Waupaca media interact with residents using a multi-pronged media strategy

By Tom Loucks , Communications Director, City of Marshfield

April of 1985:  “New Coke” is introduced, the RMS Titanic is located, Live Aid concerts around the world raise millions to help the starving in Africa and on April 10 at 6:30 in the evening, Waupaca launches Waupaca Weyauwega Cable Access on Jones Cable Channel 22.  The access channel’s mission: to cover local government and events happening in both small towns.

In the exciting early days, Waupaca Weyauwega Cable Access was largely run by a crew of hard-working volunteers.  Then in the early 1990’s, the city hired a part-time manager and ten years later, in 2002, the station was renamed “Win-TV,” which stands for “Waupaca Information Network.”  

In 2008 the city merged the part-time TV station coordinator position with a newly formed IT position to handle all technology and communications efforts for the City.  City leaders selected Josh Werner to lead the combined departments.   The UW-Oshkosh graduate with a Radio-TV-Film/Computer Science degree had been in commercial radio before joining the City of Waupaca.  Josh was excited about the challenge. “The job looked interesting and it was a good fit for my skills.”

Now fast forward to today and both departments have grown.  Josh has a lot on his plate.  He juggles all of the city’s IT requests, oversees the city’s ISP utility, and runs the community media department, which has grown a lot since Josh took over. “I enjoy the freedom I have in this position and the support I get from the city --  as well as its trust -- to meet the Waupaca’s communication needs,” Josh said. 

WIN-TV is a “G,” one of the three types of non-profit cable access channels there can be, the other two being “P” for “public” and “E” for “educational.”  It is one of several tools the city uses to get community information out that includes its website, an FM radio station, digital signage in City-owned facilities and social media.  “The type of information created and audience we are trying to reach dictates which communication methods we use,” Josh said. 

In 2012 Josh decided that the community media department should distribute its video programming not only on Win-TV but also on the Waupaca city website and YouTube.  “Besides our cable viewers, we needed to serve the audience that was comfortable surfing the web,” he said.  “Today, our Win-TV cable channel serves an audience who may not utilize other media.  We find the typical viewer of Win-TV is older and may not be as well-versed on how to watch our programming on the Internet,” Josh said.

When Charter Spectrum stopped carrying PEG channels on the analog tier across the state in 2014, it discontinued WIN-TV’s analog channel 96.  Like all other Charter Spectrum PEG channels, Win-TV became viewable only on channel 991 on the digital tier, a location that many in the industry call “digital Siberia.”  As Josh managed the transition and worked on publicizing the change to the community, he decided that the city could use another mass media outlet.  In June 2015, an LPFM radio station, Waupaca Radio fm96.3 debuted and the community media department had yet another outlet with which to communicate to its residents.  “Walking into a local business and hearing Waupaca Radio on in the background or having the voice of one of our staffers recognized is so rewarding,” Josh said.  

Its most recent investment has been in HD.  “While Charter Spectrum unfortunately does not accept an HD signal from the city, viewers can see our programming in HD on the web and over social media,” said Josh.   The entire television facility was converted to HD in 2019.

Win-TV broadcasts all City Council, City Plan, School Board and County Board meetings to give their residents easy access to their government.  Win-TV also carries educational programs that are produced through the historical society, library and Winchester Academy, a local non-profit that fosters lifelong learning.  Even though the focus of the station is government, the staff works hard to help promote community and educational events. 

Since January, the communications department has been producing and broadcasting a daily radio newscast each day at 6:00 am, 7:00 am, Noon and 5:45 pm with a focus on, but not limited to, local government.  The community is a regular contributor to the content on the radio and its various media outlets. Waupaca residents regularly submit press releases, news briefs, event cancellations, and emergency notices to be included on the daily newscast.  And volunteers produce television and radio shows themselves.

The staff handles interviews both for Win-TV and the LPFM station, but local groups are invited in to promote their events. The station partners with the Waupaca Community Arts Board to support local musicians and they are encouraged to submit music for airplay on the radio station.  Every weeknight from 8 p.m.  to 10 p.m. the LPFM radio station features all Wisconsin music.  The station also produces special live broadcasts throughout the year.  For example, Win-TV is always at the 4th of July Parade and Arts on the Square.

Its regular social media videos include a weekly update with the city administrator and school superintendent, a monthly update with the library, regular updates with the Parks & Recreation Department, and this summer, weekly updates about the Main Street reconstruction project.  “Bottom line is we’re making sure the Waupaca community has access to information they would otherwise not be able to easily get,” said Josh.

The community media department always has a lot of irons in the fire.  During the COVID pandemic, it assisted Winchester Academy in going virtual so it could keep its educational programming going.  “One of our biggest challenges with community media is the small budget,” said Josh.  “While the budget is tied in with the larger IT budget, only about $30,000 per year is allocated to community media and most of that goes toward salaries and wages.  This means we have to make smaller, incremental equipment upgrades and we have to be creative to accomplish projects.” 

The community media department has been working on a project for the past year to “refocus our community media programs to be more effective,” Josh said.  “Our big takeaway was that we needed to change our focus to creating short, quick-to-consume content versus long-form programming.  People expect “quick and now” so transforming how we do things has been a challenge.” A recent survey revealed the city website is the most-used community media outlet, with Facebook and Waupaca Radio tied at second, digital signage in city facilities next, and the Win-TV cable channel and the YouTube channel the lowest ranked.  “The challenge is selecting the correct outlet or outlets to place the content depending on the goal, and sometimes spending more time placing content in multiple locations than it takes to edit the final product!”

The City’s investment in media has fulfilled a need for information in this small community.  “Waupaca’s community media outlets are able to hyper-focus on providing the community with access to its government in ways other commercial media outlets cannot,” said Josh.  “Most of what we provide is either not profitable in the eyes of other media or not prominent enough or important enough to the region to warrant coverage.  Without this city operation, the community of Waupaca would not have the ability to access and use media and it wouldn’t have the coverage it has today of its local government and community happenings.  I’m really proud of what we achieve here.”

Monona Grove High School students play a pivotal role in the mix of hyperlocal content offered by Monona Community Media

Students interested in video production and broadcast media returning to Monona Grove High School this fall will be excited to see the reconstructed studio space that was completed this summer.  Monona Community Media, the community’s local media center that serves both the city’s needs and the school district’s, directed the changes.  Will Nimmow is the Director of Monona Community Media.  “We got rid of a hallway and took out a wall separating a lobby area and the old studio,” he explained. “Now when you walk in to the video production area, you’re walking into one large L-shaped studio complete with a lighting grid.”  No more hanging lights from a false ceiling and stringing electrical cords down the walls.  The new studio lighting grid has electricity outlets to power the lights clamped to it.  While the studio only gained six inches in height due to the HVAC ducts, Will is more than satisfied.  “It’s going to be a lot safer,” he said.  “Everything is controlled with switches on the wall.”  The changes also include new carpeting and black walls so that the studio set background can be better controlled. 

A small office off the studio that is destined to become an audio recording booth will for now serve as a place for the Monona Grove A/V Club to gather.  

“I am extremely proud of the relationship Monona Community Media has with the school district and the relationship we have with students at the high school,” said Will. A student team from the A/V Club is responsible for putting on the Monday through Friday video announcements that are streamed live over YouTube at the beginning of second period.  “Students rush into the studio after first period and take their places as anchors or in one of the technical positions,” said Will.  “When second period begins, they have to be ready to go.”  The script is developed by one of the high school’s front desk administrators, who collects and edits the announcements and then shares them using GoogleDocs.  Will enters the script into the teleprompter and has it ready when students arrive. 

The A/V Club also provides live coverage and play-by-play announcing for all of the football games and girls and boys basketball games.  You’ll also see these students at school events like choir and band concerts providing event coverage.  Occasionally, they’ll also be tapped to record presentations in classrooms.   

But as busy as they are covering their own school, these students also serve the community.  Both the city and the school district rely on them to provide video coverage of School Board meetings, City of Monona city council meetings and city plan commission meetings. “The A/V Club is a good place for students to grow and learn and get involved in the community,” said Will.  “We offer these kids an experience they would never have otherwise.  Many of the kids who have gotten involved over the years have told me I don’t know what I would have done without the A/V Club; I didn’t fit in other places.  Having an impact on a young person’s life like that is really rewarding.”   

Will is looking at a particularly challenging school year coming up.  Because of the pandemic, students have been out of the building a long time starting with the last quarter of the 2019 – 2020 school year.  As a result Will was unable to implement the usual recruiting and training system that brings in new club members and apprentices juniors to move into the roles held by seniors.  “We lost over a year of recruiting and currently we have just three students returning who have had experience in the club,” said Will.  “I’ll be giving returning students a refresher and then recruiting hard to build up our numbers.”  Will also needs to jumpstart the Sports Marketing Club, which sold underwriting spots to area businesses. 

Besides working with Monona Grove High School students, Monona Community Media also manages a successful low power FM community radio station, WVMO (The Voice of Monona) on 98.7 FM.  Its hyperlocal content and Americana music format (classic country, vintage vinyl, folk and blues) is attracting a lot of local listeners.  The daytime 20-20-20 format accommodates one and a half minutes of community announcements in every 20 minute block.  At noon the station plays a 20-minute variety show hosted by volunteers – one an eleven year old boy -- that includes interviews, human interest features, presentations, and a regular library seasoned chef show interspersed with musical interludes.  While residents host a variety of different musical shows in the evening, “we chose the daytime format to attract a large audience,” said Will.  “We wanted the station to have a predictable easy to listen to format that residents could rely on.  It’s been very successful.  Radio is very accessible to the whole community.  We get a lot of requests to put on announcements and some people come in and record their own.  One PSA by a girl scout troop was really cute.  I’d say the success of the radio station has really turned some heads.  Our city council knows that community media is something people want.”   

Local media, in the form of PEG (public, education, and government) television has been a part of this community’s media landscape for forty years.  Early adherents Rosemary Lehman and Bill Ziegler were the first to manage the city’s PEG cable TV channel and they built a strong relationship between the city and the school district that continues to this day.   

“Everyone says children stand a better chance at success when they feel a part of a community. It’s huge,” said Will.  “Community media provides another touchpoint for building that sense of community around them.  Our A/V students behind the camera at city council meetings may not always be listening, but they know they are playing a valuable role being there.  And hyperlocal media is not only valuable for the young.  Older people can feel out of touch with the community, too, and that can feel very isolating.  My mother jokes that she could go into a grocery store, leave with a can of soup, and no one would notice.  Community media serves them.  We highlight what’s happening in our community, which in this saturated media environment can easily get lost.  Hyperlocal is appealing to so many people in a lot of different ways.” Will is planning new ways to grow Monona Community Media’s services.  “We’ll be starting a monthly newsletter for the city and I hope to offer more broadcast journalism opportunities for students next fall,” he said. 

Monona Community Media’s video programming can be viewed on Spectrum cable channel 990 in SD, AT&T’s U-Verse system channel 99 in SD, as well as on its YouTube channel in HD.  Don’t forget to tune in to WVMO at 98.7.  Monona Community Media welcomes residents who want to be media makers. If you’re one of the people who’s been listening and watching content from Monona Community Media and want to get involved, contact Will. Monona Community Media also happens to have an opening for a full-time multi-media content producer.  Watch for that position to be posted soon.