Committees Corner – February 2022
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Bob Duthaler (Chair) Doug Seidel (Vice Chair))
The Executive Board is working on topics for the general meeting, webinar topics and panelists, and Managers Roundtables topics. We are discussing these with committee chairs and look to address station operations, pending legislation and its impact on NJ, issues with cable providers that treat town stations unfairly, and intergration of Zoom meetings into live meetings. Look for these to begin in March.
FINANCE COMMITTEE: Linda Besink (Chair), TBA (Vice Chair)
JAG’s 2022 Budget was introduced at the January general meeting, to be voted on at the February meeting. We’re also off to a very good start for the year, with about one-third of members having renewed their membership for 2022 – many thanks to all you early birds! Speaking of membership, if you have not seen a dues invoice for 2022, please email JAG Treasurer Linda Besink at lbesink@gmail.com and you will receive it asap.
PRODUCTION COMMITTEE: Lee Beckerman (Chair), Anthony Pagliuco (Vice Chair)
The Production committee met virtually on January 25th.
The production of testimonials are on hold for the moment as it is felt that there are currently enough in circulation. Craig Coughlin was elected to an unprecedented third term as Democratic speaker of the NJ Assembly so his testimonial is still current for this year.
The committee discussed the priorities for producing videos. We felt that realistically, we probably can only hope to produce one video in the near future and the committee agreed that the Sales Tape is most important for the organization. It is a marketing tool that we as an organization should have available to promote membership. Geoff, Bob and Lee will meet in early March to discuss a script so the production committee can move forward. The “How to shoot an Interview” video will be placed on hold.
Doug reported that, after almost a full year of operation, we only have 51 subscribers to our YouTube Channel. In addition, it’s been difficult to get members to contribute content to the channel, perhaps because of the health crisis, and traffic to the site has fallen off since the summer. We must continue to remind the membership to contribute their finished productions to the channel. To increase interest and traffic to the YouTube channel, Doug will try to mention it more in his Facebook posting as well as sending out monthly reminders to the membership. Doug will also make sure that the videos from our panels at the NJLOM are posted on YouTube.
The Access New Jersey show is being placed on the back burner. When the pandemic clears and more of our stations begin to produce relevant content, we might consider reviving the concept.
EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Geoffrey Belinfante (Chair), Doug Seidel (Vice Chair)
This month we on the External Relations Committee have formed two new subcommittees that will allow members to work on committee projects without spending the time necessary to attend monthly meetings. If you have an expertise or interest in Social Media marketing, now you can join our Social Media subcommittee and help us spread the word about JAG. If you like to write but don’t have enough time to worry about websites, trade show booths and the like, you could join our Newsletter subcommittee and help us create informative content for our monthly newsletter. We welcome your input in any way you like. Just let me know at geoffbel512@gmail.com .
Legislation Committee: Dave Garb (Chair), Linda Besink (Vice Chair)
The Legislative Committee has been getting quite busy recently. Our attention has been pulled in many different directions and we are keeping our eyes on all of it.
Here is a brief overview of recent events:
1.-The Protecting Community Television Act was reintroduced a couple months ago. Congressman Donald Payne and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman were the first from New Jersey to co-sponsor the Bill. The Act changes the language in the Cable Act of 1934 a bit to ward off the effects of the 621 Order that could very well hurt our Franchise fee payments due to “In-Kind” franchise obligations.
A. The committee is working to have all our Representatives and Senators support it as well.
B. We are now an Organizational Member of the ACM (Alliance for Community Media). With their support we are going to be organizing on-line meetings with our NJ members of Congress to discuss their support.
2. (IIJA) The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has been holding webinars to see how to best implement their grant program for Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD). More will follow once their plan is in place.
3. Broadband, Broadband and More Broadband are the topics down in DC. There are many bills floating through both houses, many of which are geared towards rural, local municipal and under served areas.
4. No I haven’t forgotten about Closed Captioning. It is still on the FCC’s minds. However, over the last few weeks, all has been quiet.
There are many other issues poking their heads out through the cracks, such as Channel Slamming and Simulcasting. As you can imagine, the Legislative Committee constantly needs your eyes, ears, thoughts and contacts. We need to keep PEG fresh in the minds of all of our lawmakers and stay current on very quick moving changes that might hinder our ability to communicate to our residents. For further information on our work, or if you would like to join our committee, please contact me.
JAG members are always welcome to join this committee and your involvement is greatly needed. If you would like to join our team, please contact me at 732-376-6030 ext. 23538 or davegarb@paps.net
Membership Committee: Stephanie Gibbons (Chair), George Fairfield (Vice Chair)
George Fairfield was elected vice-chair and Linda Besink was elected as secretary.
The committee plans on expanding by reaching out to members from various membership categories in order to be more inclusive and gain a better understanding of their particular needs from the organization.
Invoices for your 2022 JAG dues have been sent out from the Finance committee. Please look out for the invoice and if you have received it please let JAG’s Treasurer Linda know. If you haven’t received your invoice, DEFINITELY contact Linda at Lbesink@gmail.com.
Princeton Community Television has just announced its relaunch as Central New Jersey Network (CNJN).
We want to make sure you are getting the most of your member benefits so please let us know it you are not getting information from the listserv, newsletter, access to the member’s only section of the website and access to the Connect server for sharing content. Please contact me at: Stgibbons@verizon.net.
Leadership Development Committee: Doug Seidel (Chair), Dave Garb (Vice Chair)
Leadership is focusing on strengthening our marketing plan while supporting the work of our other committees. Over the next few months we hope to have a brand new implemented marketing plan, and with our newly formed subcommittees we should be in good shape to jump right into action. The leadership from JAG’s other committees make up this committee, however we are always looking for future leaders within the active members of JAG. Please reach out to the Leadership Development Committee to find out how you can become more active within the Jersey Access Group.
JAG Awards Committee: George Fairfield (Chairs), Ronni Garrett (Vice Chair)
The JAG Awards are open for submissions. They will close on February 28, 2022. Go to https://jagonline.org/categories/ to see which category you want to enter or go straight to https://jagonline.org/enter/ to enter. We are looking for judges. If you would like to be a judging site or know a facility, please email gfairfield@piscatawaynj.org.
Conference Committee: Bob Duthaler/ Geoffrey Belinfante (Co-Chair), George Fairfield (Vice Chair)
While your conference committee is still working out the details of the venue for the Trade Show, we have made some progress on the topics for the workshops. Our workshops are still a work in progress. Please let us know if there are workshop topics that you the members would like to see discussed—this is your conference and your input is always welcome. In addition to topics for workshops, we are also in the process of putting together a wish list of vendors we would like to invite to the trade show. Once again, if there are products or a product category you would like to see represented at the show, please let us know. Your input is always welcome—geoffbel512@gmail.com
Committees Corner – February 2022
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Bob Duthaler (Chair) Doug Seidel (Vice Chair))
The Executive Board is working on topics for the general meeting, webinar topics and panelists, and Managers Roundtables topics. We are discussing these with committee chairs and look to address station operations, pending legislation and its impact on NJ, issues with cable providers that treat town stations unfairly, and intergration of Zoom meetings into live meetings. Look for these to begin in March.
FINANCE COMMITTEE: Linda Besink (Chair), TBA (Vice Chair)
JAG’s 2022 Budget was introduced at the January general meeting, to be voted on at the February meeting. We’re also off to a very good start for the year, with about one-third of members having renewed their membership for 2022 – many thanks to all you early birds! Speaking of membership, if you have not seen a dues invoice for 2022, please email JAG Treasurer Linda Besink at lbesink@gmail.com and you will receive it asap.
PRODUCTION COMMITTEE: Lee Beckerman (Chair), Anthony Pagliuco (Vice Chair)
The Production committee met virtually on January 25th.
The production of testimonials are on hold for the moment as it is felt that there are currently enough in circulation. Craig Coughlin was elected to an unprecedented third term as Democratic speaker of the NJ Assembly so his testimonial is still current for this year.
The committee discussed the priorities for producing videos. We felt that realistically, we probably can only hope to produce one video in the near future and the committee agreed that the Sales Tape is most important for the organization. It is a marketing tool that we as an organization should have available to promote membership. Geoff, Bob and Lee will meet in early March to discuss a script so the production committee can move forward. The “How to shoot an Interview” video will be placed on hold.
Doug reported that, after almost a full year of operation, we only have 51 subscribers to our YouTube Channel. In addition, it’s been difficult to get members to contribute content to the channel, perhaps because of the health crisis, and traffic to the site has fallen off since the summer. We must continue to remind the membership to contribute their finished productions to the channel. To increase interest and traffic to the YouTube channel, Doug will try to mention it more in his Facebook posting as well as sending out monthly reminders to the membership. Doug will also make sure that the videos from our panels at the NJLOM are posted on YouTube.
The Access New Jersey show is being placed on the back burner. When the pandemic clears and more of our stations begin to produce relevant content, we might consider reviving the concept.
EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Geoffrey Belinfante (Chair), Doug Seidel (Vice Chair)
This month we on the External Relations Committee have formed two new subcommittees that will allow members to work on committee projects without spending the time necessary to attend monthly meetings. If you have an expertise or interest in Social Media marketing, now you can join our Social Media subcommittee and help us spread the word about JAG. If you like to write but don’t have enough time to worry about websites, trade show booths and the like, you could join our Newsletter subcommittee and help us create informative content for our monthly newsletter. We welcome your input in any way you like. Just let me know at geoffbel512@gmail.com .
Legislation Committee: Dave Garb (Chair), Linda Besink (Vice Chair)
The Legislative Committee has been getting quite busy recently. Our attention has been pulled in many different directions and we are keeping our eyes on all of it.
Here is a brief overview of recent events:
1.-The Protecting Community Television Act was reintroduced a couple months ago. Congressman Donald Payne and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman were the first from New Jersey to co-sponsor the Bill. The Act changes the language in the Cable Act of 1934 a bit to ward off the effects of the 621 Order that could very well hurt our Franchise fee payments due to “In-Kind” franchise obligations.
A. The committee is working to have all our Representatives and Senators support it as well.
B. We are now an Organizational Member of the ACM (Alliance for Community Media). With their support we are going to be organizing on-line meetings with our NJ members of Congress to discuss their support.
2. (IIJA) The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has been holding webinars to see how to best implement their grant program for Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD). More will follow once their plan is in place.
3. Broadband, Broadband and More Broadband are the topics down in DC. There are many bills floating through both houses, many of which are geared towards rural, local municipal and under served areas.
4. No I haven’t forgotten about Closed Captioning. It is still on the FCC’s minds. However, over the last few weeks, all has been quiet.
There are many other issues poking their heads out through the cracks, such as Channel Slamming and Simulcasting. As you can imagine, the Legislative Committee constantly needs your eyes, ears, thoughts and contacts. We need to keep PEG fresh in the minds of all of our lawmakers and stay current on very quick moving changes that might hinder our ability to communicate to our residents. For further information on our work, or if you would like to join our committee, please contact me.
JAG members are always welcome to join this committee and your involvement is greatly needed. If you would like to join our team, please contact me at 732-376-6030 ext. 23538 or davegarb@paps.net
Membership Committee: Stephanie Gibbons (Chair), George Fairfield (Vice Chair)
George Fairfield was elected vice-chair and Linda Besink was elected as secretary.
The committee plans on expanding by reaching out to members from various membership categories in order to be more inclusive and gain a better understanding of their particular needs from the organization.
Invoices for your 2022 JAG dues have been sent out from the Finance committee. Please look out for the invoice and if you have received it please let JAG’s Treasurer Linda know. If you haven’t received your invoice, DEFINITELY contact Linda at Lbesink@gmail.com.
Princeton Community Television has just announced its relaunch as Central New Jersey Network (CNJN).
We want to make sure you are getting the most of your member benefits so please let us know it you are not getting information from the listserv, newsletter, access to the member’s only section of the website and access to the Connect server for sharing content. Please contact me at: Stgibbons@verizon.net.
Leadership Development Committee: Doug Seidel (Chair), Dave Garb (Vice Chair)
Leadership is focusing on strengthening our marketing plan while supporting the work of our other committees. Over the next few months we hope to have a brand new implemented marketing plan, and with our newly formed subcommittees we should be in good shape to jump right into action. The leadership from JAG’s other committees make up this committee, however we are always looking for future leaders within the active members of JAG. Please reach out to the Leadership Development Committee to find out how you can become more active within the Jersey Access Group.
JAG Awards Committee: George Fairfield (Chairs), Ronni Garrett (Vice Chair)
The JAG Awards are open for submissions. They will close on February 28, 2022. Go to https://jagonline.org/categories/ to see which category you want to enter or go straight to https://jagonline.org/enter/ to enter. We are looking for judges. If you would like to be a judging site or know a facility, please email gfairfield@piscatawaynj.org.
Conference Committee: Bob Duthaler/ Geoffrey Belinfante (Co-Chair), George Fairfield (Vice Chair)
While your conference committee is still working out the details of the venue for the Trade Show, we have made some progress on the topics for the workshops. Our workshops are still a work in progress. Please let us know if there are workshop topics that you the members would like to see discussed—this is your conference and your input is always welcome. In addition to topics for workshops, we are also in the process of putting together a wish list of vendors we would like to invite to the trade show. Once again, if there are products or a product category you would like to see represented at the show, please let us know. Your input is always welcome—geoffbel512@gmail.com