Wrestling Spotlight will be LIVE tonight at 7:30pm here on channel 95 in Fall River

also we have a new program starting next week called “Experiencing the Word” beginning Monday Aug 30th at 1:30Pm

Just a few notes about this week

* Wrestling Spotlight is LIVE tonight! so be sure to catch Scotty and the gang tonight at 7:30Pm on FRCTV Channel 95

* Lou Perriera will be LIVE this Thursday also 7:00pm in our studio here at FRCTV channel 95

* we have a new and exciting show from Dr. Fradkin called “Reigniting the American Dream” will be airing this weekend Friday - Sunday at 1:00Pm and Monday at 8:00AM

* also we will premiere a new show called “ADTV: How Congress Works” on Monday, July 26th at 12 noon

* Just in Time will be airing on Mondays now at 9:30PM and Army News Watch will be on Tuesdays at 6:30pm Be sure to check them out out at their new times and days.

We are always looking for some new shows to air here on FRCTV channel 95 so please get in touch if you have any you would like to share with us and Fall River.

well that’s it for now talk to you all soon

Also Just in time and Army News Watch will be airing on our station again! Will keep you posted on times soon

Reminded everyone we are closed Monday, July 5 in honor of the 4th also very excited to tell everyone

that WRESTLING SPOTLIGHT will return LIVE Tuesday, July 6th at 7:30pm!!!! so stay tune to that!

Think that is it for now

have a great weekend everyone!

Paranormal Views has Returned! starts TONIGHT at 10:30PM

* Today is the first day of SUMMER and what better way to welcome summer then having so welcome back Scotty and his crew on Tuesday, June 22 Wrestling Spotlight will be LIVE in our studio 7:30PM on FRTCV Channel 95.

* Lou Perreira Show will be live on Thursday, June 24th, 2010 at 7:00PM!

* on another note the shows Just in Time, Army News Watch , and We have a Verdict with Sam Sutter will no longer be aired on FRCTV channel 95

You can see a clip of it here

You may contact me at my e-mail if you are interested in being part of the project

Since I’ve been at FRCTV our future had been uncertain. Since 2002 when the Fall River cable television contract first expired and went into limbo in 2005, we were not sure whether we would be involved with continuing to provide community media services to the City of Fall River.

Despite all we had accomplished, there were good reasons for us to feel that way. Under the terms of the old cable television agreement, there was no funding set aside for the public access television operation for Fall River and Bristol Community College stepped forward in 1999 with the understanding that dedicated funding from a new contract would stabilize the operation (if the City chose BCC to continue to house the program).

As the years passed and BCC bore the financial burden of maintaining the operation through tough economic times, few would have blamed the College for cutting ties with FRCTV.

To its credit, BCC never did.  In fact, under the leadership of President Dr. John Sbrega, the college saw the benefits FRCTV provided for the community and supported us through the grinding process of what turned out to be a protracted cable contract renewal process.

With the announcement last week by Mayor Will Flanagan ensuring that FRCTV receives dedicated funding from the new cable television contract with Comcast, we now know that our immediate future is somewhat secure.

I want to personally thank Mayor Flanagan for his diligence in examining the issue and deciding a fair resolution to funding FRCTV,  the FRED-TV and FRG-TV operation at Durfee High School, and a start-up program at Diman Regional Voc-Tech.  In my opinion all parties came out as winners.

Even though we have some security, it in no way means we are to rest on our laurels.  With the new funding comes great opportunities for FRCTV to better meet the communications needs of the people of Fall River.

We have some ideas.  They will take some time to implement.  But we are committed to continue to make FRCTV a respected and valued communications resource in Fall River.

I ask for your help.  How can we do what we do better?  Get in touch with me with your ideas.

Thanks to all of you who have supported FRCTV through the years.  Now let’s get back to work!

In this episode we look at some of the academic offerings for the 2010 spring semester…a move by the college to become smoke free…the excitement around the Fine Arts Iron Pour…our alumni profile featuring a New Bedford resident who overcame a big obstacle to succeed…and a holiday cookie and coffee recipe from the Culinary Arts department…

Since I have been the Director of FRCTV, I have been made it a priority that FRCTV plays a lead role in getting the candidate’s names and platforms out for the community to see and judge.  Since 2001 we have allowed candidates to take part in our Meet the Candidates program where each candidate can use up to five minutes of air time to speak directly to the voters.  Over time more and more candidates have taken advantage of this opportunity.

With the re-tooling of the FRCTV website this past year, we decided to allow candidates the chance to use our site as a portal to their runs for office.  Some candidates used our blogging tool to enhance their online presence while others used our site as their Internet home throughout the campaign.  Candidates who taped a Meet the Candidates segment had their piece displayed on their page following tapings for the preliminary and city elections.  Like our television product we helped the candidates create their online space but it was up to them to update the material on their individual web page.

2009 saw FRCTV cover more political forums than ever before.  The candidates for Mayor, City Council, and School Committee who took part in these forums had another chance, through our channel, to share their vision on the future of Fall River with the voters.

The 2009 election cycle saw us take some chances when it came to some of our coverage.  In working with the Herald News on telecasting the two Mayoral Forums from Kuss Middle School prior to the November 3rd election, we attempted to use Internet technology to telecast the forums live.  Those experiments came with mixed results.

In attempting to telecast live we were using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology as provided by Skype, arguably the leader in this field.  Because of our limited resources, using this free technology allowed us to do something we had not done before, cablecast live from a location not at our BCC studios.

We tested the signal before the first forum and things looked like a go.  For those of you not in the know, delivering streaming video using Skype comes at the expense of the quality of video and audio that we eventually put out over the air.  That’s the nature of the technology.  We knew this going in and balanced that fact with the importance of getting this forum out to viewers as it happened.

The first ten minutes or so of the first forum on October 13th yielded promising results.  The video and audio quality were passable and things were going well.  Soon, however,  we lost the Internet connection at Kuss and when it was restored, the video signal was fine but the audio was not acceptable.  We stayed with the forum despite the poor audio in the hopes it would improve.  It did not.

Undeterred we returned two weeks later for the second forum on October 27th.  This night the video signal was poor but the audio was strong.  People had problems seeing the candidates but could hear them with no problems.  We considered the night a success.

Our coverage of the election returns on preliminary and general election nights proved challenging on a few fronts.  Again we were looking to provide remote coverage of the results from Government Center and speeches from the campaign headquarters of the Mayoral Candidates using Skype.  Again the video and audio was not of high quality that night but it was passable.  I would say that part of the night went fairly well.

Our biggest obstacle has been, and continues to be, the reporting of the election returns itself.  The system of reporting at Government Center allows for updates to reporters and residents in bunches.  The first group may have 12 precincts of numbers, the next 21 and the the third the entire 30 precinct count across the city.  All this happens within a matter of 10-15 minutes once the count gets downtown.

The challenge of television is to not just provide the numbers aurally, but also visually.  The reporting of the numbers from Government Center comes in the order that the candidates appear on the ballot, not the current order of finish.

So our crew (which is already being pulled in multiple directions just managing the telecast) is forced to re-input the numbers into a spreadsheet, sort them in the order of finish, then re-type them into our graphics computer for display on the air.  In the span of time to accomplish this, the next set of numbers are being reported downtown.  We are always trying to play catch-up.

I understand that viewers want the numbers.  And believe me, we want to give them.  It’s the organization of the numbers and the need to display them graphically that gives us problems.  I am open to ways to make this process easier for all of us involved.  Any ideas, let me know.

The other aspect to this year’s election was our ability to stream our live events out over FRCTV.org.  This allowed for those who did not subscribe to cable, or those from outside of Fall River, to view our coverage.  This proved to be very popular and will be a staple of our coverage going forward.

Thanks go out to our FRCTV staff and volunteers who helped out this election season.  Thanks also to former Mayor John Mitchell for serving as our election night analyst, providing the appropriate comments on what was happening in the election and, more importantly, what it all meant.

We learned a lot from the coverage of the 2009 election.  We took gambles.  We made mistakes.  We will continue to innovate.  In the end it was all worth it in terms of giving the voters of Fall River the information they needed to make informed choices at the ballot box…