Volunteers make community-based TV succeed in Prescott

“Only local media can really focus on local issues and events while remaining accountable to the local residents who use it.”  - Larry Imm, Coordinator, Prescott Community Television

Nestled at the confluence of the St. Croix River and the Mississippi, the City of Prescott, population 4,300, is just over the border from Minnesota and not far from the Twin Cities.  It has a long history of settlement by Europeans dating back to the 1830’s when a trading post was established here to take advantage of the strategic river location.  Its historic significance and its ties to the rivers affect the city in unique ways. 

In the 1990’s, when the City of Prescott passed Title 9 Chapter 3 empowering the city to enter into a franchise agreement with a cable provider, the ordinance included the requirement that a PEG (Public, Education, and Government) cable access channel be provided.  Comcast, which serves the greater Twin Cities area, constructed the cable system here and Prescott Community Television Channel 18 was born.  PCTV is still on channel 18 today. 

The station is a department of the city and Larry Imm, Coordinator of PCTV, works part-time to manage the station as an employee of the city.  PCTV prioritizes coverage of the Prescott City Council and the Prescott Planning Commission, but it also covers other meetings upon request.  The council chambers has a few NewTek PTZ cameras mounted on walls and a large TOA mic preamp mixer, all of which feeds into a BlackMagic ATEM Extreme.  “We've always been a strong G-station,” said Larry.  “Until recently, we also had a comprehensive E-mission, and we do accept video submissions from the public.”

A void was created when the high school dropped its video production class that contributed to programming on channel 18.  But PCTV covers a lot of high school sports with the help of teenagers, including girls and boys basketball (both JV and Varsity), football, volleyball, and baseball.  Students are responsible for covering volleyball and basketball, and some work with adult volunteers on the junior varsity and varsity games that involve more complex production set-ups.  Larry explained, “At our most complicated shoots, we will use Canon XA-65 cameras and a Behringer 4-channel mixing board, all connected to a BlackMagic ATEM Mini-Pro for switching, compositing and streaming. Our scoring software renders a green-screen background which is keyed into the current shot. A Hollyland transceiver allows us to get endline shots wirelessly. A couple of table-clamped 11" monitors allows our announcers and producer to see what's going on.”  Students working on these complex productions learn a lot about the technical aspects of video production beyond framing, lighting, and basic audio. 

While residents in Prescott have never really shown up at PCTV’s door and asked to be trained on production equipment to produce a program for the channel, they do submit notices about events for play between programs.  And the station’s success is entirely dependent on the cadre of volunteers that enjoy doing video production and do almost all of the programming seen on its cable and YouTube channels.   PCTV’s oversight commission, which consists of four members from the community and the mayor, meets at least once per year to handle financial matters, including passage of the annual budget and approval of larger purchases.  Two of these commission members, Heather and Chris Hove, like to do production work and volunteer frequently.  Other volunteers working for PCTV include Dallas Eggers, Tom Oss, and Fred Booth as well as the many  teenagers “who are reliable and willing.” 

Important community events like the Prescott Hall of Fame Induction, the Great River Road Dedication, and children’s choir concerts also get put on the production schedule.  The station also likes to cover educational presentations on a wide range of topics.  Many are sponsored jointly by the Prescott Public Library and the school district’s Community Education Office or by Freedom Park, the Great River Road Visitor and Learning Center.  Over the last year or so PCTV has recorded presentations by historians, librarians, astronauts, and naturalists.  By providing video coverage, PCTV has broadened the audience for local history lectures like “Logging on the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers” and “Black History of Prescott, Hastings, Point Douglas, and Trimbelle;” gardening presentations like “Native Prairie Gardens and Plants” and “Growing Native Plants for Pollinators;” and current issues talks like “Modern Day Slavery and Exploitation in our Hometowns” and “Financial and Computer Security.” 

It was Larry's wife Lisa that started their active involvement in community TV when Dallas Eggers approached them and asked her to cover school board meetings.  She used to do a lot of videography and editing for the station and by 2016, he was joining her.  In 2021 Larry took over from Barry Waters, handling the management duties besides managing his own business, PC Bonkers, a small business computer repair and consulting business.  “I do something for the station every day.  The hours vary widely.  My focus is technical, so I find it fun to make all the equipment parts work together.” 

When asked what kind of impact the station makes, Imm said, “Is the spread of information a tangible impact? Is lots of people deciding to come down to City Hall to make their views heard a tangible impact?  When attendance at a council meeting jumps from three at a typical meeting to over 120, it feels very tangible!”  Imm is referring to Prescott’s coverage of a city council meeting that ended up being shared and viewed widely on social media because it included an agenda item that was “apparently contentious.”  When the council took up this issue again for a final vote, “the audience chairs were packed before the meeting even started.”

Many challenges face PEG television said Larry.  “Statewide policy changes have not worked in our favor.  A declining subscriber base means steadily declining revenues. It's hard to recruit more volunteers.”   But he strongly believes in the mission of PEG access television.  “Before the Internet and streaming services were widely available, the channel was our residents' only way to receive timely information from the city regarding local events or notices. I remember seeing my first "boil water" notice on a public access text-based slideshow before it was published in the newspaper. Today, only local PEG media can really focus on local issues and events while remaining accountable to the local residents who use it. Large, local affiliates, like KSTP or KARE, will scrape the surface to produce a 3-minute story with no depth or context. It's up to us to provide the long story.”

Algoma Community Television looks for the next generation of leadership

Al Reinhart has been involved in ACT since its founding in the 1980’s.

Al Reinhart used to own a small business in town called Reinhart Radio, TV and VCR.  In the 1960’s, he sold and repaired radios and TVs.  In the 1970’s, he started loaning out VCR’s and renting videos, moving on to DVD’s when those came on the scene.  When Cablevision wired the city in the 1980’s, Al agreed to serve on the Cable Committee and in 1983, the city’s PEG (Public, Education, and Government) channels began cablecasting on channels 19, 20, and 21. 

Reinhart closed Reinhart Radio, TV and VCR in 1990, but his association with community television has continued up until this day.  He’s been at it now for 40 years.  He took over management of Algoma Community Television in 2000 – a very part-time position -- and with the help of various community members through the years – most recently Amber Shallow, the former City Treasurer, Algoma Community TV offers residents the local coverage they need. 

“There’s no newspaper in town,” said Reinhart, “so I think it’s made a big difference. Algoma Community TV is the only way people can find out what’s going on.” 

Today Algoma residents and anyone with a cable TV subscription from Two Rivers to Sister Bay can see a variety of local shows and imported entertainment programs on Charter Spectrum (Charter) 981 (the Library/Public Access channel) and Government coverage on channel 982.  Algoma has one of the highest penetration rates in the state, with nearly 60% of its households subscribing to cable TV. 

City and county officials appreciate having the access channel because between the video coverage of meetings and the monthly talk show, Your City, Your County, local government can get out good, accurate information.  “Because of Algoma Community TV, there are fewer questions and concerns about what the city and county are doing, because people know what they are doing, and why they are doing it,” said Reinhart. 

Wide shot of the city council meeting.

Besides live and repeat playback of City Council meetings; the Personnel and Finance Committee, which plans the agenda each month; the Algoma School District Board Meetings; Kewaunee County Board meetings, which are recorded by the County and brought to Algoma for playback; and other committee coverage on an “as needed” basis the Government Channel airs two programs that Wisconsin Eye is sharing with the 52 WCM member media centers across the state, Rewind and Newsmakers, as well as its own monthly talk show, Your City, Your County. 

Reinhart started Your City, Your County about ten years ago with JT Pelt, the owner of the now closed newspaper, The County Times.   The host of the show is Bob Gray, a retired radio announcer from Sturgeon Bay, who does the program for a small stipend.  Reinhart asked him to step in on an interim basis eight or nine years ago and he never left.  “He told me, ‘I just love doing it,’ and he does such a good job,” said Reinhart.  Shallow echoed that assessment saying, “He has the perfect voice for it.  He’s phenomenal.”  Gray sits down with his guest before the show for about fifteen minutes and finds out what they want to talk about. Then the cameras roll.  The shows run 30 minutes or more.  Representative Joel Kitchens (R – Sturgeon Bay) appears a couple times a year.  Other guests include the city and the county administrator, the mayor, city and county department heads, the sheriff, and committee chairs.  At the time of the interview, Reinhart was planning a show featuring a nurse from the Kewaunee County Health Department talking about COVID, where it stands now, and what precautions can still be taken. 

Credit roll at the end of Your City Your County.

Shallow is responsible for programming both channels.  Her top priority for the government channel is to make sure anyone who wants to see meetings can, by repeating them twice daily at various times.  Her goal with the library channel is to make it interesting, and she has a lot of fun doing it. 

Amber Shallow

Shallow has been working a few hours at the station every week since 2018.  "At the beginning it was just to help out.  Little did I know that my interest would be piqued and I'd come to really enjoy the challenges presented in finding a variety of programming to interest our residents."  The Library Channel carries a “huge variety” of programming.  Some of it is produced locally by Reinhart or one of two part-timers, Don Jensen and Mark Teske, such as the Veterans Day remembrance program and the Shanty Days Parade.  The channel also carries local musical performances held at the historic Algoma Performing Arts Center, (a Christmas concert is coming up) and the Chamber of Commerce summer music in the park concerts (twelve of those). Four local churches provide Shallow with videos of their services, which are replayed throughout the week. 

Shallow also finds good shows in the national PEG program repositories, PEG Media and TelVue Connect, and WCM’s File Share library.  Shallow always keeps a part of the day open for seasonal programs.  In summer, she features gardening tips, near Christmas she features holiday craft making, during the open enrollment period for Medicare, she features informational programs on that.  She likes to schedule wellness and fitness programs on a regular schedule and includes lots of music.  In particular, she likes a monthly show she has been importing from The Archaeology Channel called Strata:  Portraits of Humanity, that tells the stories behind historic sites from around the world.  Reinhart is a fan.  “She keeps the station running for me.  She does the schedule on Wednesday nights for the whole week.  She puts new shows on the hard drive and programs the Leightronix playback system.  We have lots of good shows on the channels because of her.”  The schedule can be found on the city website, at the library, and on the channel’s message board, which is kept updated with community announcements.  

Recently Algoma began programming a YouTube channel.  It’s enabled the city to offer meetings and some other local programming on demand, but cable is the go-to platform for performance.  That’s because PEG channels are covered under agreements the cable industry has with BMI and ASCAP that allow PEG channels to carry performances featuring copyrighted material, both by the original artists or covers.

Even though Reinhart first took over management of the station from Dean Wolske in 2000, the cable committee has always relied on Reinhart for his equipment recommendations and maintenance expertise because of his professional background.  Reinhart oversaw the purchase of equipment to begin city council coverage in 1985, and in 1996, he helped meetings go live.  Another major equipment upgrade happened in 2005.  The city allocates the video service provider fees paid by Charter to the station, and occasionally, some extra money goes to fund equipment replacement.  About three years ago, Charter upgraded Algoma’s transmission equipment and converted the upstream line to fiber.  While maintenance of existing upstream lines is something the state statute requires, the company could have charged the city for the transmission equipment, and typically does charge cities for that.  “I’ve been pretty lucky,” said Reinhart.  “They’ve been pretty good to me up here.  If I have any trouble they come here and fix it.”   In return, Reinhart does what he can for Charter.  “It seems like a lot of people are going with satellite.  I try to keep them off that.”

Algoma council chambers control room.

What keeps Reinhart interested?  “Meeting all the people.  That’s just great. I have Joel Kitchens’ personal number and I can talk to him any time about stuff.  When he wants to come in, he gives me a call.  I’m proud we are still running and that we can get this information out to people in the city.  We do a lot of good shows.  Besides, it gets me out of the house.  I gotta do something. I’ll keep going until I can’t anymore.”

The challenge for Algoma Community TV is finding someone to carry on with the station once Reinhart decides to call it a day.  Reinhart will be turning 80 soon, and he says he’s “trying to stick around so that everything keeps going after I quit.”  Shallow has come to rely on her college-age son now and again in a pinch, but it’s not a long-term solution.  They both say they are “looking for young blood” to help the other part-timers.  “We don’t pay very much,” said Reinhart.  “And people are looking for good paying jobs.  It’s hard for families to make ends meet.  Students, too. People don’t have time to volunteer.”  Shallow now works for the Algoma School District and has been thinking about ways to involve high school students.  She knows that any student interested in media production would get an excellent experience at the station.  Both know that being involved in the community and meeting interesting people is its own reward. 

For now, they are just hoping.  Reinhart said that it would “probably” be his last year.  But if the last 40 years are any indication, it's a good bet he’ll be at Algoma Community TV celebrating his 81st birthday – hopefully with a group of new staff members around him.