Public Television.We got permission from the city in mid February of last year and were on the cable May 1st.

So what do we show? And where are we headed? With our equipment grant we did have enough money to buy transmission equipment, but not enough to set up a production studio. We had a kind of “if you build it they will come mentality”. One great thing about the technology world is that it seems to be getting cheaper and better every year. 30 years ago, when I got into this business a camera and recorder that weighed 40 pounds and you carried in a backpack cost $8000 dollars. Today you can buy a digital Camcorder that weighs about a pound and costs, $300. 30 Years ago a fairly primitive editing system cost about $15,000. Today most new computers come with video editing software that is much more sophisticated than anything we had access to even 15 years ago. As we know from the success of You tube and google video, Video is available to almost everyone. I remember tuning into the news after the Virginia Tech shooting and they were actually showing video and sound from someone’s cell phone. So we hoped people would produce their own shows and submit them to show, free of charge on the station. Additionally, I have my own video equipment and have been making local TV shows for quite a while now. You may think this hometown TV thing is a fairly new concept, and it certainly is so in Belfast, but 30 years ago when I was just getting out of college, I went to work for a local cable channel operated by the cable company to serve the Augusta/Gardiner area.
Back then we had a nightly local news show, as well a some high school sports, local businesses had some shows. For instance a local Chinese restaurant that also offered cooking classes had its own cooking show, We had an exercise and diet show put on by 2 businesses working together. The exercise spa did the exercise segment and the diet workshop did a low calorie recipe segments. We created a show where we would tape performances in four area night clubs. Each club paid us to tape at their club once a monthand a local music store also served as a sponsor. The local hospital produced a health education show and later sponsored a sries on parenting that was nationally produced. Over the years and in different communities I have seen many interesting ways local businesses have utilized community TV. A bowling center has produced local bowling shows. A financial firm has produced a money advice show, A mlaw firm has produced a legal call-in Show. Some shows are regular series, while others are one shot deals. A bicycle shop for instance did a tune up your bicycle show. These are examples of shows with a direct connection to those businesses, however businesses got involved in local programming in other ways. The wife of a local car dealer was very involved with the local humane society. Her husband’s dealership sponsored a show that every week went to the local humane society and showed the animals available for adoption. The car dealer may have been sponsoring the show to please his wife, but it turned out that the show was one of the most popular on our channel and the dealer got lots of positive feedback for supporting this community project. The same positive good will was generated by our live TV auction put on by the Augusta Kiwanis Club and underwritten by local businesses. The Auction raises tens of thousands of dollars every year for the club’s charities.

So getting back to Belfast Community TV. I have been around the area long enough to remember WBME radio. I appreciated its local character and characters such as Rocky Raccoon and the Grizzly but loveable Bear. I remember the local Y doing radio Auctions. With media consolidation we just don’t have that localism we once had. WERU radio has done an admirable job providing a regional community radio service, but I’m talking really hometown, Waldo county. We do have some wonderful papers from the weekly Newspapers to specialty publications such as Sap pail or real estate magazines. There was in my mind at least room for a community TV channel. When the idea for the station was first being kicked around. Ando Anderson who many of you know as a local musician and spark behind the summer nights music series approached me with the idea of doing a local TV variety show based loosely on the Prairie home Companion radio show on public radio. His idea was to have a show that included some skits, poetry, music and whatever else might be fun. We kicked around the idea and Ando developed “A new Vaudeville Revue” Once a month the show is performed before a live audience. These days they take place on Saturday evenings at the legion hall in town. From the live show we are able to creat 3 separate programs so we have a fresh show every week or so. Ando has been able to get businesses to underwrite the production of the show. He also sells a live jingle for businesess to get added exposure. With proceeds from underwriters and money from tickets to the show he is able to pay the performers, as well as the cost of having the performances recorded and shown on the station.
I also had been taping High school sports, and playing them on the educational access channel. I decided to have them air on the new community channel, because I thought if we had more and diverse programs on the channel we would get more people coming to the channel and checking us out. I approached local businesses to underwrite the game coverage. The money paid for professional announcers and a fairly decent show to watch. There aren’t all the camera angles that ESPN has but ESPN did not show Belfast winning the state football and field hockey championships. I have local businesses tell me that when they underwrite programs they know they are reaching their target market. I have heard various statistics, most recentl at a city council meeting I caught on TV, the consultant said that about 50% of a local business’ customers come from the town. I suspect in Belfast that percentage varies from season to season, but there is some truth that for many businesses the local customer base is important. Another example of a show that I have been involved with is the Summer video guide. I must admit I kind of stole the concept from jeff Dobbs who runs the public access channel in Bar Harbor. Jeff is the guy who has also produced all those show about Acadiaq and light house with Jack Perkins. Anyway for years Jeff has been airing “The Acadia channel” which is a guide to places to eat, shop or go on excursions. Basically a tourist video. Local businesses pay to have a segment in the show. The show is shown several time a day from mid June through Labor Day. Table tents are provided to local motels and B&B’s that alert visitors to the show. There are some restrictions for folks which a regular commercial station does not have.
We don’t mention prices. There are not “direct calls to Action”. And we don’t use comparative superlatives such as the best Pizza in town. However it is perfectly OK to say. We have a delicious variety of tasty Pizzas. Some of the other shows I have been involved with include. “Gardens of Waldo county” which basically takes viewers on tours of local gardens. I have produced a show that showcases artist that are going to be at the “Arts in the Park” celebration in July. So you see my own motives aren’t completely altruistic. I’m hoping that folks who want a show created might hire me to make the show. But I am by no means the only person creating programming for the station. Lincoln Clapp for example has produced some shows featuring student work at Toddy pond school and he also produced a neat show about local ballroom dancers. Jerry Klaimon produced a fine documentary about the coal industry in Belfast, Harvey Thurston has been producing a weekly religious show from his Nothport Church. We have also had folks supply us with shows they don’t produce themselves. We do require a local presenter for shows produced outside of the Area. A local train buff has been providing us with a weekly series called train time. This show features railroad related programs and is produced out of Lewiston, by the great falls model railroad club. A local political activist provides us with a left leaning show produced in Portland called “Liberty News”.
We have been looking for interesting programs, and have joined Northeast Historic Film in Bucksport. They have an extensive collection of old movies, and we have created a series called the Northeast historic film hour. Last week forinstance we aired “From Stump to Ship and Lumbering in the Northeast. Folks like Karen Saum who have retired to the area are providing us with programming. Karens 1980 documentary “Working Women of Waldo County” received quite a lot of favorable comments after airing on the channel. We seem to be adding new shows weekly and I am really thrilled how the station is developing.
So how do we pay our bills? We have various underwriting opportunities. Our community bulletinboard which is the creative work of Susan Guthrie is a powerpoint presentation that airs about 6 hours a day. We sell pages on the display to lcal underwriters. We also have daily programming underwriters. Their video message appears adjacent to various programs. We have also received a little grant money. Recently we received a grant from the maine community Foundation to purchase a some video equipment so members of the community that do not have a video camera could still create a program.
The grant also provides for a couple training workshops. We are also lucky enough to have a part time person made available through a Senior Citizen employment program administered through Waldo County community action.Nancy Sossman has been with us now for three weeks and has been a great help in keeping the operation running.

You know I see those bumper stickers that say”Kill you TV” and I nhave certainly felt that way surfing through all those channels with nothing but Junk on. I also have seen how fewer folks sit on the porch on a spring evening, preferring instead to sit glued to the tube. It makes me feel that TV has done a lot to keep us from knowing our neighbors. I like to think that Belfast Community TV is helping folks stay connected with their neighbors.
A day or so after we televised all night long New Years by the Bay events taking place at the Boathouse. I was pretty much a Zombie the next day, relizing I’m not Twenty anymore and I got an email from a women. She said she was no longer able to get out and being able to watch New Years coverage from her home town made her still feel connected to her community. Her letter made it all worthwhile for me.

2007-05-16T15:41:00.000-04:00

BCTV Program director’s Report
May 17, 2007

Equipment and Facilities:
We have been relying more and more upon our server, and are discovering the virtues of its capabilities. We may need to purchase an additional hard drive as we add programming into the server. We did have a 4 hour power interruption which occurred during a rare out of state trip by me, and our programming was disrupted for 3 days. I am training Nancy our office manager to be able to deal with technical problems, but She had not been trained at the time of the outage. We also had a computer malfunction which required a $40 repair.
Programming:
We continue to acquire more programs, and we have a pretty strong lineup. Some of the new local programs we have run included a presentation on a community owned department store, a hearing on retail development for Belfast, a tango demonstration. This is fortunate, as our community bulletin board person has decided to give that up. We will need to determine how we wish to fill up the time that was formerly used for the bulletin board. Presently we are running “Classic Arts Showcase” off the satellite.

I gave a presentation about our station to the Belfast Rotary Club and had a few people approach me about possible programs they might produce. We have also been contacted by other groups about submitting programs. We have produced numerous scenic local station ID’s which run between programs, so the station is looking nice.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2007-04-10T16:11:00.000-04:00

BCTV Program Director’s Report
April 10, 2007

Equipment and Facilities: We received the new camera, tripod and microphone from the Community Foundation Grant. I have shot some video and am quite pleased with the results. Nancy Sosman is our new part time office manager. She is technically a WCAP employee, but sshe is “training” with us for up to a year. She is a quick learner and actually edited some footage I shot on the new camera. It was a nice piece on the recent St. George River Race. I have been teaching Nancy various operational aspects of our station. We continue to fine tune our server playback. It seems with the server, we are not needing all the DVD players, and that frees up some channels on our automation device to accept additional satellite signals, I am considering purchasing an additional satellite receiver when we can afford it. We have been offered some video gear from a Searsport resident, and I will be looking at it this week to determine if some of it would be useful to our operation
Programming: Our live coverage of the “Belfast Leadership Action Summit” was well received by the community. The First Church in Belfast is taping Church Services and they began airing them on the station over Easter. We continue to get inquirees about having programs produced by the station. I am educating callers that we are not a production house, but also let them know that we will be offering training session on use of our camera and editor. We also have potential producers inquiring about having their shows air on the station, and we of course do what we can to encourage local productions.
We will be celebrating our first anniversary this coming May and I am looking to produce a compilation reel of programming highlights. I have also been invited to speak in May at the local Rotary Club luncheon about our station. Apparently people are interested in us.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2007-04-01T16:47:00.000-04:00

We are thrilled to report that BCTV now has an actual paid staff person. Nancy Sosman comes to us through the Senior Community Service Employment Program. This wonderful federally funded program pays Nancy's salary for up to a year. Nancy will be our office manager and will be working 20 hours a week doing everything from programming our automated playback system, to fundraising, and production assistance. Nancy most recently served as Librarian at the Winterport Library, but she also has been an office manager, legal secretary and Administrative assistant. We are thrilled to have Nancy working here and look forward to having her bring her wonderful organizational skills, humor and wisdom to our little station.

2007-03-22T10:14:00.000-04:00

BCTV Program director’s Report
March 22, 2007

Equipment and Facilities: Our program schedule is now part of our blog. Simply by clicking on the calendar link, it is now possible to see what is scheduled to air on the channel. We will promote this new capability on our bulletin board, with a video promo and press releases.
The server has been in use daily and for the most part is working well, however as we use the server, I am finding minor problems and some features which I believe the server needs to have. I am working with Bob Nichols, the software designer, in making the server more usable. Bob has been great, and I feel like I am getting a server that is custom designed for our use.
A new video, camera, tripod and microphone has been ordered with some of the Maine Community Foundation grant money. I am also developing a plan for courses to be offered to potential community videomakers.
We have been getting nice feedback on the morning camera shot out our office window of the harbor. We may at some point wish to acquire a camera dedicated to this function. Right now we are using the only camera owned by BCTV.
I meet with a representative of the senior employment project on Monday to discuss the suitability of a part-time employee to assist in day-to-day operations and fundraising aspects of the station. If we find a good candidate to take on such responsibilities, I would offer to train and supervise them. Although the position is funded by a state program, we need to find out what our station’s responsibilities will be and make sure we are able to fulfill them.
Programming: Both “Andrews and Andrews at the Auction” and “Gardens of Waldo County” began airing on the channel last week. A new series “Talking Maine with Joe Bruno” will begin airing next week. The program is produced monthly by the Maine Republican party.
Jayne Giles has also contacted us about producing a local political show. This is a positive sign that we are getting more diverse political views represented in our program schedule.
“Sugarhouse Journal” is a monthly program produced in the Skowhegan area that deals with sustainability topics. I learned about it through the Maine community TV web site and contacted the producer about airing it on our system. The show debuts next Monday at 8:30PM.
“What kids are watching” is a show produced by a Rockland area teenager and is a sort of U-tube review program. I am hoping to get a copy to preview shortly. It would be great to have a show that targets our local teen audience.
On Thursday March 29th we will be showing the “Belfast Leadership and Action Summit” live from 6:30-9PM. Diane Mende, Jerry Klaimon and myself are the volunteer production crew.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2007-03-08T08:28:00.001-05:00

BCTV Program director’s Report
March 8, 2007

Equipment and Facilities: We finally have a working server. A server is basically a means of playing programming off a computer rather than on videotapes and DVDs. The server allows us to assemble several videos in a sequence such as shows, PSA’s, and station ID’s and play them at selected times. One advantage of a server is that we can play much more programming than we can with our 5 DVD players. We used the server last night for the first time “on air” and it worked perfectly.
We are integrating our program schedule into our “Blog” to make it possible for people to know when programming is scheduled to air.
Karen Saum was successful in securing a $1,500 grant from the Maine Community foundation. We will be buying an inexpensive digital video camera for members of the community to use once they have taken a course in video production, which is also to be paid for through the grant. Karen is also looking into the possibility of finding a part time senior citizen employee to assist in the operation of the station. This grant is available to qualified non-profit organizations and wouldbe a great help with the day to day operation of the station.

Programming: We ran a somewhat limited schedule while the program director was on vacation for two weeks in February. Several positive comments about our station were received through our on air solicitation for feedback. March brings a more varied schedule. We are reshowing “Gardens of Waldo County” during March and April. “Andrews and Andrews at the Auction” a monthly one-hour show that replays scenes from an Antique Auction begins airing next week. A video about the 2007 “Toboggan Nationals” held at the Snow Bowl in Camden airs next week. Also showing this month is a series of videos about various Maine communities produced by Accompany. I worked on these videos, several of which have previously aired on “the History Channel” We have also joined Northeast Historic Film in order to have access to their lending library of film about Maine. There are about 100 programs cleared for airing on local cable channels.
We continue to maintain contact with the Camden Rockland Access channel. They are showing several of the shows produced here such as “Vaudeville Revue” and “Gardens of Waldo County”. Soon we expect to air some programs from them. We are also hoping to develop an informal network of community TV stations along the mid-coast. Besides BCTV and Rockland, Lincoln County public access and Boothbay community TV could be part of this “network”. We do not know what might develop from such a network, but there is the possibility of some unique coastal programming being developed.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2007-02-21T12:42:00.000-05:00

Hola from Mexico!
Well I hope the station is up and running smoothly. I am writing this blogg from a cyber cafe on the beach at Puerto Morelos Mexico. Sometimes the volunteer program director just needs a break. I have programmed our automationm system to play a limited amount of programming until I return, and am hoping all is well. Just leave a comment if it is not. I have been checking my voicemail (207) 323-2430 and taken notes on comments about the station, but since its a bit pricey to call folks I will wait until Feb. 28 to return calls. I di have a chance to check out our local cable TV and there does not appear to be any PEG channels down here, though plenty of Mexican soap operas and old fashioned Music video channels. I am getting several inquirees about producing programs, so we are building on our base of local shows.
Well I got to go and work on my tan.
Ned Lightner

2007-02-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

BCTV Program director’s Report
February 8, 2007

Equipment and Facilities: With the audio expertise of Dave Johnson, we have installed the audio leveler, which makes the audio from various shows that come to us sound more even from show to show and also reduces the chances of hearing distorted audio from shows that were recorded at a high level.
Our server is still not operational due to a technical glitch in the playback software. Hopefully we will get those glitches fixed, and get the server operating shortly.

Programming: Karen Saum has offered to work on some grant projects to help BCTV. Her first project is to work with “The Game Loft” to purchase a video camera and develop a training schedule to teach youths to produce programming for the station.
We began airing the promo produced by Jerry Klaimon, asking for viewer feedback, and we have received two complimentary phone calls so far.
The Church of the Holy Light is recording a special church service on a monthly basis. The first of its programs is airing this week and it was exactly one hour long.
We are also airing a new weekly series “Hot and Cold” produced by Tom Cocze. It is a kind of local version of “This old House” with an emphasis on energy efficiency.
We have also begun airing a monthly show entitled “Maine Video Activist network” It is quite well done and seems to have a variety of interesting topics.
I will be going on vacation for a couple weeks, so our programming will be a bit limited for a little while, however my brother John is going to be handling automation duties and troubleshooting in my absence.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2007-01-09T14:22:00.000-05:00

BCTV Program director’s Report
January 11, 2007

Equipment and Facilities: We are still troubleshooting some minor problems with our new server, but I am optimistic that we will be able to use it by the end of the month.
We were able to successfully do our first “Live” event coverage on New Years eve.
There were no real technical problems and the signal looked great.
We have had a problem with uneven audio levels creating distortion on the home TV’s.
To solve this problem I have agreed to purchase a used compressor limiter, from Brookside technologies in Prospect. A used compressor limiter is apt to last a long time and since we are buying from Brookside I am dealing with a local vendor that offers tech support.

Programming: As mentioned earlier, Our live 9 1/2 hours of New Years by the Bay coverage was a great success. The staff of NYBB was very helpful and the event was very successful this year. Mary Mortier, the executive director was very grateful for our efforts at encouraging home viewers to come to the event. We have not added any new programs to our lineup, however we continue to receive productions “from away” such as the Documentary America: freedom to Fascism. I recently recorded Karen Saum doing an introduction to her film produced during the early eightees about the working women of Waldo County. It is fascinating to see all the factory jobs from chickens to circuit boards that have all disappeared since the documentary was produced. Karen has offered to volunteer for the station and she has been a successful grant writer, so I believe she will be a great asset to the channel.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2007-01-07T22:20:00.001-05:00

All new revue this week at BCTV-2
Now also on cable channel 2 in Searsport

A New Vaudeville Revue has taped a bunch of new extra-nutty and fun shows, previewing this Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. on BCTV-2, community cable TV channel 2 in Belfast and Searsport. Special guests include Jennifer Armstrong, storyteller and bagpiper; Shana Bloomstein, dancer; and poet of the month, Jacob Fricke. Regular humorists Peter Conant and Jenny Tibbetts will be on hand as well as Elisabeth Goodridge. This month’s house band includes Willy Kelly, Joe Allard and Jeff Densmore. Ando Anderson will be at the host at the helm. Shows will also replay daily at 9:00 a.m., as well as Tuesday through Thursday at 6 p.m., and Friday and Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. No cable access? No Problem. All shows can be viewed for free at www.newvaudevillerevue.com.

Also this week on BCTV-2 Notes From Upriver features the organization "Growsmart Maine" and airs Monday through Saturday at 9:30 a.m., as well as Monday at 9:00 p.m. and Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.

Don't miss the new edition of Liberty News which features a report on the food we eat. It airs 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday as well as Monday at 10 p.m. and Tuesday at 9:30 p.m.

And by public request, the fascinating documentary "America: Freedom to Fascism" will be aired again Monday at 7:00 p.m. and Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

We will also be showing highlights from the New Years By the Bay celebration on Wednesday through Saturday from 6:30 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. You can e-mail us at: belfastcommunitytv@verizon.net or contact Program Director, Ned Lightner, at 338-6140

E-mail us at:
belfastcommunitytv@verizon.net

2007-01-07T22:17:00.000-05:00

BCTV Program director’s Report
December 28, 2006

Equipment and Facilities: We have been troubleshooting some minor problems with our new server. It seems to be working now that we discovered that some of the downloaded videos were “corrupt”. It was simple to find those corrupt files and delete them, so now the server seems to be working well. We used the server on Christmas day to play two movies. “Santa Claus conquers the Martians” and a 1934 version of “Scrooge”. They played well. I do find that there are some audio level problems on the channel. I think when we have the money we will need to buy a compressor/limiter. Such a device costs a couple hundred dollars, but as of now is probably our best solution.
I am currently running audio and video lines to the downstairs part of the boathouse, so that we will be able to originate live on New Years Eve.
We have also diverted a ventilation/heat duct to feed our upstairs space. The duct had been venting into the unheated attic space, so we feel we are not affecting the heating bill of the boathouse, while improving the comfort of our own office space.

Programming: We have had a good meeting with the director of “New Years by the Bay” and we have developed a plan to go live while also encouraging home viewers to attend the events. A nice article was published in this week’s Village Soup Citizen promoting our coverage. We have borrowed some equipment from the High School station, and Diane Mende will be using the government access equipment to cover remote events for us to replay. Our plan is to go live from 2-11:30PM on New Years eve. We certainly could use some additional production help but will be able to do it with a limited crew.
We have had some non-local program submissions and so far the channel has been operating relatively smoothly, however I hope we will be able to get more folks to provide us with local programs.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2006-12-14T14:41:00.000-05:00

BCTV Program director’s Report

Equipment and Facilities: the boathouse attic has been quite comfortable as we continue to tighten up the uninsulated areas. We have rearranged the computer area to accommodate the new computer that will as our server. The server computer was installed this week and we will be doing some system tests and hopefully begin using it in the first part of 2007. We have been successfully able to download public domain films and short subjects into our editing PC and are able to share those files through a local network with the server computer. This is really efficient and convenient. We purchased a 300gig hard drive to store programming material. It can hold about 150 hours of video, and cost about $100.
Our signal now reaches Searsport! It did take some regular contact with the Time Warner government relations department, but we have finally succeeded.
The Canopus editing software that we recently purchased has some really useful features.
particularly when it comes to editing DVDs. This is important as we move forward in putting more programming on the server.

Programming: We have begun showing Belfast High School Basketball games. Nine games are schedule to be recorded this season. Six of those games originally will be televised live on the educational access channel 5.
We are also hoping to go live from the boathouse on New Years eve, and show not only events taking place live at the boathouse, but also show tapes of events happening at other local venues. Sooner tha that, Belfast's first Congregational church will be submitting a video of their live nativity scene taking place this Saturday in front of the church.
We have not had many other local program submissions, and may wish to brainstorm on how to get more local folks to create programming. I have been in conversation with Maynard Stanley, an experienced I-Movie editor about the possibility of offering a workshop on editing with I movie, which is the editing software that comes with new macintosh computers. The idea being, that more people editing video, might make for more local programming.
We recently hosted the Rockland public access board of directors (MCCT-7). They were very impressed with our community bulletin board and our impressive views out our office windows. We also discussed having similar underwriting guidelines so that it would be easier to share programming. We both felt very positive about working together to create a midcoast network of sorts.
At today's advisory group meeting, we discussed the possibility of doing a survey of local viewership. We thought it would be useful to have some kind of a feel to whether anyone watches our channel that could be quantified. If there is anyone reading this blogg who has some experience with surveys, we would love to hear from you, in order to develop the best survey and methodology possible.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2006-11-30T10:18:00.000-05:00

BCTV Program director’s Report
November 30, 2006

Equipment and Facilities: We have been creating a comfortable space in the recently insulated portion of the boathouse attic. The cast from “a new vaudeville revue” has been rehearsing in the space and contributed some posters for the walls. Instead of fabric from Moss, I have been using carpet remnants to cover the plastic sheets that hold the blown in insulation. So far the room has been considerably warmer than the uninsulated attic space, but to be comfortable it still helps to dress warmly. We are only using the heat that rises from the lower floor to keep our space warm, but it seems to be working.

The logo inserter is up and running, so viewers of our channel will notice a semitransparent BCTV-2 logo on the lower right hand corner of the TV screen. With so many channels to choose from, it is useful to identify our channel.

Bob Nichols, who attended our last advisory group meeting is donating a server to BCTV. A server is basically a device that can play files off a computer at a pre determined time. Files can be shows, station ID’s ,underwriter messages etc. This will make it easier for us to offer more and varied programs. There is a learning curve, to figure out how to run the server, but I am getting familiar with the software, which Bob designed and has already installed in our PC. One benefit to the server is that we are able to download public domain and other programming off the web and easily move it into the server. I have been going to “archive.org” and downloading vintage cartoons and some rather interesting old government films.

A Printout on using iMovie HD, an editing program that comes with apple computers, has been assembled into a looseleaaf binder and is available to use with our new mini mac computer. We are now able to offer folks an opportunity to use a computer to edit their videos. We have a suggested donation rate of $10/hour for use of the computer.

Programming: We are in the midst of running the Camden Conference that took place last February. There are 6, 2 hour programs, and I am scheduling a new program each week. We recently showed the 3rd Waldo County fiddlers showcase, and A new season of “A new vaudeville revue” is in full swing, with the next live show happening this Saturday Dec. 2. We are also showing a half hour program this week provided by “Growsmart Maine” which discusses a recent Brookings institute report on the future of Maine’s economy. I have also recently completed a demo video for a local folk duo “Me and Martha” which will air on our channel. There is a local antique Auction show tentatively entitled “At the Auction with Andrews and Andrews” which should begin airing by the new year. Replays of Belfast High School basketball games will will be shown on BCTV. The live games will air on the high school channel. Insight productions will again be producing those games in association with the video crew from the high school. Other project in development include a Theater review show and a “sustainable living” show. We also hope to continue to make connections with other coastal community TV stations so that we might share some of our programming.

Respectfully submitted by Ned Lightner

2006-11-13T20:34:00.000-05:00

Camden conference airs on BCTV-2

Last February's 19th annual Camden conference which concentrated on China will be airing in 5 segments over the next few weeks. This is a very interesting series of programs and we are pleased that the Camden Conference organization has made these programs available to us.

2006-11-13T20:26:00.000-05:00

Bug me
We are pleased to have recently acquired a logo generator which will allow us to place a "bug" in the lower right hand corner of our channel output. some people suggested that we do this so folks will know that the channel they are watching is BCTV-2.
Producers may wish to keep this in mind when developing graphics for their programs. We are figuring out how to create the graphic and have yet to install the device but it should be on line in the next week or so.

2006-10-17T20:35:00.000-04:00

CHECK THE BULLETIN BOARD
FOR WEEKLY LOCAL
SPORTS PRESENTATIONS

Regularly Scheduled
Weekly Shows:

The BCTV Morning Block:

L.C. & COMPANY
Regional show about various Maine
enterprises, travel Maine with L.C.
Tuesdays to Friday at 9:00 a.m.

GARDENS OF WALDO COUNTY
Encore presentations of the evening show
Tuesdays to Friday at 9:30 a.m.

THE SECOND ACT
A community television show produced by
and for Mainers in the second half of life.
Tuesdays through Friday at 10:00 a.m.

LIBERY NEWS
Maine’s Progressive News View
Tuesdays through Friday at 10:30 a.m.

IRAQ EYEWITNESS
Seven Part Regional Series on Iraq War
Tuesdays to Friday at 11:00 a.m.

TRAIN TIME
Nothing but train rides through Maine!
Fun for the whole family!
Weekdays 11:30 a.m.

Church Services on BCTV:

REFLECTIONS OF GRACE
Sunday 9:30 a.m. & 9:00 p.m.
Monday repeat at 6 p.m.

COME TO THE HEART OF WORSHIP
Sunday 10:30 a.m. & 10:00 p.m.
Monday repeat at 7 p.m.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT
HOW WE FILL IN THE BLANKS:

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD
Announcements and fun stuff
From 3 to 6:30 p.m.
Changes Mondays and Fridays

CLASSIC ARTS SHOWCASE
Short videos of music, dance and poetry
Music TV for the Classics!
Noon to 3:00 p.m. and all night long!

2006-06-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

NEW THIS WEEK!

The Second Act
A community television show produced by
and for Mainers in the second half of life.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm.

Regularly Scheduled Weekly Shows:

Summer Video Guide
People and Places in the Mid-Coast area
Shows daily at:
9 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

A New Vaudeville Review
From The Colonial Theater
New shows almost every week
Mondays nights at 6:30 p.m.
Friday and Sundays nights at 9:30 p.m.
Saturdays at 10:30 p.m.
Sat, Sun and Mon at 9:30 a.m.

Train Time
Nothing but train rides through Maine!
Fun for the whole family!
Weekdays 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Community TV Profiles
What other communities are doing with TV
Wednesday through Friday at 10 p.m.

L.C. and Company
Regional show about various Maine enterprises
Wednesday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Reflections of Grace
Church Service
Sunday and Monday 10AM

Come to the Heart of Worship
Church Service
Sun. 11AM

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT
HOW WE FILL IN THE BLANKS:

Classic Arts Showcase
Short videos of music, dance and poetry
Music TV for the rest of us!
Throughout the week and all night long!

Community Bulletin Board
Announcements and fun stuff
Changes Mondays and Fridays at noon

COMING SOON TO BCTV!

RFD TV Network
Bits and pieces of country life and music plus farming segments

Plus more local shows in Production:

Tuesday Home Video Vault
Sent in your home-made videos, vote and win prizes

Look Back Belfast and the Finer Points Show
History. Music. Trivia. Prizes.

2006-06-06T10:57:00.000-04:00

NEW THIS WEEK!

A New Vaudeville Review
From The Colonial Theater
This week features grandma
gangsta rapper, DJ Crone
(AKA Susan Parness, at right)
New and used shows every week
Mondays nights at 6:30 p.m.
Friday & Sundays nights at 9:30 p.m.
Saturdays at 10:30 p.m.
Sat, Sun & Mon at 9:30 a.m.

Regularly Scheduled Weekly Shows:

Train Time
Nothing but train rides through Maine!
Fun for the whole family!
Weekdays 11 a.m. & 8 p.m.

Community TV Profiles
What other communities are doing with TV
Wednesday through Friday at 10 p.m.

L.C. and Company
Regional show about various Maine enterprises
Wednesday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Reflections of Grace
Church Service
Sunday & Monday 10AM

Come to the Heart of Worship
Church Service
Sun. 11AM

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT
HOW WE FILL IN THE BLANKS:

Classic Arts Showcase
Short videos of music, dance & poetry
Music TV for the rest of us!
Throughout the week and all night long!

Community Bulletin Board
Announcements and fun stuff
Changes Mondays & Fridays at noon

COMING SOON TO BCTV!

RFD TV Network
Bits and pieces of country life and music plus farming segments

Plus more local shows
in Production:

Tuesday Home Video Vault
Sent in your home-made videos, vote and win prizes

Look Back Belfast & the Finer Points Show
History. Music. Trivia. Prizes.

Mid-Coast Summer Video Guide 2006
A look at people, places & things in Waldo County

Current Show Schedule: May 29- June 2

2006-05-29T12:51:00.000-04:00

Click on schedule to view

New this week:

A Brand New Vaudeville Review
From The Colonial Theater
Monday night at 6:30 p.m.
Friday & Sundays nights at 9:30 p.m.
Saturdays at 10:30 p.m.
Sat, Sun & Mon at 9:30 a.m.

More Regularly scheduled shows:

Train Time
Nothing but train rides through Maine!
Fun for the whole family!
Weekdays 11 a.m. & 8 p.m.

Community TV Profiles
What other communities are doing with TV
Wednesday through Friday at 10 p.m.

L.C. and Company
Regional show about various Maine enterprises
Wednesday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Reflections of Grace
Church Service
Sunday & Monday 10 a.m.

Come to the Heart of Worship
Church Service
Sunday 11 a.m.

Classic Arts Showcase
Short videos of music, dance & poetry
Music TV for the rest of us
Throughout the week and all night long!

Weekly Schedule May 15 to 21

2006-05-15T14:44:00.000-04:00

Specials this week:

Every 15 Minutes
Examination of underage drinking
May 17, 18, 19 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Maine Summer Music Camp
The finale concert
May 20 at 8:30 p.m.
May 21 at 6:45 p.m.

Click Daily Schedule for larger view

Regularly Scheduled Weekly Shows:

A New Vaudeville Review
From The Colonial Theater
New shows every week!
Mondays nights at 6:30 p.m.
Friday & Sundays nights at 9:30 p.m.
Saturdays at 10:30 p.m.
Sat, Sun & Mon at 9:30 a.m.

Train Time
Nothing but train rides through Maine!
Fun for the whole family!
Weekdays 11 a.m. & 8 p.m.

Community TV Profiles
What other communities are doing with TV
Wednesday through Friday at 10 p.m.

L.C. and Company
Regional show about various Maine enterprises
Wednesday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Reflections of Grace
Church Service
Sun.&Monday 10AM

Come to the Heart of Worship
Church Service
Sun. 11AM

Classic Arts Showcase
Short videos of music, dance & poetry
All Night Long!

BCTV Local Program Updates

2006-04-30T17:29:00.000-04:00

A Bumpy start for BCTV

Electronic glitches tried to
get the best of BCTV
but patience and
humor prevail!

We can only get better!
Thanks for watching!

Click image at right to
enlarge Daily Schedule

Updated Show Listings

A New Vaudeville Review
From The Colonial Theater
A new show every week!
Every Monday night at 6:30 p.m.
Friday & Sundays nights at 9:30 p.m.
Saturdays at 10:30 p.m.
Sat, Sun & Mon at 9:30 a.m.

2005 Pie & Story Festival
With Jennifer Armstrong
Monday, May 8 at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m.

Waldo County Fiddlers Showcase
Family Fiddling Fun
Monday, May 8 at 9 p.m.
Saturday, May 13 at 9 p.m.

The Last Year at Peirce School
A documentary by Ned Lightner
Wednesday, May 10, 11 at 11:30 a.m. & 7 p.m.
Friday, May 12 at 7 p.m.

Train Time
Nothing but train rides through Maine!
Fun for the whole family!
Weekdays 11 a.m. & 8 p.m.

Belfast Coal Story
A local documentary
Tuesday, May 9 at 11:30 a.m.
Wednesday, May 10 at 10:30 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 11 at 10:30 a.m. & 7:30 p.m
Friday, May 12 at 11:30 a.m. & 7:30 p.m
Saturday & Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

Community TV Profiles
What other communities are doing with their stations
Weeknights at 10 p.m.

L.C. and Company
Regional show about various Maine enterprises
Wednesday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Reflections of Grace
Church Service
Sun.&Monday 10AM

Voice of Faith
Church Service
Sun. & Monday 11:30 AM

One to the Heart of Worship
Church Service
Sun. 11AM

BCTV Channel 2 Sneak Preview PGF: Pretty Good Fun

2006-04-24T14:37:00.000-04:00

A small but enthusiastic crowd came to the Belfast Community TV Sneak Preview and open House at the Belfast Library last Thursday evening.

About 30 people came to enjoy some food as well as the live and taped preview of what will soon be gracing Cable Channel 2, including the folks at The Citizen who gave us this great photo of Program Director, Ned Lightner, holding forth here on TV.

Also shown below are Kristen Burkholder, Jenny Tibbetts and Ando Anderson singing their underwriter jingles. You can also read more about it and see other photos taken by Tina Shute coming in the next Citizen.

Special thanks to our first station supporters: Darby's Restaurant, the Belfast Co-op, Belfast Soup & Sandwich, Community Chiropractic and Reid's Cycle in Northport. And many thanks to Websafe Studio for the technical assistance, boundless encouragement and imagination all which inspires BCTV greatly, and to Jan and David County Copy for their endless help. What a cool bunch of folk in this place!

Community Bulletin Board Guidelines

2006-04-07T12:40:00.000-04:00

Your organization may post messages on the BCTV Channel 2 Bulletin Board. We use the Power Point Slide format for these messages.
A new bulletin board is put up Monday and Friday at noon.
There are several details that you need to include, in order for us to post your organization's messages:
--The Name of the Organization sending the message, contact person with telephone and/or informational website.
--Your Bulletin Board message of 25 words or less. We will edit as necessary to keep your message clear.
--The information of Who (what organization), What (event or message), Where, When and How. Please be concise.
--Any information for the viewer to get in contact with your organization, including contact persons name, telephone number and extension.
--Any fees, registration deadline information, or other pertinent information, etc.
--A logo and/or photo may be added as long as it is provided as a small jpeg in the email along the Bulletin Board information. Arrangements may be made with BCTV to scan your logo.
Send messages by email to: belfastcommunitytv@verizon.net
If you organization does not have access to email, information may be sent to: BCTV P.O. Box 1075, Belfast ME 04915
You are encouraged to send messages as early as possible, so they will be posted for the longest period of time. We would like them at least two weeks before the date of the event. However, we will make our best effort to post messages received later than that, at our earliest possible convenience.
Businesses may may sponsor the bulletin board with a presence. Any business interested in connecting with the community through the bulletin board may request information at belfastcommunitytv@verizon.net

Belfast Community TV to begin May 1

2006-03-31T11:15:00.000-05:00

The Waldo County Pie & Story Festival, the New Vaudeville Revue at the Colonial Theater, the Waldo County Fiddle Contest, the Mid-Coast Summer Video Guide, and the documentary, The Last Year of Peirce School, are some of the all new, locally produced television shows that will soon be seen in prime-time on the brand new Belfast Community TV on cable channel 2, also known as BCTV2.

Program Director, Ned Lightner, is seen here setting up the station equipment in the unused attic space of the Belfast Boathouse. The City of Belfast will allow the station to incubate in the attic for two years to help the fledgling station get on its feet.

Belfast Community TV on cable channel 2 is available free to all cable subscribers and will be overseeing and operated by the local non-profit organization the Belfast Institute of Lifelong Learning (B.I.L.L.) to provide a non-commercial, locally produced television station to cable viewers in the Belfast area.

BCTV2 will also start each morning with a family-friendly, convenient, colorful and animated community bulletin board that will also display the time and give a constant spoken local weather report through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA.

There will also be competitions and awards for locally produced video, photography and poetry. Details on these competitions will be announced.

Channel 2 was originally part of the franchise contract Adelphia Cable had made with the city of Belfast that was mandated by congress to be sure that the public had access to cable media. As times and media technology have changed, the franchise agreements are changing as well.

Although Adelphia provided the initial funds for the necessary equipment, cable channel 2 will not be generally funded by the Adelphia franchise agreement, or by Belfast taxpayers. The new station, which has little overhead, will be completely self-funding through volunteers, grants and local business underwriters.

Community members will get a chance to see the new animated bulletin board and a sampling of upcoming shows at a free presentation on April 20 in the Abbott Room at the Belfast Free Library starting at 5 p.m.

For More information on the station and its programming call Ned Lightner, during business hours, at 338-6161. For information on the bulletin board and becoming an underwriter for the station call Susan Guthrie at 338-6140, during business hours.

Request for Cablecast Form and General Guidelines

2006-03-24T15:13:00.000-05:00

To submit a show you will need to fill out a copy of our two page "BCTV Request for Cablecast Form"

You can receive this by e-mailing us at: belfastcommunitytv@verizon.net and we will e-mail you a copy to print out.

You may also request a copy of the "BCTV General Guidelines" which is ten pages and is also our operations guide.

Both documents may also be received by sending a Self Addressed Stamped Envelop to: BCTV2, P.O. Box 1075, Belfast ME 04915.

We want you to know that we are an inclusive group and as long as you follow our loose and soon to be finalized guidelines, you will be able to put shows you make on the Belfast Cable Channel 2, which is currently black, or rather, grey and fuzzy. We hope to be up and running by May 1!

Pie & Story Festival Video to be Debut Show on BCTV

2006-03-09T15:28:00.000-05:00

Jennifer Armstrong leads the fun in the 2005 Waldo County Pie & Story video produced by Insight Productions for the Belfast Institute of Lifelong Learning. Featured performers include Gussy Vaughn, of Belfast, and Michael Cooney, of Friendship. Plus the Pie & Story Band performs.

Tips for better Video interviews

2006-03-05T19:42:00.000-05:00

When selecting the setting for an interview try to choose a location that gives a sense of where you are. Don't hesitate to rearrange the background to eliminate distracting elements. Avoid having it appear as if a background element is growing out of the subject's head. The subject should be the brightest part of the picture, so avoid bright windows and lights in the background. If this is unavoidable, you will have to utilize the camcorder's backlight control or manual iris adjustment.

Before recording listen to the sound. Sometimes turning off a blower, closing a door or turning off a radio can make a big difference in the recording. Also set your audio level on your camcorder (if you have manual adjustment) by having the talent converse rather than saying "testing 1,2,3". Record a little "room tone". This comes in handy when you want to lift "ahs and you knows" from an interview you are editing.

When positioning your subject especially if it is a two person interview, have the main subject face somewhat toward the camera, so you don't end up with profile or "ear shots". Get the "talent" to stand closer to one another than they would in non-TV situations. Space between people seems to be accentuated in video.

Whenever possible, use a tripod. It is very difficult to hand hold a camcorder steadily enough so that false motion does not call attention to itself. If you must hand hold the camera, get in close to the subject and use whatever you can to brace yourself and shoot wide, and fill the frame with your subject. This minimizes any camera unsteadiness.

Do not rely on automatic focus as it is easily fooled by glass, water surfaces, brightly lit background walls, and objects that are momentarily closer to the camcorder. Instead use the manual focus setting and whenever possible before
recording each shot, zoom all the way in (extreme close-up), adjust the focus, then zoom back out. By performing this "hyper-focus", the subject will remain in focus at both tight and wide zoom settings. Automatic focus may be appropriate however on occasions when the action is so fast and furious that you cannot focus manually quickly enough.

Keep live zooms, pans, and tilts to a minimum especially, if you are not practiced enough to do them smoothly. Never let the camera call attention to itself. No "zip" motions -- let any motion whether a pan, zoom, or tilt be at least 3 seconds in length following which the camera is steady again for at least 3 seconds. Avoid, especially, "broken" zooms where you zoom in or out, stop, zoom some more, stop, zoom some more, etc.

Compose your video frame by mentally dividing the frame into thirds. A good rule of thumb is to place the subject's eyes one-third of the way down from the top of the screen. If the subject is facing left or right, give him/her some extra nose or lead room. Keep in mind that many televisions overscan and may not show as much of the scene as you see in your viewfinder or monitor. Leave about a 20% safe area around your subject. Avoid cutting off the subject at the ankles, knees, waist, chin, etc.

If you will be later editing the tape, shoot some extra footage of the overall scene (establishing shots), reverse angles of the interviewer nodding or an over the shoulder shot so you can't tell what the interviewee is saying. These shots can be insert edited to cover jump cuts, poor pans/zooms, and to use as bridges from one scene to the next. If you must pause recording in an interview situation, you can avoid"jump cuts" by zooming or changing the camera angle, then resuming recording.

Tips were developed by Bill Severance and Ned Lightner

Program Standards

2006-03-02T06:42:00.000-05:00

In order to make certain that the programs shown on our channel do not create problems for viewers, and do not drive viewers away from our channel, BCTV requires that shows meet basic standards. We are making an effort to use non-technical terms, but if anything is unclear, please let us know and we will try to clarify.
We utilize an automated playback system, so in some ways it is more important to provide a decent sound and picture signal to us than to a broadcast station which usually has a master control operator who is able to make subtle adjustments to sound and picture.

Some Definitions:
Cablecast: BCTV programs are transmitted via cable to viewers homes, so they are not broadcast or aired, though we will understand what you mean when you use those terms
Media: In the larger sense it means forms of mass communication, but for the purposes of this posting, it is the format that the programming is provided to us. Rather than saying video tapes or DVD, we simply will say media

Sound Standards: We cablecast a mono signal, and stereo or surround sound signals will be combined to create a mono signal. Since we can’t adjust the volume on videos, you should have even and not too, loud or quiet a signal. We don’t want viewers to have to turn their TV up or down whenever they turn to us . We also ask that you listen to your program and make sure there are no weird buzzes and background hums to drive the viewers nuts. If you can’t hear the person clearly who is speaking or the mix is poor, it probably will annoy viewers, however we will not keep your program from airing, we may however not provide multiple plays.

Video Standards: We are a standard definition, NTSC facility, which is “ordinary American television”. We are able to show S-VHS, and VHS tapes. We also can play several formats of DVDs, including DVD-R and DVD+R. Our simple playback system however is only able to play a DVD, so if there are various chapters that must be accessed, our system can’t handle it. Basically when you load your DVD in a playback deck and hit play, the program should start playing. We also suggest that you do not use adhesive lables to label DVDs. Either write directly on the DVD or use inkjet printable DVDs

Programming requirements: We use a basic timing device to automatically play your program. You will need to provide us with accurate timing information. The interval from the beginning or “head” of the tape or DVD to when the program begins is known as the preroll time: We suggest 10 seconds, and a black screen is better than a slate or countdown. We also need to know how long the actual program is to the second, not including the pre-roll. We prefer that you have at least 30 seconds of signal at the end of a program. Usually one puts contact and or copyright information as the last image. We require that programs at a minimum have presenter contact information at the end of a program, but we encourage you to also have that information at the beginning of your program as well.

Providing us with programming: Let us know at least a week and preferably a month ahead of time, that you will provide us with a program. Advance notice allows us to properly schedule your program
. If you leave us contact information, we will try to contact you with show times. Once we provide you with the show times, we invite you to create a promotional announcement to air on our bulletin board, which may be emailed to us.
You can either bring your program media to the station or mail it to us. The media should be in a case and both the case and media should be clearly labeled with the following information.
Presenter:
Contact number and/or email:
Program Title:
Program Length:
Pre-roll time:
You will need to provide us with a self-addressed and postage paid envelope, if you would like us to mail the program back to you once it has aired. Otherwise you will have to arrange to pick up the program within 90 days.

BCTV Goes Interactive

2006-02-18T12:56:00.000-05:00

Our motto at Belfast Community TV: TV's to appear on, not peer at!