Wyngaard receives award from UW -Eau Claire - Barron County

Campus Director Abbey Fischer presents the Outstanding Service Award to James Wyngaard of Rice Lake Community Media

Each year, the UW-Eau Claire — Barron County staff select a community member to recognize and show appreciation to for their Outstanding Service to the campus.

Before the start of the first of the fall series of “Thursdays at the U” lecture series on Thursday afternoon, Campus Director Abbey Fischer surprised someone in the audience and presented the award.

"James Wyngaard of Rice Lake Community Media had multiple nominations and was the hands-down favorite for the 2022–23 academic year," Fischer said. "We so value his many hours of service to our Thursdays at the U program, Communiversity Band, Red Cedar Choir, Indigenous Peoples Celebrations, commencement and many other events. James is always willing to lend a hand to our campus — and the Rice Lake community."

“It was a VERY big surprise,” said Wyngaard. “I was completely stunned! Never saw it coming and apparently my part timers knew about it before I did.  I am so grateful for it!”

UWEC-BC event coverage is a staple of the video programming Rice Lake Community Media presents on its many streaming and cable television platforms.

reprinted from The Chronotype with additional comments from James

Sun Prairie unveils a new cable TV channel called KSUN Life for original community programming

The Sun Prairie Media Center (SPMC) unveiled a new video channel on TDS and on all SPMC’s streaming platforms on September 1, 2023. The channel, called KSUN Life, will focus on original programming created by SPMC’s diverse stable of community producers. Programs featured on the new channel will include Talk of the Town, Reel Reviews, Weekly Chat, Marc Carstens Sports, Roundabout Sun Prairie, and many others.

Although sports will not be the sole focus of the new channel, the origin of KSUN Life began way back when it was revealed that the Sun Prairie Area School District would have a new high school and new high school athletic teams. “The immediate concern was how we were going to air two live football games happening simultaneously,” remembered SPMC Director Jeff Robbins. “That’s when talk of adding a second channel began.”  Most weeks during the 2022-2023 school year, the SPMC aired the home team’s game on KSUN and the away football game on KIDS-4. SPMC staff knew that wasn’t a long-term solution. “We really don’t like using KIDS-4 to show non-KIDS-4 programming,” said Robbins. “KIDS-4 is a unique channel devoted to programming created by kids and we don’t like to compromise why that channel was created over forty years ago.” 

Now when there are competing football games, typically the Sun Prairie game at home will be on KSUN Now while the Sun Prairie team on the road will be featured on KSUN Life.

The name of the current KSUN channel has been changed to KSUN Now and its focus will shift to live programming (and reruns of live shows) and episodic news and information programs that are non-opinionated in nature like Sun Prairie News and Inside Your City. KSUN Now will carry sports, city meetings, and school board meetings. Coverage of church services, which is very popular on KSUN, will stay put as a Sunday staple on the same channel it has always been on, even though the name of the KSUN channel is now KSUN Now.

The new additional channel, KSUN Life, will be viewable in HD on TDS cable channel 985 and as an HD stream on sunprariemediacenter.com, and on SPMC Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV channels.

Access to on-demand programming will not change and will continue to be available online, on the app, and on all SPMC’s streaming platforms.  KSUN Life will also be available on the SPMC’s mobile app.  The app is in the process of being upgraded and will launch any day now.

Jimmie Duncan editing an original program at the Sun Prairie media Center.

“We are very excited about the launch of this new channel,” said Robbins. “This growth reflects the growth of Sun Prairie and its school district and reflects the large amount of original programming created at and for the Sun Prairie Media Center.”

Anyone interested in supporting the Sun Prairie Media Center financially or by producing original programming is encouraged to contact the SPMC at staff@sunprairiemediacenter.com or by calling 608-837-4193.

Comcast promoting “cable service” in new areas of Wisconsin that is actually an OTT streaming service

If you’ve been puzzled by calls from Comcast Xfinity asking you to sign up for a triple play that includes “cable,” internet, and phone service, you’re not alone.  According to the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), which is the agency responsible for licensing video service providers, Comcast has not expanded its cable television service territory in the state.  Instead, what customers are being sold is a streaming service that rides on broadband.

“It’s important for potential customers to know what they are signing up for,” said Wisconsin Community Media Executive Director Mary Cardona, “because municipalities cannot collect any fees from the revenue generated from this cable-like service because it is offered on broadband.  If you switch from Charter Spectrum or TDS for example, it will reduce the income municipalities receive from video service provider (VSP) fees.”  This income is relied upon by many municipalities to fund local media centers that cover local government, schools, and community activities.

VSP fees are going down steadily as a source of income for municipalities as cable subscribership numbers wane.  About 40% of households in areas of Wisconsin served by cable television companies currently subscribe, according to numbers obtained from DFI.