ACMi Logo (med.png)    
 Winter News 2011
www.ACMI.tv  781-777-1115                      85 Park Avenue, Arlington, MA 02476

Executive Director, Norman J. McLeod                               Outreach Coordinator, Walter Locke

   ACMi Newsletter 

Winter 2011     
In This Issue
Legislative Update
Coming Events
Featured Winter Intern
Our Workshops
ACMi Audience Passes
What's Up at ACMI
Goodbye PSCC
Guest Workshop Instructor
Keeping the Free Press Free
Membership Year 2010-11
CAP Act Update

 

  ACMi believes it is vitally important to keep our members up-to-date on developments in the  

Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act, filed in October. 

 

If enacted, this bill will:

  -Remove use restrictions on PEG access fees;

 

  -End operators' discriminatory treatment of PEG Channels;

 

  -Direct the FCC to study and report on the effects recent video franchising legislation in some states has had on PEG access;   

 

  -Define all video services delivered to the home over wire as "cable" for the purposes of the Act, without regard to the  transmission protocol.

                   Read more.

Coming Events

March

14th Candidate Debates

        (ACMi & Advocate)

18th ACHS Media Day

24th Candidates' Night

        (LWVA - Town Hall)

April

 8th Town Elections

17th Patriots' Day 

25th Town Meeting

 

Stay Tuned to ACMi TV !

Featured Intern

S.Darcy

    We were blessed this season by a winter angel in the person of Stephanie Darcy who interned at ACMi during her Christmas break from Endicott College where she pursues a major in Television Production.   

    Stephanie undertook a variety of assignments and delegated tasks with efficiency and grace.  She planned an upcoming March presentation for Arlington Catholic students and faculty; she collected video clips for an ACMi website promo; she helped with Focus Media productions and even with the Steve Katsos Show. 
    The ACMi staff looks forward to her return briefly in March to help with the ACHS Media Day.

    Thank you, Stephanie!
New Edit Lab 2
Workshops at ACMI
 ACMi TV offers workshops in single-camera and multi-camera field production, digital editing, graphic design, and studio operations. See the current listing and schedule of these offerings here. 

  Our workshops are now offered at $20 each for ACMi members and producer-groups, and $40 each for non-members.
Reservations and payment are required in advance.   
  Please RSVP to indicated instructors on the schedule or to Walter@ACMI.tv
or call 781-777-1115.
ACMi Member Perq

   Members of Arlington Community Media Inc are exclusively eligible for free reserved audience passes to ACMi shows during their recording in our studio.

Katsos on camera
  Come see, up close and personal, the rising star that is Steve Katsos as he sends his hit show to a growing international audience. As SKS becomes Arlington's first ever cable show to go global, you can frame your Audience Pass and hang it on your wall.

  Check out our program notes and choose a show to attend.  ACMi Audience Passes are in short supply, so plan ahead.

  ACMi offers its members  this benefit as a way of acknowledging their privileged status at the cozy home of Arlington television.  So email your requests for reserved ACMi Audience Passes  to Walter@acmi.tv. 

   See you in the studio!

ACMI Hours of Operation

10am - 9pm Mon-Thurs
10am - 6pm Friday
 Saturday by appointment
Closed on Sunday
 
You have plenty of time after work or school to visit the ACMI TV studio.
 
Oval-crimson_logo

Equipment Office Hours
Our hours for equipment pick-up and return are: 
M - F  10am - 1pm
 Mon - Th  5 - 7pm

We Share the Air
 
Please Remember:
 
ACMI TV continues to be a smoke- & fragrance-free environment. Please do your best to remember, for the sake of those with allergies and chemical sensitivities, to not use scented products when visiting or working with us here at ACMI.
Thank you.



 The Lengthening Days


    Daylight continues to enjoy its recent recovery from the longest night, and casts ever shortening shadows on the former Dallin Branch Library, home of Arlington community television. ACMI staff members now light the evening candles an hour later than on the winter solstice and herald the returning light with increasing confidence that spring will indeed come again.

    New members continue to trudge along the snow-canyon sidewalks at 85 Park Avenue in The Heights to diligently hone their skills in TV production at our workshops, while veteran members push forward their latest programs and volunteer for coverage of town government meetings and sports events.

    As always, our greatest pleasure is to welcome our Arlington neighbors as they come to visit and work with us in creating unique homegrown programming in a censorship-free zone. Come one and all.


--The Staff  at ACMi TV    
What's Up (and On) at ACMi
 
New programs:

    On our Government Channel, The ACMi Government Channel (Comcast 10; RCN 15; Verizon 24) has several new offerings.

 

State House Update - Rep. Will Brownsberger will be airing a monthly program on ACMi and, to kick it off, taped a Q & A session on various topics, including his legislative goals for 2011, upcoming legislation, and events and deadlines affecting the towns in his district. It is currently airing Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday at 6 p.m., as well as Friday, Monday, Wednesday at 11:30 p.m.

 

Pay As You Throw: Q & A for Arlington - Moderated by Selectwoman Clarissa Rowe, this show aims to inform the public as to the benefits of the PAY-AS-YOU-THROW program. It is sponsored by the Arlington Dept of Public Works (DPW), The Arlington Recycling Committee, and Sustainable Arlington/Vision 2020. It is currently airing Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

 

Media Connection with Rep. Sean Garballey - On this new show, Mr. Garballeywill be interviewed or bring a guest with whom to discuss current events. Some of the topics he'll be discussing are: his legislative goals, upcoming legislation, and upcoming deadlines. The program airs Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday at 11:30 p.m., as well as Friday, Monday, Wednesday at 6 p.m.

 

Get Connected; Stay Connected- Joan Roman, Arlington's Public Information Officer, made a presentation to the Selectmen at its January 10th meeting about the convenient ways Arlington residents can get connected and stay connected with Town officials via the newly established information services offered through the Town website (www.arlingtonma.gov). The program currently airs Friday, Monday, Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.)

 

New on our Public Channel (Comcast 8; RCN 13; Verizon 31):  

  

2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Observance -  Thanks, once again to ACMi member and independent producer, Bill Hamilton, this annual event is digitally captured and edited to enrich Arlington's media archives for future generations.  The program will air on the ACMi Public channel in early March. Thanks, Bill!  

 

Our Town, produced by the League of Women voters of Arlington, continues to inform its members and the broader Arlington public, about our town by way of discussions about Arlington issues. The monthly show airs weekdays (except Wednesday) at 11:30 a.m. as  well as Saturdays and Sundays at 8 p.m.

 

New on our Education Channel (Comcast 9; RCN 14; Verizon 24):  

 

Battle of the Bands - On January 29th, some of the AHS Focus Media
producers, working from 2pm until past midnight, captured this annual rocking AHS music competition on high definition digital tape, using five HD cameras, for airing in early March on ACMi's Education Channel.  Don't miss this one!

 

School Sports Programming - ACMi staff has been busier than ever producing  and airing exciting basketball and hockey games, as well as wrestling matches. Thanks largely to the increasingly experienced volunteers that produce the Focus Media block of shows, ACMi is now able to tape games using multiple cameras and featuring nearly professional commentary and and video graphics (as seen in ACMi's live cablecast on Thanksgiving Day from the AHS football field). Congratulations to the volunteers and staff that have made this work! 

 

                               *              *             *    

Continuing programs:
The Steve Katsos Show, will celebrate it's second anniversary at the Regent Theatre on April 28th.  The show has enjoyed enormous success and has some stellar guests yet to come before its April extravaganza.  Stay tuned!

AHS Focus Media shows: 

  Ponder This - this Arlington High School news and sports program

   produced by two journalism classes at AHS, airs daily at 7:30 a.m.

   and 4:25 p.m.

   Your TV - producer-host, AHS junior Lucas Gradwohl, looks behind

   the scenes at ACMi TV daily at 4 p.m.

   Gamer's Edge - AHS senior co-producers, Alex Van Thong and  

    A.J. Nikaros, review and demo video games daily at 4:30 p.m.  

    and Fridays at 6 p.m.

   Wicked Green - a look at the important issue of eco-awareness  

    and  offers practical activities to help the planet heal.  

    AHS sophomore producer, Amy Currul, hosts this important new  

    series, now six episodes long. It airs daily at 5 p.m. and Thursday,  

    Saturday, and Tuesday at 6 p.m.

   Arlingtones - AHS senior host, Sam Mintz showcases Arlington's

    local musicians and bands daily at 5:30 p.m. and Sundays and  

    Wednesdays at 6 p.m.)

 

 The new Ottoson School student show, Channel Zer0, produced by the Arlington Enrichment Collaborative and coordinated by David Vishniac,

is currently airing daily at 6 p.m. on the ACMi Education channel. It's first episode features the students' version of the popular television game show, "Wheel of Misfortune," to ACMi viewers.

 

  For a complete listing of our current programming, please go here.

And check out our evolving Community Bulletin Board (CBB) which is now full of new informational slides about events and video PSAs from more than a dozen Arlington nonprofit service organizations. 

___________________________

PSCC exterior

  End of an Era 

 

    On Saturday February 5th 2011 a 168-year-old church held its final gathering as a religious community in the Town of Arlington (formerly West Cambridge and Menotomy). Pleasant Street Congregational Church at 75 Pleasant St., one block from Arlington Center, celebrated what it dubbed its "Bright Legacy" after its final church service the preceding Sunday. It was a beautiful and momentous occasion and it was recorded as a public service by ACMi as an historic event in our town. 

 

   The ceremony will be carried on ACMi's Public Channel during March and made available on DVD for purchase by those who wish keep the memory of this long-lived Arlington institution fresh. If you would like a DVD of the Bright Legacy service, please contact Walter@acmi.tv.

 Our Newest Workshops and Guest Instructor

Adam Brooks Pic

Adam Brooks, veteran professional in Boston's video and communications industry, is guest instructor for two new ACMi workshops in February and March: Intermediate Final Cut Pro Studio 6 and Get Ready for Your Digital Edit.

 

See our current workshops schedule.


Keeping the Free Press Free

   
 We cannot fulfill our obligation to our viewers without keeping them (you) up to date on conditions that may affect freedom of speech and the press--for that is what community media access is charged by its communities to do. In that spirit of keeping our viewers informed, we offer the following link to the organization that brings to you the program "Democracy Now!" and is tracking congressional legislation that attempts to curtail community access media and NPR -- Free Speech TV. Thank you for your interest in free and independent public information media. To learn more about Free Speech TV and an update on the CAP Act, read this.
 
Membership Year 2010-11: Get on board!
 
   There are four and a half months remaining in ACMI's fourth
full membership year.  If you have not yet signed on or renewed,
wait no longer.  Where else in Arlington can you can you receive training and practice in marketable TV production skills for the price of a restaurant meal ?
       Chief among the perqs that attend ACMi membership is
a reduced-fee for all ACMi workshops.  See our current schedule at www.ACMI.tv.  And, if you have a documentary or dramatic project that you have been wanting to see on the small screen, we have what you need: top quality digital equipment and the training to put it to work for your project.  What do we get out of this amazing deal?  We get interesting, informative, and creative programming for our Public Access channel.  So wait no longer!  Come make ACMi TV your launching pad to the world of new media and community connections. The doors are open here Monday through Thursday from 10 AM to 9 PM (and Friday to 6 PM).
  We look forward to welcoming you soon at 85 Park Ave.
 _____________________________________________________________________

     ...We're waiting for you.  

   Download a membership application and mail it in, or visit us at 85 Park Avenue to deliver it to us in person! 
Staff at sign 2010
Arlington Community Media Inc. was conceived and founded by Arlington citizens to ensure fair and equal access to cable programming from all of Arlington's cable television providers and to provide the training, equipment, and transmission facility for Arlington's residents to use in making themselves seen and heard townwide.  You're the reason we're here.   
We're always happy to welcome you at ACMI TV.