What is in a name?

More than TV
WPAA is TV and More …

In so many public announcements done by others like this one in Wallingford Wired this organization is listed merely as “WPAA”. However, for more than 5 years our communication has been in the name of WPAA-TV and Media Center and most recently the Board of Directors voted to clarify the doing business as (d/b/a) name as WPAA-TV and Community Media Center.

Corner view of TV Station shows Hercules Mural
Corner view shows Hercules Mural

Our building signage appears as WPAA-TV. Those who have wandered in have been curious about the “TV” part of the name. The initial question from the new visitor is either “Do you fix TVs here? or “Is this a real TV station? (and, with some hesitation) Can I be on TV?” We are always proud to answer; If you live in Wallingford this TV Station WPAA-TV belongs to you. Do you have time to look around?

Two aspects of our name are important: TV and Community. We support the creation of TV by and for the “community” as the primary mission of the nonprofit Wallingford Public Access Association, Inc.

Sorry for (Y)our Loss #W06492

Last weekend the community lost two producers: One had just a planning meeting and a few ideas to sort through as she wanted to involve young people; the other five weeks in to his own project sharing stories & tips gleaned from his 55 years in radio.

Rachel dropped in to ‘check the place out’. She recently came to realize she could use the resources of WPAA-TV at no cost. The source of her awareness was an Intern Project which involved young members of her faith community on Tuesday and Thursday evenings this summer.  She had produced for Father John but had not made the connection between WPAA-TV and her ability to produce for herself.

Don reached out to the station in June seeking help in getting a response from a Producer that had interviewed him twice. The Producer was not returning calls, had not provided promised DVD copies of the interviews nor had he set up another interview. Don went on to say that he had so much he wanted to talk about and he wished there was a better way than a meandering interview.

Don did not understand that he could produce his own stories. He was lead to believe he had to be “interviewed”  by this “employed” Producer. (WPAA-TV does not employ Producers.)

Your stories are welcome here: You can Produce Yourself. The community will be at a loss if you wait too long to share your passions.

Posted with the utmost thanks for having been touched ever so slightly by these two wonderful individuals.

All Blog Posts before 2015…

On The Parade GroundThe original blog was designed to develop and support the concept of a community video crew to be called OnTheParadeGround.

The name evolved from efforts to procure property for the Community TV Station that is on The Parade Ground in Wallingford, CT. The Parade Ground remains a gathering place of residents for community events. For this team-to-be, it is a symbol of a place where people can give voice to ideas, share news, and inform others.

The creation of timely, local content requires a community of volunteers.  The station’s board members and staff are not producers or content creators. Similar to all residents, they can independently produce, but the role of staff is to train, facilitate, and mentor those seeking to develop digital media skills and use these skills to share information and stories or entertain. Content for Community TV must be made, or acquired, by community members.

We have the tools, but without you, there are no news stories, coverage of local events, or archival history being made.

Governance Topics: Understanding How We are Funded and Operate

This category has updates on fundraising campaigns and commentary on regulatory processes.  The posts include an entry Board President Statement by Joey Allard (6.18.2020) originally published on the GuideStar site (2019). He reflects upon his experience at WPAA-TV, progressing from college intern to serving as president.

OnTheParadeGround Congratulations

It is with great pride and enthusiasm that WPAA-TV Executive Director accepts the 1st Place Award for Diversity Empowerment on behalf of Penn’s Pals with a hope to be able to submit to this category every year from the annual creation & a collection of Wallingford stories.

She supported this effort as an OnTheParade Ground Volunteer.  Penn’s Pals is now being edited by an Intern from Middlesex Community College. All interns are automatically considered OnTheParadeGround Crew.

To join with others to make Community TV in Wallingford send a note of interest to wpaatv@gmail.com.

At WPAA-TV Interns are being added into the mix as part of community volunteers supporting citizens with their communication goals as members of OnTheParadeGround Crews. So consider being an Intern!!

Producer participation in Alliance for Community Media is also encouranged and underwritten by WPAA. 

There is a overall sense of pride about of all of the submissions that represent how far WPAA has come as a community building organization with entries from Citizen Mike, SCOW, Penn’s Pals in addition to ad hoc projects supported by the OnTheParadeGround crew:  (BAWA Health, Wallingford Community Theater, BenVentures, and Wallingford Chorus) and the very special Make-A-Difference TV Project “Sharing Joy“.

Our community once again is honored with a 1st place recognition of Penn’s Pals – Through Sophie’s Eyes’ in the category Diversity Empowerment.  Bravo.

Public Event TV: One Camera Shoot

Wallace Dam Fishway: Harry Haakonsen Dedication Video is complete.  I did not editorialize but I did edit the material presenting the nearly 2-hour event in 30 minutes, with a slight restructuring of the sequence of events.  I did give the project slightly more than one hour per minute of production attention.

I enjoyed creating the lower thirds shad tag and I leveraged several web page mastheads.

It was a refreshing event to attend. I know that there were years of effort to get Town’s cooperation for which there was ample credit bestowed and ironically, accepted. In reality, it was informing but agonizing to watch each new Town Council get briefed on the project’s value and to hear the same concerns about liability raised.
In the end, there are many proud volunteers and hope for an easier future for the several varieties of fish that swim home.  For this cause, I am not wearing the T-Shirt but it was rewarding to help tell the story via coverage of this Earth Day event.  Search Wallace Damn on the wpaa.tv calendar for playtimes between 4/25/12 and 5/20/12.  On VOD look for Wallace Dam Fishway Dedication.

  

Poetry Returns to Wallingford – at least for a day

As other teams before them, this year’s CT Teen Poetry Slam Team is making plans to go to San Franscisco, California to participate in Brave New Voices–Witness the Word 2012.  They will be using the WPAA-TV facility to workshop performance techniques and do a fundraising feature performance on April 14th at 8PM.  There is no charge for this performance: however, tax-deductible donations are welcome through their sponsor Piece Theatre.
Piece Theatre Founder and veteran performance poet Josiah Houston is this year’s team performance coach. Among other Performance and Poetry accolades, he was a member of the CT Teen Slam Team from 1999-2001. He has subsequently led a dramatic life journey through the world of theater arts,  the lessons from which he hopes may benefit this fine group of young Connecticut writers: Sera Pisani, Julie Ficks, Sophie Dillon, Maggie Kearney, Kate Bartell, and Evan Knoll.

I had the benefit of working with veteran thespian John Basinger for one day.  One day with him transformed my awareness of what was possible delivering off the page.  April 14th is designed to have the same potential for this team. A combination of good writing and performance is still a rare experience.  I hope the folks in the Wallingford area come out and enjoy this event.
Josiah

 

Saturday April 14th
8 PM
28 So Orchard St. 

Children Stories: 2 languages

The youth content Media Zone on WPAA is 5-8 AM and Saturdays 5 AM until Noon. The following locally produced children stories in Spanish & English will be scheduled in this zone often in 2012.  They can also be viewed on VOD via the links below.

BENventures: I Can Do It produced by local Children’s author Camila Gabriel with OTPG Support
These two Beatrice Potter Stories produced by SCOW the Spanish Community of Wallingford  with OTPG Support are also playing

The Story of Perico Rabbit – El Cuento De Perico El Conejo Tavieso : The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902)
The Story of Carlota Duck – El Cuento De La OCA Carlota: The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (1908)

Diversity: WPAA-TV Content

During Black History Month, WPAA-TV played a locally produced documentary film No Barriers Too High about Marcus McCraven, a remarkable story of achievement, excellence and accomplishment against enormous odds. It is also a contemporary story about a life lived which exemplifies the value of education and informs, by example, about the experience of race in America — that No Barrier is Too High.   

The inclusion of family among its strengths; with Stephen providing the drum track and the charming GPS behind the man description of Marguerite; this story which is to encourage our youth to consider education important also demonstrates the power of humility and perseverance.  When Andrew Young spoke at QU in 2003 he said and I paraphrase — Dr. King did not want to be a martyr; he wanted then and now for us to be living our own stories about justice and the richness of life. Marcus certainly did just that.
QU ALUMNI REVIEW

Thanks to Wallingford’s Coalition for Unity for encouraging the pursuit of this acquisition by WPAA-TV. This program will be archived for replay next year. 

In March in coordination with SCOW and Deutsche Welle WPAA-TV will begin a regular schedule of Spanish Language News and Global News content initiated in Nov 2011 (scheduled between 6 and 7:30 PM Monday thru Friday if no Live local programming was in progress) will continue with the addition of a 1/2 of Science News at 7:30 PM.

2 hours of weekly Spanish Language Programs repeated 3 times a week: Tues midnight- 2 AM; Friday 8-10 PM; Sat. 10-Noon and streaming at www.wpaa.tv

Creating Community Television

Creating a Community Video Project is very much like starting a business.

You need to define the product, brand it, acquire resources to build it and the niche markets that will make it more than video in the vastness of the web and cable.

You also need to build the understanding among your community team that you are not going to develop ESPN Quality Products nor have the distribution of cable networks.

What you should strive for is authenticity.  Good luck.