1997 Annual Report

Plymouth Community Channel 3 Committee
1997 Annual Report

Plymouth Community Channel 3 (PCC3) is the public, educational, and governmental access channel for State Cable TV's subscribers in Plymouth and several adjoining towns. PCC3's Cablecasting Center is located at Pease Public Library. The Center has an Amiga computer for generating a continuously repeating, electronic bulletin board with accompanying radio. There is equipment for automated airing of prerecorded video programs submitted by members for the Plymouth public, schools/college, and government. The Center also has an S-VHS video camcorder and mike for taping governmental and other programming for cablecast on Channel 3. The channel has no set operating budget. It depends totally on volunteers to create and run its programming. By stipulation of the franchise agreement with State Cable TV, PCC3 is non-commercial. The PCC3 Committee, inactive for several years, reports to the Plymouth Board of Selectmen.

In calendar 1997, 339 new announcements were run on PCC3's bulletin board. This is down 40% from the 570 run in 1996. The drop can be attributed to a significant decrease in volunteers to enter messages into the computer. Over 260 more announcements were received, but were not run.

Of the 339 announcements run, here is a break down by special interest area:

• Governments/their agencies & auxiliaries -- 35
• Schools/public education organizations -- 10
• College -- 66
• Senior citizens' organizations -- 65
• Churches -- 52
• Arts organizations/artists -- 41
• Health/welfare organizations -- 28
• Outdoors/sports organizations -- 19
• Historical/cultural organizations/libraries -- 12
• Business/service/political/veterans organizations -- 11
• Garden/nature organizations -- 3

In calendar 1997, prerecorded video programming totaled 107 shows. This is only 8 shows less than 1996's total of 115. The numbers of program contributions from each of the 3 categories of access users are: Public -- 40, Educational -- 61, and Governmental -- 6. For the second year in a row, the access user submitting the greatest number of taped programs was PSC's Meteorology Department. Their 6-minute, PSC PM WEATHER local forecasts ran on 56 evenings. Two consecutive evenings of live programming were produced by the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce. These shows were the Chamber's TV/Radio auction, their major annual fund raiser.

PCC3 volunteers who deserve many thanks are Richard Pratt, David Hoyt, and John B. Bowen, Jr. The staffs of Pease Public Library, Plymouth Selectmen's Office, and State Cable were always most helpful.

Submitted by
Wallace Stuart
Access Manager