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Thanks to Roger Marolt for bringing attention to the community’s responsibility for creating the programming on GrassRoots TV12 in his Oct. 19 column, “Too Much Airtime on GrassRoots’ Hands.”
He correctly pointed out that, in order for this 36-year-old community asset to “continue to exist” and even prosper in a manner that accurately reflects the community, the community must proactively finance and produce its programming.
As with any true democratic institution, a resident must participate in order to have an influence. If a local resident wants GrassRoots TV12 to reflect their interests and values, they need to help create its content. Fortunately, GrassRoots TV12 serves a participatory, productive, content-rich community. Below is a list of last week’s locally produced, and locally relevant, content that will not appear anywhere but on GrassRoots TV12.
The generally abysmal content on global corporate commercial television, as Roger accurately points out, proves that the measure of whether television programming is valuable, useful, or enlightening has never been its commercial viability. The reason the content on Grassroots TV12 is not available on any other channel is not a lack of quality or relevancy, but rather it is because the discerning local audience is too small to attract the level of advertising revenue that commercial television needs to attract capital and satisfy stockholders.
According to a recent scientific survey, 43 percent of local cable subscribers find that the programming on GrassRoots TV12 “greatly adds to the value of their cable TV service.” This is why nonprofit, noncommercial community TV and radio stations, despite facing the same operational costs as ad-supported stations, do exist. It also is the reason the community media look to local residents to financially support this valuable alternative programming.
Last week’s programming on GrassRoots TV12:
1) “High Altitude Skin Care” with Dr. Tim Kruse;
2) “Adrenal Fatigue Epidemic”
3) “Introduction to Bioengineering” with Dr. Tom Lankering
4) Progressive Business: “Psychology of Sales”
5) “Venture Capital Funding”
6) Meet the Press with Caitlin and Olivia: “Educating According to Kirk” with Kirk Gregory
7) Aspen Writer’s Conference: AWF reads “The River of Doubt”
8) “Dirt Music”
9) Aspen Valley Hospital: Medicine in the Mountains “Art in Science/Science in Art” with Dr. J.J. Cohen”
10) “Influenza” with Kathy Gibbard
11) 2007 Aspen High boys soccer vs. Coal Ridge
12) Sopris Foundation “Nobody’s Home”
13) Jerry Bovino: “Sex, Lies and Drama”
14) “A Life of Silence” with the Aspen Camp for the Deaf
15) Aspen Institute: “Green is the New Red White and Blue”
16) “Believing the Unbelievable: The Clash Between Faith & Reason in the Modern World”
17) “A Conversation with Gen. Colin Powell”
18) “Power, Poverty and Progress: How Energy Effects Economic Development and Global Stability”
19) Aspen Art Museum: Art Matters “Studio Tour with Jody Gurelnick”
20) “Studio Tour: SAW Carbondale”
21) The Changing Paradigm “The Art of Costumes”
22) “Crazy About You” community theatre from the RFHS stage
23) Jake’s Journal “Immigration in the Roaring Fork Valley”
24) “The Fred Astaire Show” with Bob Klineman and Mike Manroney
25) The Local’s Show, “No Helmet Hair for the Cure,” with Susan Kosch
26) “The Gonzo Way,” with Anita Thompson and Johanna Robertson
27) Rocky Mountain Institute: “The Next 25 Years”
28) “2007 Highlights”
29) 2007 Aspen High School football v. Gunnison High School
30) The Andrew Kole Show with Chris Evert
31) City of Aspen junior hockey: “Hockey Mountain High Division B Finals”
32) “Division A Finals”
33) “Open Division Finals”
34) 2007 Silver City gymnastics meet”
35) Theater Masters “Talking Theatre” with Denise O’Kelly and Hal Thau
36) The Roaring Fork Conservancy presents: “Climate Change: Its Effect on Water in the West”
37) The Stirling Cup all-star celebrity hockey game
Plus local nonprofit information on the “Free Range Forum” throughout the day.
Which left just enough time for the following nonlocally produced programs that were requested by our fellow residents, precisely because they are not available on for-profit commercial television: “Thoughts, Consciousness and Manifestation,” “Doctrine of Atonement,” “Practice Clarity,” “Peace, a Message Without Boundaries,” and weekdays, the alternative newscast “Democracy Now!”
More than 45 different programs per week, over 150 different local productions per month, all ingeniously programmed in multiple day parts so everyone has the opportunity to view most shows.
The fact that none of this resident-produced and resident-requested programming is available on commercial television gives reason to the granting of local government monies. This funding assures that the nearly 50 local nonprofits and many more residents who used GrassRoots TV12 just last week will continue to be able to communicate with their community at large. That funding is leveraged so that local residents receive great value when paying the minimal production fees, and offering the other contributions that make up a majority of GrassRoots TV12’s annual budget. This open support and participation shows that the above programming is of value to them.
This week’s schedule at grassrootstv.org shows an entirely different list of locally originated programming that is worthwhile to this community, because it is produced by this community.
<i>John Masters is Executive Director of GrassRoots Community Television in Aspen.</i>
He correctly pointed out that, in order for this 36-year-old community asset to “continue to exist” and even prosper in a manner that accurately reflects the community, the community must proactively finance and produce its programming.
As with any true democratic institution, a resident must participate in order to have an influence. If a local resident wants GrassRoots TV12 to reflect their interests and values, they need to help create its content. Fortunately, GrassRoots TV12 serves a participatory, productive, content-rich community. Below is a list of last week’s locally produced, and locally relevant, content that will not appear anywhere but on GrassRoots TV12.
The generally abysmal content on global corporate commercial television, as Roger accurately points out, proves that the measure of whether television programming is valuable, useful, or enlightening has never been its commercial viability. The reason the content on Grassroots TV12 is not available on any other channel is not a lack of quality or relevancy, but rather it is because the discerning local audience is too small to attract the level of advertising revenue that commercial television needs to attract capital and satisfy stockholders.
According to a recent scientific survey, 43 percent of local cable subscribers find that the programming on GrassRoots TV12 “greatly adds to the value of their cable TV service.” This is why nonprofit, noncommercial community TV and radio stations, despite facing the same operational costs as ad-supported stations, do exist. It also is the reason the community media look to local residents to financially support this valuable alternative programming.
Last week’s programming on GrassRoots TV12:
1) “High Altitude Skin Care” with Dr. Tim Kruse;
2) “Adrenal Fatigue Epidemic”
3) “Introduction to Bioengineering” with Dr. Tom Lankering
4) Progressive Business: “Psychology of Sales”
5) “Venture Capital Funding”
6) Meet the Press with Caitlin and Olivia: “Educating According to Kirk” with Kirk Gregory
7) Aspen Writer’s Conference: AWF reads “The River of Doubt”
8) “Dirt Music”
9) Aspen Valley Hospital: Medicine in the Mountains “Art in Science/Science in Art” with Dr. J.J. Cohen”
10) “Influenza” with Kathy Gibbard
11) 2007 Aspen High boys soccer vs. Coal Ridge
12) Sopris Foundation “Nobody’s Home”
13) Jerry Bovino: “Sex, Lies and Drama”
14) “A Life of Silence” with the Aspen Camp for the Deaf
15) Aspen Institute: “Green is the New Red White and Blue”
16) “Believing the Unbelievable: The Clash Between Faith & Reason in the Modern World”
17) “A Conversation with Gen. Colin Powell”
18) “Power, Poverty and Progress: How Energy Effects Economic Development and Global Stability”
19) Aspen Art Museum: Art Matters “Studio Tour with Jody Gurelnick”
20) “Studio Tour: SAW Carbondale”
21) The Changing Paradigm “The Art of Costumes”
22) “Crazy About You” community theatre from the RFHS stage
23) Jake’s Journal “Immigration in the Roaring Fork Valley”
24) “The Fred Astaire Show” with Bob Klineman and Mike Manroney
25) The Local’s Show, “No Helmet Hair for the Cure,” with Susan Kosch
26) “The Gonzo Way,” with Anita Thompson and Johanna Robertson
27) Rocky Mountain Institute: “The Next 25 Years”
28) “2007 Highlights”
29) 2007 Aspen High School football v. Gunnison High School
30) The Andrew Kole Show with Chris Evert
31) City of Aspen junior hockey: “Hockey Mountain High Division B Finals”
32) “Division A Finals”
33) “Open Division Finals”
34) 2007 Silver City gymnastics meet”
35) Theater Masters “Talking Theatre” with Denise O’Kelly and Hal Thau
36) The Roaring Fork Conservancy presents: “Climate Change: Its Effect on Water in the West”
37) The Stirling Cup all-star celebrity hockey game
Plus local nonprofit information on the “Free Range Forum” throughout the day.
Which left just enough time for the following nonlocally produced programs that were requested by our fellow residents, precisely because they are not available on for-profit commercial television: “Thoughts, Consciousness and Manifestation,” “Doctrine of Atonement,” “Practice Clarity,” “Peace, a Message Without Boundaries,” and weekdays, the alternative newscast “Democracy Now!”
More than 45 different programs per week, over 150 different local productions per month, all ingeniously programmed in multiple day parts so everyone has the opportunity to view most shows.
The fact that none of this resident-produced and resident-requested programming is available on commercial television gives reason to the granting of local government monies. This funding assures that the nearly 50 local nonprofits and many more residents who used GrassRoots TV12 just last week will continue to be able to communicate with their community at large. That funding is leveraged so that local residents receive great value when paying the minimal production fees, and offering the other contributions that make up a majority of GrassRoots TV12’s annual budget. This open support and participation shows that the above programming is of value to them.
This week’s schedule at grassrootstv.org shows an entirely different list of locally originated programming that is worthwhile to this community, because it is produced by this community.
<i>John Masters is Executive Director of GrassRoots Community Television in Aspen.</i>
