Montclair TV34 had to adapt to the COVID-19 Pandemic       

  by Rick Gearhart, Montclair



Like many other entities, Montclair TV34 had to adapt to the COVID-19 Pandemic.  The last official meeting that was in person was on March 9, 2020 – A Planning Board Meeting.  Once the state of emergency took effect, the township immediately found a solution to host our meetings virtually.  The Township uses Webex, a virtual meeting platform.  To get these on TV, I use the program OBS – this allows me to capture the Webex window and stream it directly to my broadcast server (and Youtube for online viewers).  The online meeting program works well with not only the Council Meetings.  With the pandemic, I realized the importance of live video.  All official meetings are streamed live, and will be streamed live even after the pandemic is over.  We also implemented a call-in feature allowing the public to participate.  I hope to get back to in person meetings sometime this year, as the Township purchased a new TriCaster model and 3 PTZ cameras, which gives us the ability to stream live in HD to both our cable channel and Youtube.  With Youtube Live, the meetings are available right away after they finish – there is no wait time for anyone that missed the meeting.  The TriCaster was installed the same month that the pandemic hit.

JAG AWARDS: MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD; ENTER THE JAG AWARDS

JAG AWARDS IS OFFICIALLY OPEN!

JAG AWARDS CLOSE FEBRUARY 28

Winning an award is exciting news.  It feels good to be acknowledged for the hard work you and your team has done.  Even more important is the fact that winning an award can be used as a great marketing tool.  You can announce it to your administration; send a press release to your local media outlets; include it on your website and social media; include it in a newsletter.  It can also lead to greater involvement from your viewers.

JAG Joins the Alliance for Community Media

  by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair



Members of JAG, I am pleased to announce officially that we have become an Organizational Member of the ACM – the Alliance for Community Media.  The ACM’s mission is closely related  to that of our own organization.  They advocate, promote and preserve the rights of communities to have access to media training, production, distribution, civic engagement and education in support of diverse community voices.  This is achieved through Public, Educational and Government Access channels and other forms of media.

TelVue: Workflow, Captioning, Apps, Monetization and More

by Jesse Lerman, President/CEO, TelVue



Broadcasting in an increasingly connected world means your community channels and programming need to be accessible and available everywhere – on cable, streaming, over-the-top, mobile apps, and social media.  Modern broadcast systems have evolved to make all of this easier to manage and automate, from instant publishing to automatically adding multi-language closed captions to live and on-demand programming.  Captioning your programming delivers even more value to your diverse communities, and also makes your government meetings fully searchable.  Reaching more viewers on new platforms opens up opportunities for revenue generation – including sponsorship, membership, pay-per-view, pay-per-download, and subscription models.

JCETV: Origin and present day status of Jersey City’s Educational and Municipal Channels.


My video production experience began in the mid 1980’s when cable television came to Jersey City.  At Seton Hall University in the early 1970’s I was taught filmmaking and television production on the then “portable” 1 inch machines. I also learned a lot about broadcasting and hosting a radio show for three years on the pre-Heavy Metal WSOU.  But the 1980’s arrival of Suburban Cable to the second largest city in New Jersey looked to me like uncharted territory for producing local commercials.

Federal Communications Law and Policy: What to Expect in 2022


After years of frenzied federal activity in the communications space, particularly by the Federal Communications Commission, 2021 was a relatively slow year for local governments in terms of battling proposals that would harm community interests and PEG access operations.  On the flip side, this reprieve also meant that little has been done to curb the harmful impacts of past laws and decisions.  So, what will 2022 bring? 

New JVC PTZ Cameras for Remote Production Over the Internet (REMI)


CONNECTED CAM™ Line Offers High-quality, Low-latency IP Video Transmission

Producing live video broadcasts is never easy, but it is especially difficult during pandemic times with limited personnel and less travel options. In many cases, the traditional approach of shipping production equipment from location to location with a professional crew may not be an option. Ensuring you still get the content you need in this new environment becomes much easier with the right tools in place.

Social Media Stats – January 2022


by Doug Seidel, Social Media Manager, External Relations Committee


Now is your chance to let us know what you think of our newsletter. You can use the link here or the link that you will receive via e-mail to fill out a quick survey. Please take the time to fill this out, it can really help out JAG. We want to make our newsletter the best resource it can be for our membership and your feedback will help make it the best it can be. Survey will close February 28.
I also wanted to remind everyone to send submissions for the JAG YouTube channel. Right now only a few stations are being featured on the channel. You don’t want to miss out on the chance to get more exposure for your videos. There are links below to check out our channel as well as my e-mail for submissions. I hope to see our YouTube channel gain some more momentum this year and you all can help by keeping a constant update in our featured videos. Thanks in advance to all our members.

President’s Message – January 2022


by Bob Duthaler


Hail and Farewell

We began 2022 with the Annual Board of Trustees Reorganization Meeting and the election of officers with the following results:

Bob Duthaler- President, Doug Seidel- Vice President, Stephanie Gibbons- Corresponding Secretary, Anthony Pagliuco- Recording Secretary, and Linda Besink- Treasurer.

Standing Committees and Chairs are: Bob Duthaler- Executive, Linda Besink- Finance, Geoffrey Belinfante -External Relations, and Lee Beckerman- Production.

We have re-established the following Ad Hoc Committees and Chairs: Membership- Stephanie Gibbons, Legislative- Dave Garb, Leadership Development – Doug Seidel, Conference- Bob Duthaler & Geoffrey Belinfante, and JAG Awards- George Fairfield.

President’s Message – December 2021


by Bob Duthaler

Annual Holiday Wish List

It is now officially the start of the Holiday Season, with Thanksgiving just past us and the New Year just a few weeks away.  Every year at my house, we get ready to celebrate Christmas as my wife starts working on the kids Christmas List!  They are getting older, and it becomes more of a challenge, plus the gifts become more expensive.  The same can be said for running your station.

What would be on your list this year for your station?  There is no wrong answer in this situation.  Each of our stations operates differently from others across the state and they vary greatly.  But each has the same core principle, to inform the community in which they serve.  When you make your wish list, keep in mind your community, their needs and how as a station you can serve them.  You should think of your station as both a marketing arm of your township and a main source for information.