2004 Annual Report

Plymouth Community Channel 3
2004 Annual Report
 

Plymouth Community Channel 3 (PCC3) is the public, educational and government access channel for Adelphia Communications’ cable TV subscribers in Plymouth and nine other area towns. PCC3’s Cablecasting Center is located in Pease Public Library. PCC3 began cablecasting to the community in November 1992. By stipulation of the franchise agreement with Adelphia, PCC3 is non-commercial. In FY’04, the Town of Plymouth raised and appropriated $18,000 from a 2% franchise fee collected from Plymouth cable subscribers.

On October 13, 2004, the Board of Selectmen appointed Jamie Cadorette to the part-time position of Executive Director of PCC3, as well as appointing Kenneth Bergstrom, John B. Bowen, Jr., Brendon Hoch, Joanne Koermer, Claire Moorhead, Wallace Stuart and Barry Walker to the PCC3 Advisory Board. The Executive Director, supported by a crew of volunteers, is charged with the daily operations of PCC3.
 

Bulletin Board
Content increased dramatically and thanks to the hard work of our volunteers we are now able to post every notice submitted that meets our guidelines. Aesthetics continue to improve and we have received plenty of positive feedback. PCC3 now brings a draft agenda of Board of Selectmen meetings to viewers. 

See below how the 2004 total compares to six previous years. The 2004 total is not complete as some information, such as some notices submitted by email prior to October, was not available. It is estimated the total number of announcements cablecast in 2004 is in excess of 1,000. Information for 2003 was not available.
 

Video Programming
Prerecorded programming cablecast on PCC3 includes:

• Weekday weather forecasts produced by students in PSU’s meteorology program
• Four area churches’ worship services
• A weekly video series titled “The Doctor Is In”
• A locally produced monthly video series titled “Your Health Matters”
• New Hampshire Electric Cooperative’s Board of Directors meetings

Volunteers produced videos of budget hearings, annual meetings, special hearings and informational meetings for the Plymouth Board of Selectmen, Plymouth School Board and Pemi-Baker Regional School Board.

In addition to prerecorded programming, the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce produced two consecutive evenings of live programming. These shows in December 2003 were the Chamber’s 10^th Annual TV/Radio/Internet Auction, their major annual fundraiser. 

The amount of video programming has also increased significantly. See below how the 2004 total compares to six previous years. Information on the number of videos cablecast in 2003 was not available. The figures for educational are estimated based on 2002 as an exact number of videos produced by the PSU Weather students was not available.
 

Future Development
Many plans are in the works for the near and far future. One immediate concern to be addressed is the expansion of our video programming capacity. We plan to purchase in December 2004 or the beginning of 2005 a new S-VHS deck and a DVD deck. 

Another immediate area of concern is funding. While PCC3 has its largest budget in history to work with, additional funds are still needed to improve services and quality of services. Audio-visual equipment is quite expensive and even with our current budget we are limited to making only small improvements or one large improvement. Some research has been done on the Alliance for Community Media Northeast Region Development Grant and it is expected the application process will begin once a suitable project has been identified. Outreach efforts will be made to surrounding communities in the viewing area to collect franchise fees from their cable subscribers toward the operations of PCC3. 

This year an intern from the PSU Communication Studies program helped us research a computer for use as a non-linear post-production workstation. Research has also been done on purchasing a portable “studio-in-a-box” unit that would include all the necessary tools to operate three video cameras and produce a finished program on location.
 
 
Thanks
Volunteers who deserve many thanks include Wallace Stuart, Joanne Koermer, James Koermer, Brendon Hoch, John B. Bowen, Jr., Andy Kniskern, Beth Harrington, Greg Degraeve, Jim Bleyle, Josef Drexel, Peter Adams, students in Professor Eric Hoffman’s meteorology class and members of the PCC3 Advisory Board. The trustees, staff and volunteers of Pease Public Library deserve special praise for all time and resources they contributed to PCC3. The Plymouth Office of the Board of Selectmen staff, headed by Elizabeth Corrow, were extraordinarily helpful. Efforts of Adelphia Communications’ technical crew were very much appreciated.

Submitted by,
Jamie Cadorette
Executive Director
Plymouth Community Channel 3