"Health Care Forum with Congressman Tierney"

Update: I gave this video to Lynn, Salem, and Danvers public access tv, and they've all played it, or will play it, in the near future.

The Late Joe Kennedy Brings Public Access TV to Saugus

I didn't know him, but the late Joe Kennedy of Saugus accomplished something I have tried to accomplish: he brought public access tv to his town.

“Joe’s vision was to build a facility for the Saugus community — its people, its students its government. A place where people can learn how to and be given the means and opportunity to communicate using the medium of video communication."

--Rich Garabedian, executive director of Saugus Community TV

"“He had a vision — to create a video facility for the community of Saugus. While undergoing extreme difficulties with his personal health, Joe single-handedly brought this vision to fruition. Joe’s wishes — television for the people, by the people— is now a reality. For this we thank him. We will miss him. We know that his legacy, his vision is an inspiration to us all.”

--Amy Kennedy, Joe Kennedy's wife

Article in Saugus Newspaper

Saugus Community Television website

Marblehead About to Surpass Swampscott--Again

Marblehead - This summer, Marblehead’s own MHTV-10 will be converted from a Comcast local-origination studio to a town-run, non-profit access corporation. For years, Comcast has been turning over control of its TV studios to local communities, and MHTV is one of the last systems in the area to be transitioned to the new model.

Marblehead Reporter

"Everything That Happens Will Happen Today"

Senior Citizens in Beverly Produce Own TV Show

From the Salem News Online:

Seniors gain confidence, information via TV production

By Cate Lecuyer
Staff writer

BEVERLY — Some seniors are getting serious about staying in their own homes as they age and produced a two-part television series explaining just how it's done.

Tune in to Channel 10 for a BevCam show called "Livin' the Good Life." For many, that means not spending their golden years in a nursing home. Through interviews with employees from organizations like The Independent Living Center of the North Shore and Cape Ann, North Shore Elder Services, and Senior Care, as well as Rep. Mary Grant, the program helps elderly people understand the resources that are available to help them stay in their homes.

Nine seniors at the senior center have been working for about a year to produce shows that resonate with an aging population, and the issue of living independently has emerged as a top concern for many.

"I do live at home," said Dolores Grey, 73, "and I plan to stay there."

As the video editor, she had no computer experience until she started working with BevCam, the city's community access television station. Mary Ann Holak, executive director of the Beverly Council on Aging, said the organization was looking for people at the senior center who were interested in learning to produce videos. Nine members volunteered and are honing their high-tech skills.

"You get bored at my age," Grey said. "We just fell into it. To know you can do it and conquer it at our ages is just fascinating."

From container gardening to compulsive gambling to an upcoming show about Alzheimer's and dementia, the seniors have been producing a show about once a month since last April. Host Bob Hobbs, 69, said he hopes the program will help provide seniors with information they need, and in some cases encourage them to get involved.

"There are an awful lot of people we have to reach," he said.

If you watch

What: "Livin' the Good Life." Two half-hour segments about staying in your own home as you age

Where: Channel 10 on BevCam

When: Throughout the month of August, segment one plays on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., segment two plays on Sundays at 8:30 p.m., and the segments alternate on Tuesdays at 10 a.m.

"Remembering the New Ocean House" is Currently on Swampscott's Comcast Channel 16

"Remembering the New Ocean House", an event produced by the Swampscott Historical Society (and videotaped and edited by me) is currently playing on Swampscott's Comcast Channel 16, known as the government channel. I hope this video and the earlier video of mine that they played, Sylvia Belkin's lecture/slide-show on Elihu Thomson, are enjoyed by the town for their on sake, and that they also inspire other Swampscott adults to create their own videos and share them with the town. Of course (here I go again!), they'll have to use their own video equipment, computer editing software, and self-taught knowledge to create their videos, as I did, because unlike Salem, Marblehead, Lynn, blah, blah...we don't have a video access studio or staff member available to all, but for high school students only.

What if there were no Swampscott public library, but instead a library for high school students only?

What if there were no Swampscott public library, but instead the only library in town was at the high school and available to high school students only? If a Swampscott resident (me?) were to criticize that arrangement, and seek a library available to all (including high school students) it should not be seen as expressing any opinion whatsoever on the quality of work of the high school librarian. The high school librarian has been hired to serve the high school population. It's not his problem to worry about the rest of the town.

Of course, I'm making an analogy to our video production and cablecasting situation in Swampscott. The responsibility for our current situation regarding our access channels and video production lies with our Selectmen and Superintendents, past and present, who have set up the situation as it currently exists. Lets hope our current leaders can change things for the better in the near future so Swampscott television can be "out of the bottom 10 by 2010", to paraphrase Dr. Malone.