Community media has evolved. 50 years ago, in Wallingford, it was a community bulletin board managed by the Wallingford Public Library. Ironically, centralizing event data and other community information is more desirable and elusive than ever. A 20-minute recurring bulletin board loop was never the answer but it was once state-of-the-art technology. While viable solutions remain elusive, search engines and hashtags have simplified access to data which has likely to be old as it is current.
Social media decentralized & capitalized on this hunger for connection and announcements. By 2018, the bulletin board was gone, and video was our entire service. WPAA-TV and Community Media Center began to welcome short-form video. Playlist technology helped manage the operational impact of short-form video a few years later.
Technology evolution has been a constant. The other constant are the two words that replaced P.E.G.(Public, Education & Government Access.): Community & Media.
Today (Oct 20,2025) is #CommunityMediaDay
Nation-wide telling & uplifting community stories is at a cross-roads. Putting technology in people’s hands is more nuanced with the evolution of smart phones. Some suggest that community media is no longer relevant. So what is the movement today which started as volunteer advocacy for technology in the hands of the people in the 1960s & 70s? Absent a strong footprint & community connections, in an environment that shuns inclusive voices and fades our budgets, the future looks bleak; until we refocus on why & what we do, versus how we do it.
Story & conversation by, for and of the people is our core. Putting technology in people’s hands was really about engagement, exposure, and discovery.
Back to Wallingford’s unique story
30 years ago, a handful of AV nerds and church members, formed a nonprofit. It would be funded by a portion of the franchise fees available to seven contingent towns. In Wallingford, the town used tax dollars to provide E & G.Eventually, volunteers familiar with the roots of Community Media, including me, discovered the ‘club house’.
What I noticed. What was working for the few involved was having a place to gather and explore. What was not working, serving the broader community. Active volunteers feared their ability to handle the interests of others and keep abreast of technology.
Small, and in the shadow of a government made TV, the WPAA-TV and Community Media Center, leveraged volunteer talent to stay open and keep abreast of regulatory changes. Volunteers focused on building an accessible community space and community access to the tools & stage. They stayed strategically rooted in story & advocacy.
Today WPAA-TV is a brave, safe, creative space for a diversity of expression within our community and beyond. It is the art & culture center of Wallingford, ready to embrace all who come. It is the home of the Nelson ‘Carty’ Ford Memorial Art Gallery and award-winning #TeenTigerTV. It is where Democracy Is A Creative Practice, daily. It inspires: https://lnkd.in/emSJ-bEg
#CommunityMediaDay