Here’s my big confession: I do not like technology. I don’t trust it, I don’t enjoy it, and I generally believe that things work better without it. But I am running a PEG organization…..so I naturally deal with it.
Things were going just swimmingly at C-NET prior to March of 2020. Our tiny staff and crew of Penn State interns were traveling around the County with cameras, microphones and an array of other equipment to cover the meetings of sixteen different entities — Seven municipalities, two school districts, the County government, a regional Council of Governments, three regional Authorities, the local Library and Penn State. We produced over 500 programs in 2019.
by Ken Fellman, Of Council, Helmer, Conley and Kasselman, PA
Ken Fellman
As Americans have spent a significant amount of time on the internet during the pandemic, the federal government has created several programs addressing broadband deployment. Here, we address two major Congressional initiatives that provide significant funding to expand broadband networks. On March 11th, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which allocates funding to state, county, and municipal governments, and establishes that state and local governments receiving this funding may use it “to make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.” As of this writing (August 12, 2021), the House will be considering the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by the Senate, which establishes a $42,450,000,000 grant program to states who in turn award subgrants to local governments and other entities for broadband and other infrastructure projects.
I am sure you all might have memories of this during some point in your life when you asked the Magic 8-Ball, “What Does The Future Hold?”. Did you get the answer? Did it leave you with “Ask Again Later”? Well, I am here to tell you it doesn’t take the Magic 8-Ball to get a glimpse into the future of access television, it just takes JAG along with some of our guest panelists from our conference sessions. In this article I am going to explore briefly with you some of the topics we discussed at our conference, allow you to watch these again (or for the first time) and see what valuable information you can gather from it
by Dustin Dumas, Station Manager, South Orange Maplewood Television
Dustin Dumas
The 2021 Eastern Video Expo conference was designed to bring the media community together to learn and share and this year it was virtual. As the station manager for South Orange Maplewood Television, I was looking forward to attending to learn and share ideas of best practices as well as see what the vendors offered for our small station and, of course, attend the JAG Awards!
by Doug Seidel, Social Media Manager, External Relations Committee
Doug Seidel
I have been busy updating our JAGonline.org website, this is going to be a big improvement. I won’t spoil all of the surprises but you will notice the change when you see it. This update will fix some issues like the slideshow on the homepage, and improve the formatting of things like the logos for our organizational members. Things will fit better on the pages and links to other pages will be easier to find. I am pretty excited about this update (especially because it will make my life easier to update the site) and hope to share the site with you all sometime in September! In the meantime if there is anything you want to see improved on the website, or if you have updated information about your content on the website (i.e. station address, contact e-mail) send that information to dseidel@piscatawaynj.org so we can make this site even better.
By Jesse Lerman, President and CEO, TelVue Corporation
With accessibility gaining momentum both as a core mission and a compliance requirement, Closed Captioning is top of mind for Community Media broadcasters, and modern technology has made captioning affordable. As you move towards making your channels and programming accessible, what are the technology and workflow tradeoffs to consider?
Posted: August 31, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Member Spotlight: The New Post-Pandemic Normal Or You Want Us to Do What??
by Cindy Hahn, Executive Director, C-NET
Here’s my big confession: I do not like technology. I don’t trust it, I don’t enjoy it, and I generally believe that things work better without it. But I am running a PEG organization…..so I naturally deal with it.
Things were going just swimmingly at C-NET prior to March of 2020. Our tiny staff and crew of Penn State interns were traveling around the County with cameras, microphones and an array of other equipment to cover the meetings of sixteen different entities — Seven municipalities, two school districts, the County government, a regional Council of Governments, three regional Authorities, the local Library and Penn State. We produced over 500 programs in 2019.
Posted: August 31, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Understanding Broadband Grants
by Ken Fellman, Of Council, Helmer, Conley and Kasselman, PA
As Americans have spent a significant amount of time on the internet during the pandemic, the federal government has created several programs addressing broadband deployment. Here, we address two major Congressional initiatives that provide significant funding to expand broadband networks. On March 11th, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which allocates funding to state, county, and municipal governments, and establishes that state and local governments receiving this funding may use it “to make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.” As of this writing (August 12, 2021), the House will be considering the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by the Senate, which establishes a $42,450,000,000 grant program to states who in turn award subgrants to local governments and other entities for broadband and other infrastructure projects.
Posted: August 26, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Conference Review: 2021
by Dustin Dumas, Station Manager, South Orange Maplewood Television
The 2021 Eastern Video Expo conference was designed to bring the media community together to learn and share and this year it was virtual. As the station manager for South Orange Maplewood Television, I was looking forward to attending to learn and share ideas of best practices as well as see what the vendors offered for our small station and, of course, attend the JAG Awards!
Posted: August 23, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Social Media Stats – August, 2021
by Doug Seidel, Social Media Manager, External Relations Committee
I have been busy updating our JAGonline.org website, this is going to be a big improvement. I won’t spoil all of the surprises but you will notice the change when you see it. This update will fix some issues like the slideshow on the homepage, and improve the formatting of things like the logos for our organizational members. Things will fit better on the pages and links to other pages will be easier to find. I am pretty excited about this update (especially because it will make my life easier to update the site) and hope to share the site with you all sometime in September! In the meantime if there is anything you want to see improved on the website, or if you have updated information about your content on the website (i.e. station address, contact e-mail) send that information to dseidel@piscatawaynj.org so we can make this site even better.
Posted: August 12, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Closed Captioning and Workflow Considerations for PEG Broadcasters
By Jesse Lerman, President and CEO, TelVue Corporation
With accessibility gaining momentum both as a core mission and a compliance requirement, Closed Captioning is top of mind for Community Media broadcasters, and modern technology has made captioning affordable. As you move towards making your channels and programming accessible, what are the technology and workflow tradeoffs to consider?