News from ACMi

Newsletter

781-777-1115 www.ACMI.tv 85 Park Avenue, Arlington, MA 02476 Executive Director, Norman J. McLeod Outreach Coordinator, Walter Locke

Volume 6, Number 1

January-March 2012

In This Issue

Changing the Channel

Town Elections 2012

ACMi Hits the Front Page!

New England Journal at ACMi

Spotlight on Sudan at ACMi

ACMi Expands to Studio B

New Look for Website

In Memorium

Rockin' New Game Show

What's Up (and On) at ACMi

ACMi-Advocate Candidate Debates

Channel Change

10 to 22

Comcast viewers of ACMI's Government channel will find us on channel 22 as of April 17th.

Comcast management explains the need for the change this way:

"The switch from analog will free up space for new HD channels. Comcast will offer about 50 new HD channels to Arlington customers, most of which will be included in the Digital Starter cable package. Many of the new channels will be rolled out this April."

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Town Elections

Once again ACMi will bring you the 2012 results of Town-wide voting on Tuesday evening April 10th LIVE and direct from the Clerk's Office at Town Hall.

Tune in at 8:00 PM for interviews, commentary, and the numbers.

ACMi Outreach Coordinator Walter Locke and ACMi Member Producer Jo Guthrie will host the program. Long time former host Glenn Koenig will be returning this year to ACMI's coverage after an absence from the program last year and will provide election stats and analysis.

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Front Page Glory

Members of Focus Media, the high school students' production group at ACMi, are pictured on page one of the March 8th edition of the Arlington Advocate.

Thanks to Advocate Editor Andy Levin, ACMi has made it to the paper's front page. We are grateful for the limelight, brief as it may be in modern times, and offer the link below so that you may share our moment in the sun. See
http://acmi.tv/2012/03/in-the-local-news/.

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The News At ACMi

The production staff of New England Journal in ACMi Studio A

ACMi continues its plans to produce its own news show by summer or fall 2012. But viewers of our Public channel need not wait. The monthly regional news magazine, New England Journal has already begun airing episodes from its new production home at ACMi.

NEJ has recorded its 12th episode -- the third one at ACMi -- and the series is now a stable part of the ACMi programming menu. Moreover, the show is moving to a two-anchor format beginning in April and is holding auditions at ACMi on Saturday March 31st for the second volunteer anchor position. For more info, email

adam@newenglandjournal.tv

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Sudanese at ACMi

Sudanese Ed Fund dancers 2012

Members of The South Sudanese Youth & Culture Dancing Group in the ACMi studio, March 10th.

ACMi strives to bring diverse programming to our viewers so that they may be informed of events, people and cultures not widely covered elsewhere.

On March 10th, we opened our doors to this group which describes its cultural underpinnings in this way:

"In the Dinka culture of South Sudan songs are written about cows, family, pride, honor, self-dignity and wealth. Our culture is not merely culture, but our most valuable asset. It is what brings us together to live in unity."

The group's coordinator, Machot Lual, added that they believe their culture is the foundation of their roots and the unity in which they understand their nature as the people, the society, and the community in which they lived.

"Generally speaking," he continued, "our cultural interaction and cooperation with one another largely defines who we are as South Sudanese people--particularly as Dinka people."

Supervising producer and ACMi Studio Manager Jeff Munro said of the program: "They did every aspect of this production themselves. It is one of the most passionate and energetic shows ever produced in this studio."

There are more programs featuring this group planned for recording at ACMi. Later this year a separate program by a different Sudanese group will air, so please stay tuned to Arlington TV.

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ACMI's Studio B

Soon its signage will be visible from the front doors of Arlington High. By June Arlington students will be piling into ACMI's satellite production center at Mass Ave and Lockeland to learn video and TV production skills and create local programming for Arlington viewers and the world.

And folks from the Senior Center at Maple and Academy streets are closer to ACMi now than ever before. We hope seniors will join us in the late spring for video production, computer graphics workshops, and more at our new place.

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The Evolving ACMi Site

Keep an eye on our website as it takes on a new look and feel plus some extra functionality at www.acmi.tv .
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In Memoriam

Adam Brooks was a favorite around ACMi. A consummate professional with a big heart, Adam gave generously of his time and TV engineering expertise to help ACMi members raise the image quality bar. And everyone benefited -- the members by being tutored, the staff by being supported, the viewers by receiving high quality transmissions, and Adam himself by being of use and appreciated. He will be missed.

Adam passed away in February after a brief illness. ACMi was well represented by his studio friends at his shiva the day before his memorial service.

To remind us of his legacy, a plaque honoring him and his contributions to ACMi will be placed in the lower-level Edit Lab at the 85 Park Ave facility

in Arlington Heights.
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New Youth Game Show

The latest from ACMI's youth programming depart- ment is the AEC Game Show series.
ACMi member producer and AEC educator David Vishniac is working with ACMI's Dan Black to produce the show.
The idea is to give the participants in the AEC-TV workshop a chance to try multiple roles, on both sides of the camera, in the TV production process.
Six middle-schoolers come to the ACMi studio each Monday to pre-produce and then shoot an episode of the series.
The first two episodes, now airing on ACMI's Education channel (Comcast 9, RCN 13, and Verizon 24) are composed of a tension-filled Jenga tournament that ends with a crash of blocks and a winner named Jonathan.
The next episode, now in production, is a Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament.
Dave Vishniac says of this after-school enrichment workshop, "The kids enjoy the show because it not only gives them an opportunity to participate in fun games on TV, but also teaches them the fundamentals of television production that could benefit them later in a career."
Be sure to tune in to this suspenseful new ACMi series.
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My MassTV Update

ACMi believes it is vitally important to keep our members up-to-date on the community access media agenda and activities in our state. (more)

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ACMI Hours of Operation

   10am - 9pm Mon-Thurs
   10am - 6pm Friday
   Saturday by appointment

Closed on Sunday

Equipment Office Hours

(equipment pick-up/return)

M - F 10am-1pm

M - Th 5pm-7pm

The Winter That Wasn't

Where was the snow, the bitter cold, the icy wind ?

Spring is nigh -- so near you can touch it. Winter is all but officially over, but for the first season in memory for most, it's hard to feel the change of seasons. Well, even if not traditional, this winter on Park Avenue in The Heights was pleasant and comfortable, so no one here is complaining. But what should we expect now? Spring temperatures in the 90s? A spring flash blizzard? Torrential rains or hurricanes?

Well, whatever the weather, the environment at Arlington's community media production center is warm and inviting. More and more newcomers arrive at our door and eagerly engage in learning and practicing the science and art of video/television production, video graphics, and digital filmmaking.

Soon there will be another gateway to ACMi, one especially convenient for Arlington's high school students. This spring, ACMi will open the doors of its new satellite location across Mass Ave from Arlington High School. Students from AHS and Arlington Catholic will then have closer access to ACMi facilities. An announcement about the grand opening will be forthcoming sometime in April.

Planning begins at the end of April for the second bi-annual ACMi Awards ceremony at which ACMi member producers and crew will be honored for their programming contributions to Arlington television since the first awards in June 2010.

Stay tuned! Something new is always happening at your hyper-local media production center. We send you spring cheer from:

-- The Staff at

ACMi TV

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What's Up (and On) at ACMi

Studio News

Conference Room Studio

Multi-camera productions are now possible from the now completed ACMi Conference Room Studio on the lower level at 85 Park Ave. So far it has been used by the League of Women Voters of Arlington (LWVA), Charlotte Pierce's Face the Book, and the Focus Media high school production group.

Community Safety Building Wired for Video

ACMi has included the Community Safety Building meeting room in its list of robotic TV coverage sites. New cable runs and connections for multi-camera productions within the meeting room simplify set-up and break-down of ACMi's robotic camera system for ACMi operators.

Studio B

Planning and design are now well underway for the new centrally located ACMi satellite studio across from Arlington High School. This spring the new storefront location will be open to ACMi members and will focus on learning and production activities for students and seniors.

ACMi Public Channel

Arlington Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC)

Presents Topics in Special Education

Hosted by Trish Orlovsky, Arlington parent and special ed advocate and 2009 recipient of the Patricia Blake Advocacy Award from the Federation for Children with Special Needs.

This series informs parents of topics critical to successfully navigating the world of special education including bullying prevention, procedural safeguards, and developing your child's Individual Education Plan.<http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/sepac/>

Girl Power

Arlington Catholic student Hannah Doyon hosts this series about girl's competence in fields and activities once seen as boys-only domains. The show features Ottoson teacher Allison Oropallo, finalist on the Home & Garden Television (HGTV) series "All American Handyman".

Multicultural Music Magazine

ACMi member producer, Dr. Nish Sonwalkar continues to develop and produce new episodes of this unique international music performance series. His latest programming features a Fusion Music Concert originating from M.I.T. University. The music demonstrates a fusion of traditional Indian music with acoustic sounds and the sounds of modern violin.

Public Channel On Deck - Coming Soon:

The 2012 Guns 'N' Hoses Hockey Game

ACMI member producer, Michael Marroquin, produces this March 16th annual classic to be aired in April. The annual hockey game features the Arlington Police Department taking on the Arlington Fire Department in a charity hockey game whose ticket-sales proceeds benefit Autism Speaks.

Pride and Prejudice

ACMI member producer Jo Guthrie is set to roll cameras and sound on March 23rd for the Theatre at First stage production of this Jane Austen classic novel.

Nicole's Review - Second Season Premiere

Nicole Sammarco's interview series resumes this spring with a powerful story about a Dominican single mother, burned by acid at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, and her journey to the US to seek reconstructive surgery and win back the love of her terrified son who witnessed it all.

2012 Patriots' Day Weekend

ACMI's annual ACMi coverage will be LIVE on the Public channel on April 15th and replayed generously for some time thereafter.

ACMI Spring Showcase

A LIVE studio event set for April 7th on the ACMI Public Channel that will showcase new programming from ACMI. Set to perform at the event are The Dave Sammarco Band, Steve Katsos Show House Band, and local band Young Hawkins. Jo Guthrie and Bob Kuhn will host the event and conduct live interviews with ACMI producers. Tune in!

ACMi Education Channel

Ottoson News Network

Special Report -- ONN interviewed authors of the critically acclaimed "Hello Cupcake", featured recently on Good Morning America. They then produced a show now airing on ACMi.

Arlington Enrichment Collaborative TV

A new series, the AEC Game Show, now playing on the ACMi Education Channel, features Jenga and Battleship tournaments with a twist in its first episode. Don't miss this tension-filled test of mastery. Sound like fun? Contact Diana Weisner at AEC to join in the fun.

ACTV's Cougar Productions

Arlington Catholic student members of the ACTV production group continue to produce programming at ACMi under the tutelage of Dan Black. They are making great use of the studio's green screen magic. Their latest project, now airing is a Special Interview with the Arlington Catholic High School Principal, Mr. Biagioni.

AHS Battle of the Bands

This year's Arlington High musical competition, produced by the AHS student group Focus Media, is its best yet. Tune in to find out who took top honors.

AHS Sports

Dan Black and Lakis Koulouris continue to supervise ACMI's student coverage of AHS sports productions. Several ACMi middle school and high school member producers are participating on production crews for this season's winter sports.

Education Channel On Deck - Coming Soon:

Hardy After School Program Play

The current Hardy After School Program production of "A Story to Tell" is coming soon to the ACMi Education channel.

Jasper Hamilton Presents

See the latest from AHS filmmaking phenom, Jasper Hamilton.

The No-Film Film Festival

ACMi Youth Coordinator and resident digital feature filmmaker, Dan Black, is supervising ACMi student producer participation in this digital film festival. (Get more info here.)

On the ACMi Government Channel

Arlington Finance Committee Meetings (NEW)

ACMi is now covering FinCom deliberations. Watch the first two we've recorded on the Government channel on the following dates and times:

Fin Com meetings of March 12th and March 14th on

Sundays at 8 AM, Wednesdays at 7 PM, Saturdays at 8 PM.

Inside Arlington's Schools

School Committee Chair, Cindy Starks, hosts this series of visits with Principals at each and every public school in our town.

State Senate Update with Sen. Ken Donnelly

A review of new and proposed legislation and the Senator's goals.

Brian Sullivan Retirement at Town Hall

A retrospective video on the life of Brian Sullivan was shown at the Town Hall gathering in his memory on February 16, 2012. It is now airing on the ACMi Government channel.

Candidate Profiles

Three-to-five-minute self profiles by candidates running for office in the April 10th Town Elections have been produced in the ACMi studio and are now being aired as a public service between March 10th and April 10th.

Candidate Debates

ACMi hosts its annual televised debate among this year's

candidates. Moderators will be the Arlington Advocate Editor and Reporter. The recorded program is now airing on ACMi.

Government Channel On Deck - Coming Soon:

Candidates' Night

ACMi offers LIVE coverage on March 29th of the annual League of Women Voters of Arlington's Candidates Night, featuring this year's candidates answering questions from the audience, monitored by the League.

Election Night Returns

ACMi's LIVE coverage from Town Hall of the election results will take place on April 10th.

Town Meeting

Don't miss ACMI's twice-weekly coverage of the Town's most important meeting of the year -- LIVE, beginning Monday April 23rd from the Robbins Memorial Auditorium at Arlington's Town Hall.

See a schedule of our current programming.

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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 alliance of community PEG media organizations like ours. Thank you for your interest in free and independent public information media. To learn more about what our national Alliance for Community Media is doing to help, visit here .

ACMi/Advocate Candidate Debates

Arlington School Committee candidates in ACMi TV studio for the Annual ACMi-Advocate debate moderated by the Editor and Reporter of the Arlington Advocate and Wicked Local Online.

Candidate Debates

On Thursday afternoon and evening of March 15th the candidates for the approaching April 10th Town Elections came to the ACMi studio at 85 Park Avenue in Arlington Heights to have their say in debates organized by ACMi and moderated by Advocate Editor Andy Levin and Reporter Monica Jimenez.

The debate between candidates for the Arlington Board of Selectmen was recorded during the afternoon session, and the evening was dedicated to the debate among candidates for the Arlington School Committee. Both half-hour programs are now airing back-to-back until April 10th on the ACMi Government channel (Comcast 10, RCN 15, and Verizon 26) on Sundays at 9pm and 11pm; on Tuesdays at 5pm; on Thursdays at 3pm; on Fridays at 1pm; and on Saturdays at 9am.

REMINDER:

Candidate Profiles, 3-to-5-minute candidate self profiles that were recorded on Thursday March 1st are now airing on the Government channel as well on Sundays at 8pm and 10 pm; on Tuesdays at 4pm; on Thursdays at 2pm and 11pm; on Fridays at noon; and on Saturdays at 8am.

Candidates' Night, hosted each year by the League of Women Voters of Arlington, will be cablecast LIVE Thursday March 29th from the Robbins Memorial Auditorium at Town Hall.

Election Returns on Tuesday April 10th will be LIVE from Town Hall on the Government channel, beginning at 8pm.
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Arlington Community Media Inc. was conceived and founded by Arlington citizens dedicated to ensuring fair and equal access to local community programming for all of Arlington's cable television viewers. ACMi undertakes this mission by providing the transmission facility, equipment, and training, for use by Arlington's residents in making themselves seen and heard townwide. You are why we're here.

We're always happy to welcome you at ACMI TV.