Reading contest winner is videotaped by WLOO getting a special ride in a fire truck.
Now located in the beautiful Solarium building, Waterloo TV has positioned itself in the media landscape to capture special moments and bring Waterloo residents the content they need and want.
by Mary Cardona
It’s been six years since LaRon Davis began working at Waterloo TV, and about a year and a half since he became manager. From the very start, Davis was impressed with the positive can-do energy. “It’s an amazing thing that a town this size [population 3,700] has such an active station. The whole city – from the mayor on down – is very supportive of me and the station. Everyone understands Waterloo TV is here for our community. I never have to explain to anyone why we should have this.”
WLOO TV Manager LaRon Davis
Davis manages Waterloo TV part-time and has the help of another part-timer, some volunteers who do it for fun, and a very involved and supportive cable board. “My oversight board is the best,” said Davis. “They are one of the best groups of people I have ever worked with. They understand the goal of the station and they really want the station to be here for residents.”
WLOO Videographer Christopher Weihert
The commitment to the station, which was founded in 1988, is best exemplified by its move in March from city hall to the “glass palace,” the old Perry Printing building now called the Solarium. Perry Printing at one time was the largest business in Waterloo employing 800 people. When operations closed for good in 2010, it almost succumbed to the wrecking ball. Now it houses Waterloo TV and five other small businesses and is a wonderful place for large events.
“We wanted to expand our services to the community and city hall had limited space,” said Davis. “The owner of the building offered us a discount as a community organization.” The new space consists of an office, a room equipped with a green screen that is used as a studio, and a dedicated podcast area. There are also several shared spaces, including a kitchen and several rooms of various sizes for events. Davis is “really excited” about the ease with which they will be able to cover events held there. In June, Waterloo TV recorded an all-day workshop called Uniting for Wisconsin’s Civic Health. The organizers brought together residents from a four-county area to learn skills to help them create a more connected and “civically healthy” Wisconsin. Davis was in the process of editing the footage at the time of the interview.
The new studio is the site of three new series programs. Waterloo Resident Artist highlights local artists and their work. Another program, Conservationist Landowners of Jefferson County, features landowners who have committed their property toward the conservationist goals of preserving and enhancing native vegetation and watersheds using either bioremediation (using specific plantings and custom alterations of the terrain to restore the land to an ecologically healthy status) or habitat restoration (removing invasive plant species and restoring native plants to the landscape). The program brings on professionals to explain bioremediation and how it works, and who guide viewers through two ongoing Jefferson County bioremediation projects. The program also follows two conservationist landowners, one who is restoring an oak savannah/prairie landscape and the other who has just begun restoring the shoreline vegetation on their newly acquired property.
The third series, Waterloo Gardens, is the result of a cable board discussion. “The cable board was discussing program ideas,” explained Davis, “and Laura Cotting mentioned that many of her friends enjoy gardening and enjoy sharing tips and talking about their harvests online. She thought it would make a good show so she asked some friends if they would be interested.” Four of them now make up a panel that discusses urban gardening. All of them used to live on a farm and now they have reconnected with their roots in a city setting. The first show was shot all in-studio. Now several shows have featured tours of their own gardens and they plan to show how gardens change through the seasons.
The Waterloo Cable TV Regulatory Board: Laura Cotting, Kate Abitz, Paula Jacobs, and Chad Teubert
Waterloo TV has always covered community events and and city meetings, including the city council and school board. “Our city government strongly believes this coverage benefits our residents and our community,” said Davis. In recent years it has also added high school sports. Some kids he’s talked with want to do sports commentary and Davis hopes to do more with the high school drama club. “I think Waterloo TV could play a role in inspiring kids to be active in the creative arts, using video as an outlet for their own stories. It may also spark their interest in media as a career.”
Davis also noted that because media has an outsize influence on the lives of youth, schools need to make sure students are learning about it. Besides consuming media, kids today are also doing a lot of self-production. “There is so much self-production today -- they can upload and download media of their choice. It’s a good idea to train them how to make it and how to evaluate it.”
Last summer Waterloo TV collaborated with the local elementary school to create a two-week class on scriptwriting and TV production. Davis talked to the class about what to keep in mind when translating their scripts to video. The completed student recordings were then sent to Davis, who edited them using a “give and take process” with each student via email. Then all the shows were put together and uploaded to YouTube. Davis was impressed with their abilities. “These fourth and fifth graders were very smart, and they did a great job,” he said.
“Everyone today is trying to transition to social media platforms and other digital networks. We have been working on that a lot over the last year. We want to get our programming out to residents in several ways so that people have a choice of viewing options.” Waterloo TV posts completed programs on YouTube and Facebook as WLOOCATV and livestreams meetings. The city also has two cable channels on the Charter Spectrum system. A graphical community bulletin board runs on channel 991 and video programs air on 992. WLOO is also venturing into the radio field. It has just set up a podcasting studio and Davis would like to start with a bimonthly program. “I thought it would be a good idea to offer podcasting to our community. Podcasting has become a very popular way that people consume media.”
Nearly all programs are produced by Waterloo TV, but the station also accepts programs from residents, including church services. The station transitioned to HD several years back and a digital server, a Leightronix Ultra Nexus, feeds the cable channels. An old analog modulator, the equipment required to be used by Charter Spectrum to connect with its system, is still holding up after decades of use.
The biggest challenge for Waterloo TV has been to find someone to fill the part-time videographer position. Davis said, “A lot of creatives like to explore a larger dream. Bigger productions. Bigger cities. I’ve learned that it is sometimes hard to get these people’s attention to invest their time in a small community. Or when they come, they want to work on their own projects. A good candidate is hard to find. Someone who will stick around. I’ve come to just accept this as an ongoing challenge and keep pushing forward.”
LaRon became interested in media arts after high school. He attended Madison Media Institute in Madison to pursue a recording/engineering degree, but ultimately received his degree in electrical engineering. For a while he left the area but returned to Waterloo in 2017 and went into business for himself. When he decided he wanted to get more into media creation, he came across the opportunity to work part-time at Waterloo TV. He applied and got the job. At the time Jesus Burgos was managing the station. “In the beginning I mostly covered city meetings, but whenever possible Jesus would show me how to work with the programming equipment and when he decided to retire, I was already trained in how to operate the station. I put in an application and here I am! I like that I get to do what I like to do, like editing, multitrack audio, and social media marketing, and it provides me with an opportunity to learn more and be an inspiration to others as well. I also like living in a small community. It’s not overwhelming. And I like the people I work with.”
Serving the mission of Waterloo TV has been rewarding for Davis. “When I’m able to help people in the community learn about the services the city has to offer residents, I really enjoy that. For example, we did a show featuring a nature walk in the Garman Nature Preserve with the public library. We thought a lot of people might not know about it. We received lots of comments on that show. I really like that Waterloo TV helps people know what is going on and what our community has to offer.”
Davis also talked about how Waterloo TV has been able to be there for some special personal moments that speak volumes about what Waterloo is all about.
A first-grade girl won a reading contest and was going to get a ride on a fire truck. Her mom contacted Davis, asking if he could record her atop the truck arriving at her school. “So, we did, and we also showed the excited school children greeting her and did an interview with her grandmother, who was very proud of her. It was just one of those small things that happen. But it was one of those moments. And if we can shine a light on those special moments so that everyone can see what the community is all about…it is what we are here to do.”
