Public Access Blues

Richard T. Anderson posted on April 26, 2007 - 4:44pm 3 comments

Well there was a lot of deliberation about me going to a conference around here. But finally it was decided that I would be going to the ACM 2007 International Conference & Trade Show.

But things have changed. And it's all thanks to that lovely bit of legistlation that SBC/AT&T pushed down Michigan's throat a few months back.

While Comcast did agree to maintain it's contract with the CMC, they also took advantage of the loop hole in under the new laws which allows them to change the payment schedule. So the francise fees (over $150,000) that the CMC usually gets in April will not be coming until August. Thus all expenitures must be cut back to the bone.

So, I will not be attending the ACM conference. Nor will anyone at the Media Center be doing so including Laurie, our director, who was scheduled to speak there.

That's the way the Public Access cookie crumbles.

I don't think I'm going to be presenting the Media Center with any new program ideas. Not unless my idea is a money maker. And charging for services would kind of defeat the point. *shrug*

It's a tough time to be in this business.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Later,

Rich

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lauren bratslavsky commented on May 1, 2007 - 11:33am

Oh Rich- that's awful. Ohio may go done the path of Michigan. Too bad no one is going, the Grand Rapids CMC seems like one of the best in the country. Are you considering going to the Allied Media Conference in Detroit? (Finally, a media conference in the mid-west). Good luck with the youth media business.

danielle martin commented on May 1, 2007 - 2:28pm

Hey Rich,

That major stinks! I definitely feel the pain as we tried to outreach to public access stations to get VISTAs and they just can't do it. And I also know quite a few folks trying to convice PEG access stations to do more stuff digitally and they just can't imagine it. I actually sat in at a conference at MIT a few months ago where someone (a person NOT from the public access world) suggested that public access stations should accept their fate and come up with an "exit strategy" of moving to all online endeavors. It's a really hard fight to talk to folks about too - I mean, many people see public access as a bunch of Wayne's World like content that they don't care about.

ug.

-Danielle

cheryl jerozal commented on May 2, 2007 - 12:37am

maybe you could go to this conference: Communities and Technologies Conference

it's not too far away from you and maybe you could convince them you should qualify as a student so you could be a student volunteer

Richard T. Anderson's Recent Field Reports

Public Access Blues

Richard T. Anderson posted on April 26, 2007 - 4:44pm 3 comments

Well there was a lot of deliberation about me going to a conference around here. But finally it was decided that I would be going to the ACM 2007 International Conference & Trade Show. But things have changed. And it's all thanks to that lovely bit of legistlation that SBC/AT&T pushed down Michigan's throat a few months back. …read more

Mean what I say

Richard T. Anderson posted on February 20, 2007 - 6:24pm 5 comments

There is an issue that I have found interesting since I first discovered it in one of my communication classes at Grand Valley State University. It was a realization. And the beginning of one of my disagreements with the world. It has come up twice recently with different people. So it is on my mind again. The textbook was saying that in any communication that there is an Intended message from the person creating the message (by talking, writing, making a movie, etc) and there is a Perceived message that the listener/viewer receives. And the shattering moment for me, they aren't always the same. I know it seems pretty obvious now, but i was young, right? Psychologically, I think I have a strong desire to be understood, so this revelation was kind of sad to me. Both the text and my teacher seemed to be saying that the Perceived message of the receiver WAS the message. They said that was the important component. I disagreed. My argument was and is that the Indented message IS the REAL message, if the Perceived message differs from the Intended one then the perception is incorrect. That doesn't mean I blame the receiver of the message for getting it wrong. Many messages are poorly communicated. Or translated. During the Cold War Nikita Khrushchev was quoted in the west as saying, "We will bury you." What he was saying in the context of his culture and society was, "We will out last you." But in the west the implications of the word 'bury', made it seem like a threatening statement. No one can blame the already scared masses for the misunderstanding. Yet, the message that Mr. Khrushchev intended is still THE actual message in my book, even if the whole world misunderstood. …read more

VISTA's working together

Richard T. Anderson posted on January 8, 2007 - 1:47pm 4 comments

This past week I took some time off and went to visit my friends, Darrin and Courtney in Cincinnati Ohio. Before I left I let Lauren Bratslavsky at Media Bridges know that I'd be in town., so that we could possibly get together. After a few emails and phone calls Lauren and I decided to meet Friday at Media Bridges at 12:30. I walked in and really liked the building. It's one of these refurbished old buildings and just has a neat look. Lauren met me and showed me around. …read more

AT&T is after me.

Richard T. Anderson posted on December 13, 2006 - 5:44pm 1 comment

Well, we are really facing some nasty stuff in Michigan. Here's the scoop. Yesterday the MI senate passed HB6456 (S-2). It is a bill that AT&T wants passed. They say it will create competition for your cable dollars and that prices will go down. Many of you know this stuff, but here it goes. Here's the big deal. Franchise Fees. It was determined long ago by the government that 'We the People' own the airwaves. That's why you bought a radio or TV and that was it. You hooked it up to an antena and you recieved programming free of charge. The programming was paid for by advertisers. …read more