Greenfield Community Television

GCTV's New Website is Live!

2011-09-09T12:42:00.001-04:00

Head on over to gctv.org to take a look.

Saying Goodbye to Blogger

2011-09-02T11:46:00.000-04:00

This will be our last weekly wrap-up post on this blog because next week we'll be launching our new website. Though we loved using Blogger to write these weekly updates for our community, one benefit of our new site is a blogging feature. From here on out, you can check gctv.org on Fridays to find out what we've been up to---simply click on the blog link near the top of our homepage. We won't take down this blog, however, so if you're feeling nostalgic you can always come back here and read our older posts.

This week we were very busy helping to disseminate information about storm damage, putting the finishing touches on our new site, planning for the Franklin County Fair Parade, and assisting a multitude of producers with their shows.

As you can imagine, our producers were busy too. The highlight of the week was when Dave Roulston, host of "Franklin County Matters", interviewed 2nd Berkshire District State Representative Paul Mark. You'll be able to watch that interview on Cable Channel 15 soon and we took advantage of Representative Mark being in our studio to get his thoughts on redistricting (check out the story on our homepage for more). Other new shows to look for soon include episodes of "Reading Shakespeare" (Tom Roulston takes on the Scottish play) and two classes from the Greenfield YMCA.

That's it for now, make sure to check out our new website next week (the launch is set to coincide with the fair parade on Thursday but we'll announce it on our Facebook Page, and in the local forums we post to, when it's up) and let us know what you think about it.

Greenfield's Water Pollution Control Plant

2011-08-31T13:24:00.006-04:00

Last night, Greenfield's Department of Public Works Director, Sandy Shields, sent out this press release concerning the flood ravaged water pollution control plant. It's important to note that this plant has been separated from the town's water supply and our drinking water is completely safe.

PRESS RELEASE:
By 7:00 am 8/30/11 the flood water had receded from around the Town’s Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) on Deerfield Street to levels that allowed operators to return to the main building to begin restoration of the extensively damaged facility. The facility contains four stories. It was designed to withstand 100 yr flood levels of 140 ft above sea level. The level after Sunday’s storm was 142.5 ft. The bottom two stories, which contain the major pumping equipment were inundated and over 30 inches of flood water was on the main floor of the building. This floor houses the process control center, laboratory, offices etc.

Upon entry the operators immediately began restoration of most essential infrastructure. Power has been restored to selected areas of the facility as safety allowed. By noon Tuesday a bar screen which removes rags, large debris, feminine hygiene products etc, was functioning and two primary settling tanks were back on line. All of this equipment had been completely submerged in the flood. Also by noon, sodium hypochlorite (chlorine) was being applied to flow entering the plant. This is a very significant accomplishment since the chlorine is a disinfectant that will greatly decrease bacterial levels in the water entering the Green and Deerfield Rivers. This level of treatment is referred to as “primary treatment” which removes 50-60% of incoming pollutants. Full secondary treatment will take up to eight weeks because of the extensive damage to the main building.

The other major accomplishment was that MEMA brought in a pump with a 6” suction line that removed most of the flood water from the bottom two floors of the building. This will allow access for restoration work to continue.
END OF PRESS RELEASE

The DPW kindly provided us with these photos, taken by Facilities Superintendent Chris Bassett, of the flooded plant:

By the way, we're putting together a short piece about our local water supply to help everyone understand exactly where our water comes from and what does, and does not, affect it. Look for that video on our homepage either Friday or Monday.

Greenfield's Drinking Water IS SAFE

2011-08-29T18:59:00.002-04:00

This press release just came in from DPW Director Sandy Shields:

The Town has been receiving many calls regarding the safety of the town’s drinking water in light of the recent flooding.

THE QUALITY OF THE TOWN’S DRINKING WATER HAS IN NO WAY BEEN COMPROMISED BY THE FLOOD.

The tap water is completely safe for drinking. Currently water is being supplied to the town from the Mill Brook well field which is in the northeast section of town and was not impacted by the flooding.

The Green River dam suffered extensive damage in the flood. That water supply annually supplies approximately 25% of the town’s drinking water. Barring a severe drought, the two other water sources, the Leyden Glen reservoir and the well field will be able to meet the town’s supply needs until the dam is repaired.

Soft Reveal of Website Going Well

2011-08-26T13:35:00.000-04:00

So far the feedback we've been getting about our new website has been positive. The producers and board members who've been testing it out like the design and content. Hopefully, over the weekend, more of them will try creating new user accounts and posting on our forums. (Yup! We're going to have new functionality on the site.) Next week will be all about tweaking the site before our public launch the week of the Franklin County Fair Parade. We'll be telling you more about that grand reveal in next week's blog post.

When we're not working on the new site, we're busy getting ready to film the Franklin County Fair Parade, which is coming up on Thursday, September 8th, at 5pm. If you can't get a good spot on Main Street, from which to watch the parade, don't worry. We'll be broadcasting it live on Cable Channel 15. Keep checking gctv.org for more information on the parade, and the fair itself, because we'll be doing some news stories on it over the next two weeks.

Government Meetings & New Website

2011-08-19T15:56:00.007-04:00

We had a large audience for Wednesday night's Greenfield Town Council Meeting. Residents gathered to watch their councilors debate changes to the solar farm contract, disposition of the town farm, repairs to the middle school roof, and funding for additional student transportation. You can watch the whole meeting for yourself tonight at midnight on Cable Channel 15 or look for it as part of our Video on Demand Player early next week.

The Greenfield School Committee has changed their meetings from the 2nd & 4th Thursdays of each month to the 1st & 3rd Thursdays so we recorded their short meeting at the high school this week and there won't be a meeting on the 25th. You can watch the latest session on Cable Channel 15 tomorrow at 1pm and again at midnight on the 24th. It will also be available as part of our Video on Demand Player early next week.

Finally, our new website is getting closer to launch. We'll be doing a soft reveal of it to our board members and some of our producers next week and we've planned the grand opening to coincide with the Franklin County Fair Parade on September 8th. We'll be telling you more about all of that in next week's blog post so be sure to check back.

Family Week at GCTV

2011-08-12T16:20:00.006-04:00

On Monday morning, "The Dukes of Sports" host Russ Brown brought his father and grandchild with him to the studio for a taping. Russ' dad made a wonderful guest commentator while his grandchild finally got a chance to see where grampa makes his tv show. The staff, meanwhile, appreciated the chance to meet some of Russ' family.

Thursday morning's "Local Bias" shoot was also a family affair in a way. Dr. Andrew Blais interviewed Paul Richmond---a local writer, poet, publisher, and activist. Paul also happens to be the host of "Imagine" on WMCB 107.9-lp FM. You'll be able to see their conversation on Cable Channel 15 within the next two weeks.

Airing on GCTV now are two interesting pieces of programming that came from local government events held Tuesday evening and Friday morning. Our Station Manager recorded the Special Greenfield Town Council Meeting (in which the councilors discussed upcoming repair work on the middle school roof) on his way home on Tuesday and our New Media Producer came in early on Friday to attend the swearing in ceremony of Greenfield's new "Special Police Officer". Both of these videos can also be viewed on our homepage.

While our New Media Producer was at town hall, the rest of the staff was assisting the Greenfield YMCA as they recorded two new shows in our studio. Keep an eye out for them during the coming months.

Weekly Wrap Up

2011-08-05T11:06:00.006-04:00

Even though our Station Manager was on vacation, and we had some beautiful weather, we managed to behave ourselves this week and get a lot done. Though no shows ended up being recorded in our studio, a lot of field equipment was signed out and ten programs were worked on in our editing suites. In addition, the staff produced a news story for our website each day. If you missed them, be sure to check out our homepage for the most recent pieces and the "Community Coverage" playlist in our Video on Demand Player for the rest.

Looking forward to next week, we thought we'd highlight a couple of events for you:

On Monday night, the Reggae group "Rebelle" will be in our studio for a live performance on "Valley Homegrown". The show is free and open to the public so come on down and have a good time. ("Valley Homegrown" goes live on Cable Channel 15 at 7pm so we recommend getting there around 6:45pm.)

At 6pm on Tuesday night, the Greenfield Town Council will be holding a short, special, meeting at the Greenfield Police Department. This meeting is being held in order to do a First Reading on the order to appropriate $175,000 for the repair of the Greenfield Middle School Roof.

That's all for this week folks. Have a great weekend!

Combating Underage Drinking

2011-07-29T12:06:00.007-04:00

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

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

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

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

Ta Dah!

2011-07-22T11:41:00.014-04:00

As promised, here are some before & after shots of last week's office renovations. We're not quite done, our station manager and a volunteer will soon be installing sound panels to help limit echoing in the studio, but the new carpet looks and feels great. We also have new curtains in the tv studio (black-standard, blue-for special effects blue/greenscreen work), and red-for variety) and we'll be moving the live radio studio into the new recording space in the back room while moving the pre-production computers into the smaller space the live studio now occupies. The staff worked really hard on these facility improvements, doing all the moving, demolition, and painting themselves. The only thing they couldn't do was the carpet. These pictures really don't do the renovation, and the need for it, justice. If you want to see more, stop by for a visit.

Our entry way before the renovations, as we were in the process of clearing things out:

A close up of the rug and 20 year old carpet. Note the circled rip, there were more like that in other parts of the office.

The new entry way!

The studio before (with the old town council set that was falling apart):

The studio wall after:

The renovations also allowed us to move some staffers around to better workspaces and different duties. Our new media producer now has her own office, formerly the copy room, so that she can concentrate on getting our new website up and running and expanding our web presence. By the way, the new website is coming along nicely with a lot of content added and a second training attended by both our new media producer and our station manager.

Philippe has taken over the receptionist duties which gives him the front desk and his own computer. If you need to schedule something, this is the guy to see!

The back room will now be able to serve its intended functions as conference room, break area, and supply & copy room.

In other news, we'd like to welcome a new, part-time, staff member to our ranks. Elijah Rottenberg, who's been volunteering on "Valley Homegrown" and producing content for us for years, has come on board to assist producers and you'll find him in the office three days a week if you need help.

Finally, we'd like to let you know that our July board meeting has been cancelled.

A Week of Renovations

2011-07-15T10:00:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

Progress

2011-07-08T10:34:00.008-04:00

It's been a busy week for coverage of local events. We met our goal of putting up a new story on our homepage each day and some of our b-roll may have been featured this morning on WWLP's "MassAppeal". As a result of our coverage of the upcoming Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society's "Rescue Me" fundraiser, chef Mike Collins and artist Tony Palumbo took a DVD of our footage with them when they drove to Springfield to be interviewed. If you missed this, or any of the stories on our homepage this week, be sure to click on over and find out more about the great things that are going on in our community.

Lots of great things are happening here as well. Our computers were kept busy all week as eight producers edited a variety projects in addition to our staff working extra hard to prepare for not having access to much of our equipment next week while the new rugs are being installed and walls are repainted. (Don't forget, this means that our office will be closed Tuesday 7/12 through Friday 7/15 and we will begin to shut some things down on Monday 7/11.) In addition, our Station Manager and New Media Producer went for training related to our new website.

For those of you who haven't heard yet, we are in the process of upgrading our website and transitioning to Drupal instead of continuing with Dreamweaver. If you aren't familiar with those systems for creating and maintaining websites, not to worry. All you need to know is that working with Drupal will make our site easier to use, provide more interactive opportunities for producers and viewers, and increase our staff's efficiency.

We hope you'll get a chance to experience these positive changes in the near future and, if you read this blog regularly, we'll keep you up to date.

Politics, Fireworks, Rain Plans, & News

2011-07-01T10:28:00.008-04:00

At Noon today the folks who were elected/re-elected to the Greenfield Town Council, school committee, and various trustee positions will be sworn into office during a ceremony on the town common. Our station manager will be there so that we can bring you the event in its entirety next week. If it rains, though the forecast says it won't, the swearing in will take place in our studio at 393 Main Street, 3rd. Floor.

Immediately following the ceremony, the council and school committee will hold reorganizational meetings to choose their leadership for the coming year. The meetings will take place on the 2nd floor of town hall, in the meeting room, unless it rains. In that case, they too will occur in our studio.

Rain plans have also been made for Greenfield's annual fireworks display on Saturday night. In the event of rain, the celebration will be moved to Sunday. If you want more info. on the festivities, check out the first short piece that our new part-time staffer Ian created for our website. You'll find it at the top of the homepage, simply click on the "Fourth of July" tab.

Another addition to our personnel roster also produced his first news story this week. Please join us in congratulating new intern Dan for his interviews with college students participating in a New England Climate Summer bicycling tour. You can check out his work on our homepage as well.

Finally, we'd like to remind you about two upcoming office closures. We'll be off on Monday, July 4th, for the Independence Day holiday and we'll be closed Tuesday through Friday of the following week for renovations. From July 12th to July 15th new carpeting will be installed throughout the facility while our staff cleans, organizes, and paints. Those of you familiar with the condition of our floors know that this is a very good thing. In addition, all of these improvements will help to free up more space for producers to work in and increase efficiency.

Projects in the Works

2011-06-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

Just a few quick updates:

*Greenfield's Local Cultural Council met in our studio on Tuesday night to discuss the allocation of grants to local artists and non-profit organizations. We recorded the meeting and will be airing it soon.

*"Local Bias" filmed a new episode yesterday morning; keep an eye out for it to begin running on Cable Channel 15 on Wednesday at 5:30PM.

*DIAL/SELF, which provides youth & community services, has been editing several programs over the last couple of weeks and plans to have them completed very soon.

*Finally, there will be no GCTV board meeting this month.

Your Government at Work

2011-06-22T14:35:00.002-04:00

Covering last week's town election involved a great behind the scenes effort by GCTV staff and volunteers. In order to keep you informed about the process and---of course---the results, many people contributed their time and enthusiasm. Staff members collected b-roll and interviews with the candidates outside the polling location in the morning, Joe Gochinski and Drew Hutchison provided live commentary about the races and their outcomes on cable channel 15 that night, Joe's dad called the station with vote totals, and our website announced even the winner of the write-in contest in Precinct 1 before 10pm. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who participated in the process and our coverage of it.

The newly elected town councilors won't be sworn in until next month but there was still business to be done at the last meeting of the current council, held on Wednesday, June 15th. If you didn't watch this meeting live, you missed an interesting debate about how government works. In addition, some charter/ordinance changes were approved along with some fiscal appropriations. You can see all this for yourself by watching it as part of our Video on Demand Player, in the "Local Government" category.

Thunderstorms

2011-06-10T10:55:00.005-04:00

Another week of wild weather created some interesting situations for us.

On Thursday afternoon our new media producer headed down to 18 Miner Street for the grand opening of the combined Massachusetts RMV office and Franklin County Visitors Center. (You can find out more about this by checking out the story on our homepage.) As that outdoor shoot came to an end, participants heard loud claps of thunder and began to see lightning cross the sky. Seconds after the equipment was safely stowed inside our staff member's vehicle, the deluge commenced. Whew! Good timing.

The timing of the storm was, unfortunately, not so good for filming the school committee meeting. As the thunderstorm moved across town it took out power to Greenfield High School while our station manager was attempting to set up. The school committee did end up convening a short meeting, which we filmed with one camera on battery power, in a trailer that had emergency lighting and we'll be posting that to our Video on Demand Player next week.

Finally, the storm also took out the transmitter for WMCB 107.9-lp FM. Our station manager is working frantically to restore the signal and we'll keep you posted.

Budgets, Politics, The Environment, & Shakespeare

2011-06-03T11:22:00.005-04:00

Seven shoots took place in our studio this week beginning on Tuesday with Berkshire Middle District Register of Deeds, and former State Senator, Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr. sitting down with Joe Gochinski on the set of "The Western Mass Democrat" for a lively conversation. Immediately following their taping, the studio was prepped for that evening's live Ways & Means Committee meeting. The meeting went quite late as the councilors learned all they could about the budgets for the Franklin County Technical School and the Greenfield Public School System.

The following evening the committee wrapped up their sessions, spending three hours deliberating and making recommendations to the full council. Earlier that day, the crew of "We are the Ones" took some time to record a special anti-nuclear power roundtable discussion that will air on Cable Channel 15 sometime this summer.

On Thursday and Friday, actor and director Tom Roulston played to our cameras once again in order to begin recording "Macbeth" for his new series "Reading Shakespeare". We expect Tom's performance this morning to be followed by a "The Western Mass Democrat" interview this afternoon to finish out our busy week of shoots.

Two final notes:

The Greenfield Town Council will be voting on the town's 2012 Operating Budget when they meet at 6PM on Wednesday, June 8th. You can catch up on the budget process by watching the Ways & Means Committee Budget Hearings on our Video on Demand Player, in the "Local Government" Category.

Greenfield's Town Election will be June 14th and Massachusetts' legislative re-districting process is ongoing. Find out more about both of these by checking out the stories and links on our homepage.

Local Bias Hits Milestone

2011-05-27T12:29:00.009-04:00

Congratulations go out to Drew Hutchison, Dr. Andrew Blais, and their crew for recording the 100th episode of "Local Bias". Yesterday morning, Greenfield Town Councilor David Singer joined Dr. Blais in our studio to tape that episode which features a wide-ranging discussion of local politics. You can check it out for yourself when it begins its two week run on Cable Channel 15 at 5:30pm on Wednesday.

In other news, we'd like to remind you of three important election related items. The first is that the Town of Greenfield General Election Debate 2011 from Wednesday night is now available to watch online here: http://www.gctv.org/Debate052511.html. Watch it and see for yourself where the candidates stand on the issues. Second, if you need help getting to the polls on June 14th, be sure to consult the schedule of available rides on our Local Elections page. Finally, if you want to weigh in on where the lines will be drawn for our state's new political districts, make sure to attend the next Public Hearing of the Special Committee on Redistricting this coming Tuesday, May 31st, at Greenfield Community College's Sloan Theater beginning at 6 p.m. State Senator Stan Rosenberg and State Representative Stephen Kulik will be among the local lawmakers there to discuss this issue.

News & Notes

2011-05-20T13:45:00.004-04:00

Greenfield's Town Election will be June 14th and our candidate information page is now live on gctv.org. Click on over to find out who the candidates are and how they plan to work hard for the town by checking out pictures, bios, and video statements from them. For those of you who have asked us about debates, between the two candidates for councilor at large and between the three candidates running for school committee, one will take place in our studio this coming Wednesday, May 25th at 7pm. It is open to the public so come on down!

In other news---another new, locally-produced, show is joining our lineup. We promised you last week that we'd tell you more about how Shakespeare's plays will be gracing our airwaves. Life-long thespian, and active producer, Tom Roulston's new program "Reading Shakespeare" premieres at 5PM on Friday, May 27th, with a dramatic reading of "As You Like It". Over the course of the series Tom will read the bard's famous plays, an act or two at a time, while the script scrolls down one side of the screen.

Last week we also shared with you the fact that we would be saying goodbye to our part-time production assistant Otis Wheeler. We are happy to report that we will be welcoming his capable replacement, Ian Bauer, next week. Ian will be working three days a week helping producers with their projects.

Finally, a sad note about one of the FreeSpeech TV productions that we've been airing; the folks at "Grit TV" have stopped producing a daily news program. You can watch host Laura Flanders' goodbye message to fans by visiting this link: http://grittv.org/?p=16029.

Weekly Round Up Potpurri

2011-05-13T13:05:00.005-04:00

Another new, locally produced, show has been added to our lineup! “Tom & Kat” will debut on Monday, at 10:30AM, with “The Velveteen Rabbit”. This fun program featuring beloved children’s stories will also air on Tuesdays at 4PM. In addition, lovers of classic literature can look forward to Shakespeare on Cable Channel 15---but we’ll share more about that in a future blog post.

Our big event this week was, of course, hosting the Greenfield Kiwanis Club’s annual auction on Wednesday and Thursday. The event was a big success and everyone involved had a lot of fun. Big thanks go out to everyone who participated.

We have another big event coming up in two weeks in which we hope you’ll also participate. On Wednesday, May 25th, the candidates running in Greenfield’s Town Election on June 14th will all meet in our studio to participate in a forum and debate produced by Barbara Tillmanns. The two candidates vying for Town Councilor At Large (Cameron Ward & Mark Wisnewski), and the three people contesting for the two available school committee seats (Maryelen Calderwood, Daryl Essensa, & Keith McCormic), will answer questions from a distinguished panel of current & former local officials. The candidates who are running unopposed have been given the opportunity to address the public during this event as well. The program is scheduled to begin at 6:30PM and you are welcome to join us in the studio or to watch from the comfort of your own home. We'll also post it online within 48 hours and you'll be able to get to it from our election webpage. That page will go live on Tuesday, May 17th and will be a great resource for all your election needs. We'll post more details about that site next week.

In other political news, Roxann Wedegartner of the Greenfield Planning board sat down with Dr. Andrew Blais on Thursday to tape an episode of "Local Bias". Following up on last week's episode, with reasonable growth proponent Al Norman, this show takes a look at the proposed development on French King Highway from the other perspective. It will begin airing on Wednesday at 5:30PM.

Finally, we'd like to share a message with you from part-time Production Assistant Otis Wheeler: "Hey, folks! I hate to say it but I'm leaving again; it wasn't an easy decision but after thinking about it long and hard, I realized that I was spreading myself too thin, so I'm choosing to concentrate my energies on my primary occupation—Operations Manager at Bernardston-Northfield Community Television—and to make time for projects that I have in the works, such as producing and directing a film set in Greenfield, and editing a documentary on the pacifism of Mohandas Gandhi. I'll miss the friendly atmosphere of GCTV, and all the friendly faces, but I'll be sure to stop by regularly!" We'll miss Otis a lot but we wish him well. His last day as a GCTV Staffer will be Thursday, May 19th.

Announcements, Announcements, Announcements!

2011-05-09T12:00:00.005-04:00

A new show has been added to our schedule at the request of Greenfield’s Veterans' Services Officer Charles Loven. “Sound Off” is being produced by veterans, for veterans, and about veterans at NewTV (Public Access TV for Newton, MA). It’s a great way to keep up with what our state is doing to support the men and women who put their lives on the line to keep us safe. The first half of each show will have an expert who is familiar with issues, events, and benefits that pertain to veterans and their dependents. The second half of the program will showcase a veteran and/or an individual who helps veterans. This monthly show airs at 2pm on Thursdays.

It’s budget time again in Greenfield and that means meetings, meetings, and more meetings. We’ll be recording the first Ways & Means committee budget meeting of the season at the Police Department on Wednesday night while the Kiwanis Auction is live on Cable Channel 15. Then, next week (Wed. 5/18), we’ll need some help (3 people would be great!) filming the Town Council Meeting in our studio. Please email Alicia@gctv.org if you would like to run a camera, operate the soundboard or direct. We’ll make every effort to keep you informed as the budget process moves along so check our schedule for a list of meeting dates and watch our Video on Demand Player, the “Local Government” category, for all of them.

Kiwanis Auction Wednesday & Thursday, May 11th & 12th, from 7pm to 10pm on Cable Channel 15! This great fundraiser benefits the children of Franklin County and is really easy to participate in. Watch the items get described and shown off on TV and call 413-774-2002 with your bid. To obtain an auction brochure with more information about the bidding process and the items up for bid check out the Greenfield Kiwanis' page on Facebook.

Last chance for Lost & Found! If you think you’ve left anything in our office or studio over the past six months or so, this week would be a good time to check the box behind Alicia’s desk and claim your lost property. The box is overflowing once again and will be emptied this Friday, May 13th, its contents donated to the Salvation Army.

Locally Focused Producers

2011-04-29T16:47:00.003-04:00

Our studio and editing suites were kept busy this week, and last, with a variety of projects. In addition, much of our equipment was in use shooting area events. Here's a sampling of what's been going on:

*"Storytime with Tom & Kat"---The first episode of this new show for children, featuring a human and a puppet reading classic stories, was completed on Monday. Look for it to begin airing in a regular timeslot on Cable Channel 15 soon.

*"As You Write It"---Writers from the Montague Senior Center shared their work at the Greenfield Public Library on April 16th and one of our independent producers recorded it all. Check our TV schedule sometime next week to find out when this will air.

*If you haven't yet checked out the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Luncheon that we filmed on Earth Day, be sure to click on over to our Video on Demand Player. You'll find this very interesting lecture about green approaches to business, by Pulitzer Prize Nominee Daniel Goleman, in our "Special Features" category.

*The folks from "Healthbeat" and "Local Bias" both completed new shows this week. "Nurses' Week & Exercising" will begin airing on Monday at 6PM and Al Norman's discussion with Dr. Andrew Blais will start on Wednesday at 5:30PM.

*Local musician Laura Siersema also came in this week to edit one of her recent performances for air. If you weren't able to drive to Manchester (CT), to see her at The Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center, be sure to keep an eye out for this 45 minute video of her with Billy Klock on drums and Wim Auer on fretless bass.

*Thursday night was a busy one around town. While our staff was filming the school committee meeting, volunteers were recording a Greening Greenfield Energy Committee presentation and the annual Poet's Seat Poetry Contest.

*National Prescription Drug Take Back Day---Don't forget to bring your old medications (pills only, no liquids) to a drop off site tomorrow! From 10am to 2pm you can stop by the parking lot at the Franklin Jail and get rid of them safely and free of charge. We'll be there in the morning getting b-roll and doing interviews in preparation for a story on our website on Monday and in anticipation of promos for 2012.

All of this content will be shown on Cable Channel 15 in the near future and much of it will also be available on our website. In addition, there are programs in the works that didn't make it into this post so tune in and stay informed about your local community.

Make Your Voice Heard!

2011-04-19T13:52:00.003-04:00

Please remember to vote in today's preliminary election for Greenfield Town Councilor At Large. If you need more information on the process or the candidates, be sure to check out our election page before you head to the polls.

Don't forget, we'll post the results on our website after 8:30pm!

Potpurri

2011-04-15T17:25:00.010-04:00

Whew! Another busy week here is coming to a close and we have several interesting and informative things to tell you about, along with some visual aids.

First up, a couple of schedule changes. A new show has been added to our lineup: "Creating Cooperative Kids", which is produced in Enfield, CT but was requested by a Greenfield resident, aims to be a useful tool for parents. It will begin airing this weekend with time slots on Saturday at 9AM and Wednesday at 2PM. Those of you who regularly watch our Saturday morning lineup may wonder how "Creating Cooperative Kids" can air at 9AM because "NASA SciFiles" has been airing at that time. Because NASA is no longer producing "SciFiles", "NASA Connect", or "Destination Tomorrow", we've decided to follow their lead and focus on televising their new venture, "NASA 360". Taking the old shows out of the picture on Saturday morning enables "NASA 360" to move to 8:30AM and "Student News" to go to 10AM. We think you'll enjoy this streamlined version of Saturday morning programming so be sure to check it out on Cable Channel 15 this weekend.

Next, please don't forget to vote on Tuesday. If you don't know who the candidates are, or feel like you need more information about them, be sure to check out our election page. Also, make sure to check our website on Tuesday night, after 8:30pm, for election results. If you missed the debate that was held in our studio, on the 12th, you can watch it as part of our Video on Demand Player (in the "Elections 2011" category). In the meantime, here are a few pics from that event.

The three candidates (Left to Right):
Karen Renaud, Cameron Ward, Mark Wisnewski

Moderator Joe Judd

Finally, as part of our ongoing facility improvements, Philippe is getting a new office. In this photo you can see him hard at work in there:

Just kidding! As part of the work we're doing we needed to purchase a fireproof cabinet to store paint in. Doesn't it look spiffy?

That's it for this roundup. Have a great long weekend everyone!

No More Foolishness!

2011-04-08T17:52:00.004-04:00

After we recovered from last week's hijinks, we got right back into the swing of things.

"The Dukes of Sports" kicked things off on Monday morning with Mike Cadran assuring their fans that he wasn't going anywhere and "Valley Homegrown" finished up the day recording a show with a band called "The Demographic". "The Dukes of Sports" will air on Cable Channel 15 at Noon on Saturday and you can watch "Valley Homegrown" tonight at 9PM.

Tuesday was government day here at GCTV! Another candidate who is running in Greenfield's Town Election on June 14th came in to record their video statement and, in the afternoon, we played host to some of the folks participating in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Northwestern District Attorney Dave Sullivan was joined by Franklin County Sheriff Chris Donelan, DEA Agent Joe Karas, and Community Coalition for Teens Coordinator Kat Allen for a discussion about the details of this project. You can learn more about it by checking out the story on our homepage.

Our studio was once again in use almost all day on Wednesday. "Dance of the Hoop" shot their second episode in the morning, Mayor Martin brought in some special guests from GCC in the afternoon, and that evening one of our volunteers filmed a scene for his movie in our control room.

Things quieted down a bit on Thursday and Friday but there was still a lot of editing going on. In addition, another candidate came in to film a video statement and Joe Gochinski was joined by Springfield City Councilor Mike Fenton for an interview that will air in May.

Even as our staff kept track of all the productions going on this week, we were planning for the Preliminary Election Debate this coming Tuesday night (April 12th, 7pm, in our studio) that will feature all three of the candidates vying to replace Dan Guinn as Greenfield Town Councilor At Large. This event is open to the public so please show up and be informed.