From the album Rubberneck:

Bended knee
Nine years old
Waitin’ for…
Just one word!

I was thinkin’ of all the things
My daddy told me of
Sin and salvation and
Manhood and dignity…
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I stopped by Raleigh’s community access television studio yesterday at lunch, hoping to find out how to get my producer’s membership renewed. I walked around inside for five minutes before finding someone to help me. His name was Edward and he ran the tapes.

The studio has changed quite a bit since I took the field production class back in 1996 or so. Gone are the tape deck editing stations. In place is a monster PowerMac with a huge flat-panel screen running Final Cut Pro. The racks of SVHS decks are gone, too, replaced by an all-digital station. Producers take their SVHS, DVPRO or DVD media and feed it into the system 96 hours before airtime. The tape gets digitized and placed onto their multi-terabyte server, where a Crispin suite schedules and airs programs. I was amazed at the technology.

The studio is also greatly improved, with all-digital sound and video boards, and three chromakey-capable digital studio cameras. The studio room has had baffling added and one large wall is a chroma wall. Gone are the Wayne’s World-esque toys: this stuff is pro quality! Though you’re free to do an Extreme Close-up should the mood strike.

I don’t have basic cable now, so I can’t see what is being shown now, but I bet the video looks good, even if the content is a little lacking. You don’t need to subscribe to cable to be a producer, though. All you need to be is a Raleigh resident and you have the keys to the kingdom.

Well, that, and you have to get trained on the stuff, which seems to be a stumbling block. I didn’t see anyone working with the equipment when I went in. I wonder if the staff is even fully trained on the gear. Edward couldn’t tell me when the next classes will be, so I’m stuck waiting for the time being.

Blogging is a cool way to share your thoughts with the world, and community access television seems to be a logical extension – telling your story with video. Already, I have a lot of ideas for shows, each of which remains my property to do with as I please. The only caveats are that the shows need to air on community television at some point, and they have to be non-commercial. Beyond that, your imagination is the only limit. Seriously. There are some community access programs out there which push the very boundaries of First Amendment rights. Indeed, commnunity access television enjoys the strongest of free-speech protection.

Anyhow, I can’t wait to take my first class with the new studio gear. Then the hard part begins – producing a program people want to watch.

Stay tuned!