Sheboygan WSCS resumes sports production

WSCS still from a promo announcing sports is back!

After a nearly five-year hiatus, WSCS, Sheboygan’s Community Station, resumes local sports production.

As a cost-saving measure, funding was eliminated for sports coverage in the 2019 city budget. Since then, there have been changes in city leadership, but the one thing that never changed, according to Scott Mealiff, Program Director for WSCS, were the questions from viewers and residents — “Why aren’t you televising games anymore?”

Scott said, “When it came time to submit the budget request for 2024, I decided to request additional funds for part-time staff to cover sports production. When I was asked in the budget meeting to defend the request, we referenced the many questions and comments we have been getting from the public about what happened to sports coverage, and that they miss seeing the games on WSCS.”  The budget increase was approved. 

While the allocation officially starts in 2024, the first cross-town rivalry games between Sheboygan North and Sheboygan South were on Dec. 16, so Scott said WSCS used that occasion to get the crew back together and “clear out the literal and figurative cobwebs.”  Scott said, “There are a few technical kinks to work out, which is to be expected after such a long break, but we did have a successful broadcast. We look forward to providing this popular service to the Sheboygan community and beyond in 2024.”

WSCS documents the life of the Sheboygan Armory

Before the walls came down and the Sheboygan Armory became just a memory, WSCS collaborated on a project to document its history.  The Armory was one of the last “New Deal” Works Progress Administration buildings built with the labor of hundreds of area workers.  From the beginning, it was more of a municipal auditorium.  Right away it took over hosting one of the original NBA franchises, the Sheboygan Redskins.  Over the years the Armory was the site for fierce North-South high school basketball games, political rallies, graduations, parties, national guard exercises, big name musical acts, and dances.  Although the building was on the State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historical Places, it couldn’t be saved.  The building was deemed beyond repair.  Before it was permitted to be torn down, the State Historical Preservation Office required the city to produce a documentary about the building.  The completed program is called The Sheboygan Armory:  Part of the Community. It talks about its history and its demise.

The documentary premiered at the Stephanie Weill Center in downtown Sheboygan on January 26, 2023 and is now available to the public via the WSCS media center website. Scott Mealiff, Director of WSCS and the producer/director of the program said, “The response to the program has been very strong and overwhelmingly positive. It has quickly become one of our most viewed shows on YouTube. 

WSCS Celebrates (the first) 40 Years of Community Media in Sheboygan

By Scott Mealiff,  Program Director, WSCS, City of Sheboygan

Plans are underway to celebrate the 40th anniversary of community media in Sheboygan in conjunction with Community Media Day – October 20, 2022.

The city’s PEG (Public, Education, and Government) access television channels date back to 1982 when the City of Sheboygan signed a franchise agreement with Lakeside Cablevision to provide cable television service in the city.  As part of the agreement, channel space, production equipment, and training would be available to residents for locally produced programming. 

Over the years, the cable company changed hands through mergers and consolidation. In 1997, at the conclusion of the original franchise, the cable company, now Charter Communications, did not want to operate the community access facilities anymore, even as their obligation to continue providing channel capacity and the franchise fee payments to the City remained.  As a result, the City of Sheboygan took on the operation of the public/government access channel. In the years since, the City has continued to manage the cable channel and expand access via Internet delivery platforms and additional video service providers.

Two years ago on Community Media Day, Oct. 20, 2020, the final cutover was made to fiber optic delivery of the local PEG channels – the conclusion of a multi-year project between Charter Communications and the City of Sheboygan. This upgrade has proven to provide Sheboygan residents a high(er)-quality and stable signal for viewing local government meetings, events, and citizen-produced programs.

Watch as we celebrate 40 years serving the community of Sheboygan!