Susan Huizenga retired into the role of volunteer Executive Director of WPAA-TV and Community Media Center fifteen years ago because any person or organization could be empowered using its tools & stage. Her community service began 45 years ago with two years in VISTA. Subsequent roles have included foster mom, President of the League of Women Voters of New Haven, Chairman of a Cable Advisory Council, Prison Chaplain’s Toy Drive Coordinator, Fantasy of Lights Holiday Team Lead, and church treasurer – all with two things in common: cherishing family and staying out of the limelight. Finally, heeding the advice of her VISTA supervisor, she agreed not to keep her light under a basket. Susan Huizenga, her friends call her Adele, will share how she came to be a C4C advocate.
Our Story Together Begins in 1971
In 1971, a few months before Ned Coll‘s ‘Free the Beaches‘ fame, the Founder of the Hartford North End Revitalization Corps was my high school commencement speaker.
I was on the speaker selection committee. In my send-off to college, My dad gave me a brick and placard. He suggested I was radicalized by Ned Coll. My Dad had more in common with the tenacious Mr. Coll than he knew. They both had a fundamental belief.
Having a home is essential to stability, which is essential to all other opportunities.
I adopted this belief as a core value.
As a business systems analyst of 30-something years, I am a fan of solutions with process improvement. The 2016 merger forming Capital For Change elevated my awareness and appreciation of what I knew about the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund (GNHCLF).
The loan fund was incorporated, in part, as a result of a two-year interfaith collaboration that supported people temporarily housed by the state in the motel near Merit Parkway Tunnel. We funded security deposits, found furnishings, and moved families into their new apartments ~ many times after cleaning them.
It was there that I met Mr. Harris and his two grandchildren. He was at the motel for 18 months. He provided Social Work Services to motel families without compensation. He had lost his home to fire. The kids lost their mother to opiates. He was relocated to Newhallville. We kept in touch. When I relocated from the Beaver Hill neighborhood in New Haven to North Branford for my growing foster family, Mr. Harris moved into my section 8-approved house.
With these stories, I am not suggesting that to be an investor in Capital For Change you need to be radical in any way. However, I believe the values of equity & solution-driven strategies are critical to the engagement of prospective C4C investors.
Investing reconnected me to housing advocacy. I will add to my investment annually until the modest return can pay for the taxes on my Wallingford home. WPAA-TV will soon make at least one more recurring loan as part of its long-term sustainability strategy for 28 S Orchard St.
I do not know if some version of C4C was operating in 2009. The property owner had agreed to hold the paper with terms of ‘no down payment, 15 yrs. for 6 percent’. A few days before our closing, the terms changed to $40,000 down and 6.5 percent interest. It felt impossible and the rationale was disturbing.
It turns out WPAA-TV would be rescued by my dad’s secret love: Violin Music. The man I excavated out of a dilapidated trailer park in Florida because to quote him ‘He only needed shelter” was a secret fan of ClassicArts TV played after midnight on WPAATV. He offered us a C4C-style solution. He loaned us the down payment at 5% interest. He suggested we do an interest-only loan for our 1st year to help with our cash flow. Within 12 years WPAA-TV was debt-free.
We, the Board of WPAA-TV, and I know the value of a good investment partner and are proud to be part of C4C’s mission as investors.
Manifest Destiny (Framing Words) 1845 | A Youth Work Project
The framing words of the westward movement in the mid-1800s ‘Manifest Destiny’ were penned by a petticoat hustler, Jane Storm. Most internet search results credit John L. O’Sullivan, an American newspaper editor.
Moses Yale Beach| Expansionist
Early in our excavation of the Moses Yale Beach story, we realized that a better understanding of the period in which he lived was critical to understanding the man, his time, and ours. We anticipated encountering stories of innovation. We still struggle with defining his Antebellum America, pre-Civil War views on “the other”. But the biggest revelation in our slo- moving discovery process is how his core motivation “prosperity” influenced the mythicizing of America’s Manifest Destiny.
Beyond his role as editor of the New York newspaper, The Sun, he literally placed himself into the expansionist story with a trip to Mexico via Cuba from Dec 1846 to April 1847. He was escorted by his 26-year-old daughter Drusilla, and the journalist, Jane McManus Storm, who was fluent in Spanish. His primary interest was in trade routes. He also financed his son William’s San Francisco Gold Rush Trading Post. Trading posts were among the most lucrative ventures of the period.
President Polk’s journal entry, “… it would be a good joke if Beach made a treaty” confirms the ‘spy’ intention of Beach and Storm to maintain peace in the region. However, Polk was committed to power, not peace, knowledge, and progress.
Origin of Manifest Destiny
An 1845 editorial published by John Louis O’Sullivan and ascribed to him, highly mythicized the American westward saga. A recent biography Mistress of Manifest Destiny: A Biography of Jane McManus Storm Cazneau, 1807-1878, by Linda S Hudson, sheds light on the myth and the woman who foresaw the entire continent including Cuba and Canada as ‘manifest’ one nation under a Christian God.
The term “manifest destiny” first appeared in the July-August 1845 issue of the Democratic Review, a publication that was no longer in print a year later. The missive argued for support of the annexation of Texas and acquisition of the Oregon territory, alluding to the fear that Great Britain intended to block American expansion west of the Mississippi. Storm wrote: “Other nations have undertaken to intrude themselves … in a spirit of hostile interference against us, for the avowed object of thwarting our policy and hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” In another short-lived O’Sullivan publication, New York Morning News, the phrase appears a year later: “…that claim is by the right of our ‘manifest destiny’ to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given to us…”
Ideas fundamental to this predestination of America’s perspective included protecting the western hemisphere from European interference and owning a proactive response to Mexico’s vulnerability to European intrigue. Underlying personal and political motivations were access to Mexico’s silver mines, agricultural potential, and transcontinental routes in the South. A significant complication was how racism fueled Manifest Destiny. In 1824, the Mexican government banned the slave trade, and in 1829, it abolished slavery. This granted Black people full citizenship and land rights
Unintended Consequences
In this period, Storm wrote forty-three columns in the New York Sun and dozens of personal letters to members of the James K. Polk administration. The ‘peace mission’ propelled her to the national stage as a public figure. Publishing in favor of a Republic of the Rio Grande, she was motivated by both civic and financial interests. Neither Beach nor Storm favored war, or the ambition and greed of war. They directly facilitated communication among Catholic Priests. Indirectly, news articles informed the public and administration. Division over Manifest Destiny— Democrats in favor, Whigs against— was the news of the day. The partisan Press ‘in association to gather war news’ was a very out-of-the-box idea. Correspondence from the Mexican-American War would be the basis for organizing the newspaper collaboration which would evolve into The Associated Press.
Storm’s providential language harkens back to what early settlers heard from the pulpit about their settling of ‘America’. Ironically, Storm’s providential language was adopted by factions with a racial doctrine of white supremacy. In policy and behavior, it involved the expropriation of Indian lands and justification for the Mexican-American War. Tragedies like the Trail of Tears were justified by claiming the support of the Creator.
Layers & Balance | Youth Media in The Public Interest
The Community Media station, WPAA-TV is a host location for a Workforce Alliance summer work program. A handful of socially or economically challenged youth are assigned to businesses for six weeks to benefit from real work experiences. For fourteen years, youth assigned to WPAA-TV acquired transferable skills related to teamwork, planning, interviewing, and letter or script writing, as well as industry-specific skills such as storytelling, camera operation, lighting, set design, and editing.
The WPAA-TV business goal is content creation of Wallingford stories that represent the mission as a media, arts, and culture organization. Each summer youth select from multiple projects with incremental skill levels. The whole team works cooperatively on a capstone project. In 2024, the production of a music video about ‘Manifest Destiny’ was introduced as a possible capstone. The business goal was to support a broader initiative: Moses Yale Beach_Revealed. Ideally, the video would touch upon several themes: the role of the penny paper in the Manifest Destiny story, the role of ‘We The People’ (all people) and extraordinary ordinary people that went west, to suggest democracy is a journey, not a destination, and to introduce a journalist who worked with Moses Yale Beach: Jane Storm. Primarily, the content was to demonstrate an updated interpretation of history from a local perspective using newly acquired media production skills.
It was a lot to ask for one of many projects in a six-week time frame. They rocked their video production skills. The complexity of this period in history is challenging.
Moving Beyond Shallow Understanding Is a Challenge
Contesting media with a confirmation, or affinity bias, has extended to how many accept history. As media educators, we suggest that “How we consume content, including history, starts with knowing what we know is fractured. Missing points of view makes history incomplete.” Exposing the potential of fracture without adding our bias to discover a more ‘whole’ truth is challenging.
In conversation, the immediate answer to the question: Can our understanding of history be changed? was ‘No’. History is history. We can not change it. However the youth team discussion concluded with, “What we know is limited to what is available in school books and found in Google searches. Yes, they did say Google not the internet.
To explore the potential to change our understanding, a team member read a familiar piece of literature. It was an Arabic version of the Lord’s Prayer. It begins: “O Cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration, soften the ground of our being…” It was foreign and familiar. From this exercise emerged an openness to new understanding from a different point of view.
Within the hour, the consensus was, “We have a shallow understanding of history”. We also confirmed the public internet readily affirms our shallow understanding. Search criteria and prompts, results improve based on what you already know. Lazy is the enemy of accuracy.
Appreciation for historians who have done a deep dive into journals, early publications, and other primary sources was manifested. Pondering how primary and secondary sources, where most new understanding of history is culled, could inform the public internet was more than the group could imagine. More consensus: It would be a good thing.
After this session, the team received an AI-generated lyric sheet. They were split into pre, production, and post-production teams. The pre-production team needed to determine the storyline. The production team would later scavenge our space for potential mid-1800 set ideas. The post-production team would search for b-roll images with keywords like ‘Indigenous’, ‘trader’, and ‘historian’. The video results were strongly influenced by the 4th of July props, development a few characters, and the idea that destiny was personal.
What Appealed to the Young Content Creators?
The beat, the fighting righting words, and the tools & stage captivated the creators.
Mastering the wall-to-floor green screen, turning random objects into sets, and stretching their imagination with choreography and camera angles brought the neophyte crew together with a common purpose. But it all started with correcting, from their perspective, the beat and rhythm in the AI version of the Manifest Destiny song. Pursing the ‘sellers prospered more than We the People’ theme led them to the story of denim, Levi Strauss, and fur trader Robert Stuart— a complete hop & skip over the lesser figure William Beach, Son of Moses Y. There was fierce competition among early 19th-century fur traders. Navigating what would become the Oregon Trail was critical to success. A connection between a props closet red, white & blue coat and the Oregon Trail metastasized into an obscure but accurate verse in the youth’s version of Manifest Destiny.
Fur coat, Robert Stuart made/He found the path that’ll get us paid/Wagon built and we moving weight/Oregon Trail, uniting states
Several very good lines landed on the cutting floor.
Enter journalist Jane, an anonymous woman, who hide her name
I called for the crusade, I gave it a name
Hustling for money and power,
Behind the lines, the body count got higher.
The man stole my lines, I write more, a witness to history
Integrating AI| A Rap Music Video
A ChatGPT prompt for a Manifest Destiny Rap provided rhyming lyrics. A comparison with middle school history books confirmed what the public internet knows and what is taught in school tracks: Dreams, timelines, and key events. The team’s instant analysis leaned into lines that required personal decisions, where “we the people” were in the story and dissatisfied with the beat.
(Verse 1)
Yo, gather ’round, listen up, it’s time for class,
Manifest Destiny, a concept from the past. (Does it have meaning today? Is it alive and well?)
In the 1800s, the vision was cast, (Role of newspapers?)
From sea to shining sea, the land was vast.
The settlers moved west, with a fervent desire,
Fueled by dreams and a pioneer fire. (What fueled the fire within?)
Louisiana Purchase, the land was acquired,
From the Mississippi River, the journey aspired. (Awkward)
Homestead Act, gave ’em land to claim,
For a little bit of work, they could stake their name.
They battled harsh winters, and the scorching sun,
Dreams of opportunity for everyone. (‘Everyone’ is not accurate.)
(Chorus)
Manifest Destiny, the westward quest,
Moving ever forward, no time to rest.
From the East Coast to the wild frontier, (What was included? Mexico?)
A new way of life, the vision was clear. (Was it clear?)
(Verse 2)
Gold rush fever, California dreams,
1849, with pickaxes and schemes. (The sellers prospered.)
They struck it rich, or so they thought,
But many found hardship, and the dreams they sought.
The Oregon Trail, it was rough and tough,
Wagons breaking down, food was never enough.
Native lands taken, treaties betrayed,
The darker side of progress, a high price paid. (Truth)
Railroads stretched, across the land, (Big influence.)
Steel tracks laid down by a hardworking hand. (Source of labor?)
Connecting east to west, a nation was born,
But in the shadows, many lives were torn. (Truth)
(Chorus) (Bridge)
But let’s not forget, the cost it incurred,
For the native peoples, voices unheard. (Where is this story told?)
Displacement and sorrow, a cultural tear,
A legacy of pain that lingers in the air. (Awkward)
(Verse 3)
It’s a complex story, this destiny divine, (too complex to for us to sort out)
With triumphs and tragedies intertwined.
Expansion and growth, a nation’s dream, (What did the people dream?)
But justice and equity, we still redeem. (What? Whitewash)
So remember the past, as we look ahead,
To the lessons learned, and the tears that shed.
In the spirit of progress, we move and grow,
With respect for all, as our history shows. (What?/ Whitewash)
(Chorus) (Outro)
So here we stand, on this land so wide,
With a future to build, side by side.
Manifest Destiny, a story told,
Of a nation’s journey, brave and bold. (What? /Whitewash)
Jane Storm: Not Easy to Represent
And Jane, who wrote for various publishers under various names [pseuds.: Montgomery, Cora Montgomery, Corrine Montgomery], did not anticipate that Providence would involve grit, gore, and often deadly germs. It was a democratic movement she espoused. Writing as Montgomery, columns in the New York Sun helped swing United States public opinion in favor of the annexation of the Republic of Texas. At that time she was preoccupied with Texas where she, according to her will, acquired 1,000 acres at Eagle Pass and other Texas properties. Her preoccupations typically aligned with her acquisition of property. She did argue with the President, predominantly over economics and policy. She viewed expansion as an opportunity for a more perfect union. Her prosperity was an engine in her propagandizing.
As with much of history, the white man took center stage in the rap. Jane was the counterpoint. The youth voices were the reprise. But the chorus did anchor the production in the truth that all the players in the story shared: Doing What Is Best for Me. Hardship likely brought communities together along the journey, but the journey was personal.
(Chorus)
I’m gonna manifest destiny
I’m tryna do what’s best for me
Destiny, I’m ‘gon manifest
Best for me, gaining benefits
West Coast, where I’ll make the bread
Forge ahead, get my family fed
Fur coat, Robert Stuart made
He found the path that’ll get us paid
Wagon built and we moving weight
Oregon Trail, uniting states
John O’Sullivan, I’m that mastermind
With my pen, I’mma redefine the grand design
It’s our destiny, written in the stars
To spread democracy, freedom, near and far
From the East to the West, it’s our grand plan,
The mission as gos: we will take all’ve their land,
And withstand, understand, and defend
Can’t think of a better way to bring a brand
(Chorus)
The vision is clear, we’re heaven sent
We only came here to represent
This feeling of fear is irrelevant
If we move west we are sparing no innocent
The miles and miles they’ve strolled
Their legs getting weak, the spirits say no
The blistering blazing of cold
O’Suv’s the name that everyone knows
Behold, this story god told
Wipe out the foes to gain all’ve our goals
We’re grabbing the gold, and hit a new low
Spread the details, the brave and the bold
Critics can whisper, but they can’t deny
Our destiny’s written in all of gods eyes
We’ll build a nation that’s so mighty and grand
O’sully will lead, with a steady hand.
(Chorus)
Where the Youth Got It Right
Our nation’s story has been glorified. The transition from the voice of Jane to one representing themselves is on target with the program’s goals: Finding a new understanding and exposing fractures.
The youth participants became a team as they acquired new skills. They moved out from feigned curiosity with no interest in the news or history, to creators of content from a fresh perspective. It has been more than twenty years since Ms. Hudson provided conclusive evidence that Jane Storm coined the framing words of a consequential period in our country’s history: Manifest Destiny. Today you can find this fact on the public internet as presented in Manifest Destiny Framing Words 1845 by the TeenTigerTV youth community media project.
In conclusion, this project exemplifies where Humanities & Community Media intersect: Expression about what to trust, what to dismiss, and what to debunk using new media. AI was integrated to save time with research and confirm the assumption of historical bias as a “story of glory”.
Humanities in the public interest relies on individuals who pursue better knowledge with an open mind. The Moses Yale Beach_Revealed Project is indebted to historians Linda S Hudson and Robert E. May for providing their excavation of our collective history.
Footnotes To History: Is Ours A History of ‘Good Neighbors’
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) is available from The National Archives. Signed on February 2, 1848, it ended the war between the United States and Mexico. By its terms, Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including the present-day states California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. Mexico also relinquished all claims to Texas, and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary with the United States.
The primary reason for the Mexican-American War was a dispute over the border between the United States and Texas, which Mexico did not recognize as American territory after the U.S. annexed Texas in 1845, leading to tension over the boundary line between the Nueces River (claimed by Mexico) and the Rio Grande (declared by the U.S.). This conflict was further fueled by the American concept of “Manifest Destiny,” which encouraged westward expansion and acquisition of new territories.
In our Bicentennial year, 1976, President Ford proclaimed Good Neighbor Day:
This Bicentennial Year is an appropriate time to emphasize that only by accepting our individual responsibility to be good neighbors can we survive as a strong, united Nation. By recognizing our dependence on each other, we preserve our independence as a people.
As we teach our children the cherished ideal of government by and for the people, let us begin by teaching them to know and care about the people next door. We must not only help each other, we must be willing to learn from each other so that we may remain forever united. Each individual American must make his or her special effort to be a good neighbor.
Neighbors view content believed to be worthy of their time, courtesy of community members. Thanks to all the guarantors; especially; long-time participants: Mr. Krupp (RIP), Mike Spiteri, David Burghardt, Lisa Catherine, Rich Mavrogreanes, Wallingford Public Library, and SCOW. The Folklorist NewTV’s Emmy® award-winning original program provided glimpses into the lesser-known occurrences in history when represented by Craig Fishbein. Mike brings daily Independent News Democracy Now to Wallingford. Lisa represents good music. David is our Throwback Movies Guy. This content plays at the stroke of midnight to begin Thursdays: Creature Feature Horror, Classic movies, intermingled with B&W public domain. Rich connects us to UCTV and other informational content. More participants can be located here.
About the Good Enough To Share Program
The media release begins: ‘Thanks for your interest in the Guarantor Program Good Enough to Share at WPAA-TV.” Email correspondence confirms the program, its source, and the agreement to be affiliated with content promotion. The guarantor is asked to reply to an email with their details.
A Guarantor is someone 1) registered with WPAA-TV, 2) passionate about the subject matter, or free speech, and 3) who by publicly being affiliated with the content will take responsibility, for any local interest, and feedback. Guarantors can share the content play schedule with the community via social media or word-of-mouth. The Guarantor’s name is added to the WPAA-TV website as the individual(s) helping to bring content to Wallingford. This individual will also be identified in program promotion-related Social Media.
There are two ways to participate: 1) WPAA-TV can suggest video programs already in compliance with local non-commercial policy and have copyright clearance for redistribution as local TV to individuals interested in supporting the local play of informing content. All programs are of good technical quality and can be acquired at no cost to individuals or WPAA-TV. 2) Prospective guarantors can identify content developed elsewhere and secure permissions to re-distribute. In this instance, the User takes responsibility for compliance with all content issues including copyright.
Most of our global news content is curated through the #GoodEnough2Share program. It aligns with a Think Global, Act Local worldview. Mr. Krupp felt others should be interested in global affairs. This is America and the World and Conflict Zone (30 minutes weekly) were shows he represented.
As Guarantor of “Conflict Zone ” I, “James A. G. Krupp” accept responsibility to be the local representative of media created by Deutshe Welle for re-distribution by Wallingford Public Access Association Inc. (WPAATV). I agree to have my name publicly affiliated with the appearance of this program on WPAATV. I understand this program is noncommercial. I understand the content complies with the policy.
I understand that WPAA-TV is relying upon this Agreement and its representations for the legal distribution of the named media under its Guarantor Program.
Organizations Participate in Good Enough To Share
ABOUT BOOKS is a collection of conversations with authors ‘represented by’ the Wallingford Public Library. It includes the nationally syndicated show Book Lust with Nancy Pearl produced in Seatle. Other content may be sourced from the Library of Congress, National Archives, universities, or Community Television stations.
About Authors and Books in collaboration with Wallingford Public Library
In2Languages is not only represented by SCOW it helps fulfill our obligation to do what other channels managed in town are not committed to doing. We use current global news, arts, and technology news magazines produced in Germany by DW to assist community members with language literacy. This collaboration began as a pilot in 2013. It expanded to 4 shows, midday, 6 days a week in English then Spanish, Spanish then English in 2017.
They say it’s my B’day. Celebrate with me. Subscribe to @wpaatv on YouTube. Retrospective content will be cablecast on Saturdays from 8 to 11 p.m. And Mon-Wed at 7 pm. Open Studio is being discontinued.
Open Letter to Local Churches – History and Current Viewership
Content from churches has been a ‘walk-in’ mainstay of community media for four decades. For more than two of those decades, services were cablecast the week following the service. This may still be true on other community media channels. However, fourteen years ago, WPAA-TV committed to scheduling local services on the ‘same day’ it was received from at least five faith communities. This number increased to seven communities during the pandemic. The minimum staffing commitment to the Same Day Sunday initiative has been 5-hours-per-week. In approximately four of these 14 years, individuals were hired to do specific file management tasks at minimum wage. That made Sunday staff 35% of our budget. But even with Sunday staffing, senior volunteer staff needed to be on-site.
Our volunteer has been attending to the management of local church services for seven hundred and twenty days, reduced by COVID and one family emergency. But is there an end in sight. Is anybody watching?
WPAA-TV Governance
Same Day Sunday is 14 years old. It is the cablecast of video content received from several faith communities within hours of receipt. When implemented by WPAA-TV, it was revolutionary. Previously, St. Paul’s Episcopal and First Congregational Church members supported this ‘same day’ idea. Each week church volunteers spent a few hours after church compositing the service with a welcome message and video credits on S-VHS tape using WPAA-TV equipment. They were WPAA-TV volunteers because they needed a key to the building on Sunday. These two faith communities have had the same cablecast times for 30 years: Sunday at 3:30 pm for First Congregational Church and 5 pm for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Predictable scheduling, a unique circumstance in community media, is additional proof of WPAA-TV’s commitment to regular viewers.
According to these church volunteers, some viewers reported listening to replays, many for the music, or with bible study groups. Since cable TV is local, people out of town on Sunday could also catch up with replays. Back in the day, there were no other platforms for distribution. If we have community media viewers today, they would still be older members of these communities. The ones we knew about, however, are no longer with us. Frankly, we do not know if anyone is watching. We no longer have weekly in-person contact with the local church video production teams. Everything is handled remotely. And cable companies, the only ones with the data, claim data is proprietary. They tell legislators that no one is watching. Are they right?
During the services, we hear the pastors & clergy suggest that those in attendance share the “Peace of the Lord” with the remote viewers as comments on social. After several months as an interim pastor, we received a call asking about the reference to WPAA-TV in the church bulletin. The reply is followed by an “Oh, do we need that?” We have YouTube. To which we reply, “That is something only you can answer. Are your members watching?” Video capture and distribution continue to provide a vital service, but is community media a necessary component of this weekly content management service?
Fourteen Years of Evolution – From Hyper Relevant to Courtesy Copy
YouTube was becoming mainstream when we launched Same Day Sunday (2010). By 2016 Facebook added a LIVE stream capability. However, it was not until capture-platforms like Zoom emerged during the pandemic that the nexus of accessible media tools eclipsed the substantive value of community media for this significant percentage of our walk-in content.
Production capabilities vary by faith community. However, all community media users have transitioned to streaming on social media platforms. We can see the viewer analytics. Some streamers never use community media. They want to drive traffic to their websites. As of this writing, the DVD provider ceased sharing the content they had been rotating for decades. One submits the sermon excerpt for replay within 2 days. Four transfer files to us immediately following a service. We can manage the files within an hour or two. Sometimes they are late, forgotten by new volunteers, or stuck in slow Internet. Our volunteer is still here every Sunday but is this a courtesy copy? Is 30-plus percent of our content no longer an essential service? Can we afford this tremendous use of resources anymore? Our volunteer’s dedication, 30 % of the channel’s capacity, and opportunity costs are significant. If we did not receive courtesy copies what would be on the channel? Would anyone be watching whatever that is?
Our Cross: You may be surprised to learn!
We are relevant because we exist. Within this relevance, it is our community’s responsibility to determine community needs. Community need is determined by ‘whatever walks in the door’. We schedule what we receive or help people create content at studioW #wpaatv. Like the churches, we share what is created on social platforms. It is ‘In addition to’ our channel.
We are funded in three ways. Cable fees, capital grants known as PEGPETIA, and community contributions (donations and grants for training or projects.) Cable fees are declining exponentially We could not afford Sunday staff if we did not have the volunteer. Blog Post here on that topic.
A political anomaly in community media funding has enabled several churches to install significant video capabilities for their stream and courtesy copy to other community media channels. PEGETIA funds, now in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, have benefited a handful of well-connected churches. The direct cost to WPAA-TV of this capital fund siphon over the past few years is about $100,000. If you have read this far, would your faith community have been interested in a grant covering the cost of your audio-visual recording equipment? Should the state be underwriting video capture of beliefs? As reported above, Community Media resources have been available to individuals who produce content related to their beliefs for decades. But a line has always been a line drawn regarding production support. Production was the responsibility of the faith community members. Content is distributed on community media channels because people, not organized religion, consider it good enough to share. As much as it seems like it, this is not splitting hairs. Community media is about what people are passionate about. If you can get enough people together to produce something we must provide the tools and channel capacity.
According to a common understanding of the separation of church and state grants for video equipment for churches should not be happening.
Question: When is it appropriate for faith-based organizations to receive public funds? Answer: Public Safety – Yes, Public Health – Yes, Historic Preservation – Registered as Historic Places – Yes, Spreading their beliefs – No The United States Supreme Court: faith-based organizations may not use direct government support to support “inherently religious” activities. …inherently religious activities such as worship, prayer, proselytizing, or devotional Bible study. The current Court is satisfied if government assistance is neutral — that is, nonreligious and religious organizations are equally eligible to compete for funding — and beneficiaries are offered genuine choices about where to go for assistance. All programs identified by religious organizations in compliance reports are inherently religious. What was once equal eligibility is now the direct underwriting of faith-based organizations in a manner that enables worship, prayer, proselytizing, or devotional study.
Is it time to blow the whistle on this syphon of state funds by churches?
What we are is priceless because we are you, but even you do not know that. Every town has community media resources but you can not look up your ‘town’ on the internet and find your community media resources. They could be for your town or a collection of towns. It could be available as a nonprofit or a Dept. in a cable TV company. PSSST We do not call them Cable TV anymore.
Fortune 500, or 100, connectivity companies are rebranded cable TV companies using the same public utility polls to provide contemporary services without paying for the infrastructure costs of the new stuff (i.e. streaming).
Curt Huizenga, WPAA-TV Board Member
Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has failed all CT citizens with insufficient oversight of cable. This industry was deregulated in CT because it is easier to change the minds of legislators than justify failures in court. A wise attorney & advocate of community media affiliated with a nonprofit planning to close due to lack of funds impressed that fact upon me.
Some regulations remain including the promotion of community access services.
(d) Each company or organization shall conduct outreach programs and promote its community access services. Such outreach and promotion may include, but not be limited to (1) broadcasting cross-channel video announcements, (2) distributing information throughout the franchise area and not solely to its subscribers, (3) including community access information in its regular marketing publications, (4) broadcasting character-generated text messages or video announcements on barker or access channels, (5) making speaking engagements, (6) holding open receptions at its community access facilities, and (7) in multitown franchise areas, encouraging the formation and development of local community access studios operated by volunteers or nonprofit operating groups.
As you can see, it is the cable companies’ legal responsibility to tell you how they are providing community media in every community. If you know enough to be interested in what community media resources are available, you can find some information here. But wouldn’t a search for your town providing facility location, type, and contact information be helpful? PURA is to provide consumer assistance and oversight. PURA’s role is clarified here (updated April 2024) – except you need to know acronyms (CAP, PEGPETIA) to find information about community media.
Deregulation with an Appearance of Progress
CT was the first state to ensure every community had ‘community media’ resources (a.k.a. PEG, Public Education and Government Access). But, BRAVO begins and ends with Public Act 95‐150 – An ACT CONCERNING COMMUNITY ACCESS OPERATIONS. In a forever, David & Goliath struggle, CT has failed to ensure that community media resources are sustainable, accessible, and relevant. Deregulation was codified in 2007. Concurrently, the industry was to keep legacy community media commitments in return for more tax breaks. Connecticut passed PA 07-253, described as “designed to promote cable competition by allowing telecommunications companies to provide video services without having to obtain a time-limited franchise or being subject to rate regulation. Federally, the move to allow the market to allocate resources resulted in the Cable Franchise and Communications Policy Act of 1984 (Cable Act of 1984). By 2003 it was evident that the 1996 Act to deregulate cable rates failed. Consumer cable prices rose three times the rate of inflation and even faster for ‘basic services’ for low-income families.
Deregulation lets market forces work on behalf of the consumer.
MYTH
Resources in Lieu of Taxes: The Illusive Deal
Fortune 500, even 100, companies are legally committed to providing ‘the people’ with access to media technology. Why, because they use public rights of way to deliver their services. Without the cable infrastructure, there would be no cable TV or Internet. No Fortunes.
However, they do not pay for access to you from their profits. Instead, they add a fee to your cable bill (not a tax, because it is their obligation). Community Media operators and volunteers oppose the fee. We believe in your fundamental right to tell your story, engage with your community, encourage youth to be media literate, and in general ‘people over profits’.
More than Rebranding: Legacy Terms As Weapons
Old language and changing technology add to the complexity of our survival in the public interest. Community Media income declines are escalating at a precipitous rate. Cord-cutting, or no interest in a cord by the current generation, decreases the cable TV subscriber population, the population wrongly saddled with the cost of community media. Restricting legislation to legacy terms was a successful tactic in the 2007 deregulation process. ISP protocol was not cable; therefore, the telecom industries’ foray into providing content viewed on television devices was not cable and not eligible for regulation. This use of legacy language effectively limits funds for Community Media. Less cable TV viewers = less community media income.
Technology advances every few months. With every advance, we become less relevant. Declining funds leave much of WPAA – TV and Community Media Center stuck in 2010-2015. Some nonprofit peers are using even older technology. We should be “early technology adopters for all members of our community” with an interest in conversation, storytelling, performance, and other creative pursuits. Instead, we often have less technology than what is readily available in middle-class homes. Some things did not even exist when terms and regulations were defined.
Community Media and Social Media are Not Equal
Corporate platforms & social media are not the same as community media. They are tools, not community resources. Tools that bombard you with requests to Boost. Pay Them. Similarly, we are not just another nonprofit. We are a resource for nonprofits. They have a right to media resources without cost.
The obligation to underwrite most of what we do from the profits of “connectivity” companies is lost on legislators who see themselves as business people. They see the results of an underfunded, deteriorating resource and expect outcomes that were never intended. What they see is not what we have the potential to be. It costs money, money we do not have, to provide what is possible. It takes updated laws to move us forward together. Most legislators have not seen community media making a difference so it is hard to convince them of our purpose & potential. They do not understand our obligation to serve whoever walks in the door. Many legislators have bought into the cable lobby playbook of myths. Our governor also sees himself as a businessman. He was a cable guy. The Governor and Senator Needleman, presumed to be focusing on relevance, fail to see our existence as our relevance. It is up the every community to find the relevance they need from the resources available.
We can not be your future if we have none.
HB5446: Tax Reform for Our Democracy Movement
The bill mentioned in this story will not come to the floor for a vote because it corrects our collective situation with tax reform. It stops the fees. It stops the municipal tax exclusions for these companies and it devises a level playing field for all profiting off of your public rights of way.
Will the cable companies successfully collapse the community media industry before their legacy infrastructure fails to deliver the SD signals they restrict community channels too, or vice versa
Sarcasm that proved to be vice versa for Frontier whose cable customers have not been able to see PEG channels for over 18 months.
After a year of examination of nonprofit community media policies, finances, and operations in a study initiated by a Special Act of the State of CT Legislature, we anticipated solutions to serve you better. On March 7th, House Bill 5446 was raised for consideration by the leadership of the Energy & Tech Committee. It represented the potential of a transformative outcome. The Commissioner of PURA (Public Utilities Regulatory Authority) and OCC (Office of Consumer Council) testified in support. Representative Mushinsky of Wallingford, on the E&T committee, is prepared to add administrative cost-saving modifications on behalf of taxpayers. These changes would simplify annual administrative procedures in a few State of CT Depts and improve the sustainability of nonprofit Community Media, large & small. Unfortunately, the gateway to fair and equitable digital literacy, government transparency, and sustaining community media is ‘tax reform’. Tax is a four-letter word in the world of politics. On 3.21.24 we will know if we made it past the committee process.
Here is the story of WPAA-TV and Community Media Center as told by its volunteer Executive Director Susan Adele Huizenga. She believed that investing in community media could make a difference in a community and the lives of its people. If the state law is updated to ensure the obligations of “Connectivity” companies are kept, community media can contribute to making Connecticut
a place where all families can find hope & opportunity.
Governor Ned Lamont
One Volunteer’s Story | Community Media is a Democracy Movement
We appreciate the dozens of people who signed the petition started by our peers when we expected opposition, but not a battle inside the E & T committee. A direct, less public, writing campaign is in process. Please keep it going. Thank you. Less public, but truly helpful. We appreciate U and all that shared good words over the years.
Capturing Wallingford from “Where you are!’ and compiling a video for sharing on Local@5 is an initiative to bring people together and archive our community as the people see it.
Local@5 is how we share current community-contributed content.
We hope to see your view of Wallingford on TV.
#wpaatv must comply with copyright law and have permission to use something you create. We can not just take the content you publish to Facebook. Sending to the email movie@wpaa.tv solves this for us and you.
The people of Wallingford have many things in common like seeing the early sprouts of spring, the experience of winter, or beautiful sunsets in many locations in town. You also may have very unique stories to share. All are welcome.
This is called crowd casting. We hope many become familiar with it so that when we have events like Celebrate Wallingford hosted by Wallingford Center Inc. we will be able to capture it as the people of Wallingford experience it.
Until then help us #CelebrateWallingfordEveryday #wpaatv #yourtownoyourstationyourvoice #MorethanTV @followers 11 people contributed to the 1st crowd cast of 2024. Enjoy the video.
The WPAA-TV Board Member service commitment is 3 years. Attendance at six governance meetings & serve on one committee. The minimum financial contribution is made during the annual #theGreatGive.
Primary Role: Governance (setting strategic direction with operational oversight) and outreach. Outreach includes sharing or commenting on Freeman or wpaa-tv social media posts within your comfort zone.
Your committee service will align with your talents. The standing committees are Technology, Building, and Outreach. The officers are the Governance committee.
Getting to know us
Here is a link to an impromptu tour of the station done in 2017. Hopefully, you will notice some changes when you stop by. In 2018, we began publishing annual video reports which can be found here.
For full transparency, our primary documents including bylaws and policy are on the website. Our people are listed here.
Getting to know you
1st meeting introduction ritual: “What brings you here?” Please share: 1. How did you come to know us? 2. Something about yourself that may be of value to those working on behalf of WPAA-TV.
What we look for in prospective board members: Community connections, critical skills, and passion for media literacy. Essential skills include Accounting, Tech (server to video production), and facilities management. We feel it is important to have an artist, neighborhood residents or businesses, and people with families with middle school and higher children as their children are our future. Representation of underserved communities is also important to our mission.
If you are unsure about a Board commitment, an advisory role may be a gentle introduction to service. Nonboard members can serve on a committee.
I receive your invitation to gather with local arts advocates in Wallingford with mixed feelings. I am frankly exhausted by the Wallingford doublespeak about arts.
As you are aware, there is the Economic Development Council’s WACA initiative’.
Design by Middlesex Community Colege Intern: Michael Humowitz
From our lean college intern resources, we supported WACA outreach in 2020. One intern designed a logo. The gif version of the logo shows a changing color palate to reflect inclusion & diversity within this traditional art image. There were videos produced as well: a long public meeting and a pull-out from the meeting. Recording the meeting was not planned and preceded the work of interns who provided some post-production.
When the logo was sent to the EDC WACA team, the only reply was from the library representative. She said, ‘I love it’. It was later sent to the Social Media Manager for Wallingford Magazine. Again, a positive affirmation. However, Wallingford Mag ran the WACA story without it.
None of the WACA leadership even acknowledged receipt of the logo which left me feeling like I failed the intern who is a Wallingford resident. The intent was for the interns to have portfolio items. All three interns felt I let them down with the assignment to provide WACA support. This left a bad taste, in me, for working with the community people involved. They did complain about the long video which was produced gavel-to-gavel style because it was a public meeting by a quasi-government agency. The pull-out was never used. Our interns were never acknowledged or thanked. We all learned that memorandums of understanding are a critical 1st step to extending services.
WPAA-TV has been the unrecognized arts location in Wallingford since 2015. With public art (mural) by ARCY, a #socialactionart gallery, as a host for theater and award-winning films & animated children’s stories. Our award-winning seriesMakingIt Artisan$tories also hits a wall locally.
We have been a safe creative place for those who find us since our doors opened in 2010 as intended – to all – after decades of being less than even a traditional public access station. Ironically, I needed to remind the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, and even you, that we are #MoreThanTV. That performance art is the richest kind. That #socialacionart amplifies advocacy.
You may recall that I even reminded you, during your mayoral campaign, that we were an arts space. And then, from behind the camera at the WACA gathering of artists, I expressed the same absence of awareness from everyone’s sight. Of note, not one artist in that room, who was previously unfamiliar with WPAA-TV, most of them, made their way to the station.
Frankly, I have not seen much in the way of acting ‘collectively’ among artists even preceding my involvement with WPAA-TV.
And I am struggling with how to say this nicely. Even your invitation to chat fails to acknowledge 10 years of investment in the creation of an art space in Wallingford at WPAA-TV. Yes, I would love to be part of a thriving creative community. Yes, I would like to envision something bigger. Yes, I will make time, and even space, for conversation. But I will say up front I will not commit to anything that does not fully recognize the past 10 years. Reinventing the wheel is never a good choice. I have a full plate with our arts-full strategic plan. It looks beyond Wallingford for impact because that may be the only way to make an impact.
In 2023, we engaged @Gallery53 artist in Meriden to create a mission mosaic for our outreach. It is in our foyer. The video story is here. On Martin Luther King Day, (Jan 2024) WPAA-TV leadership authorized the naming of the gallery in honor of the fine artist Nelson ‘Carty’ Ford. Nelson Ford would have been 90 on Jan 18th, 2024. Nelson and his wife Ruthie served with Founder (2006) Wilbert ‘Robbie’ Robinson in the minority rights organization Wallingford Coalition for Unity an organization that openly supported the work of WPAA-TV as it sought to find an in-town location.
