Acadiana Open Channel (AOC)

left: Francine Plant and Ruth Yeager, back, work Friday on their show's computer files in the Acadiana Open Channel control room.


In the early 1990s, I got involved with Acadiana Open Channel (AOC) and have stayed in touch ever since. Here's the latest on them. AS for me - I may be producing / hosting a show there soon ! (Stay tuned, as they say)


AOC: Tune in, speak out
Public station gives people forum for various topics
Marsha Sills
msills@theadvertiser.com

Surfing the channels, a stop on channels 5 and 19 is a bit like the clichéd box of chocolates.

The city-parish president could be explaining fiber - and not the kind in your vegetables. Live tabletop discussions could range from national debt to the deceits of the mainstream media. You could catch a pastor's sermon or residents helping city marshals pin those who haven't served their jail time.

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Programming on Lafayette's public access channel - Acadiana Open Channel - isn't so much Wayne's World, but more real world - and not like the one on that other cable channel.
AOC is on a mission to continue to change its image, as it has another three years before its contract with the city is up for renewal. The station also is trying to keep pace with emerging technologies and consumers' desire for "on-demand" information. All this comes as Congress is considering video franchising legislation that could change how public, educational and governmental access channels are funded.

The station still broadcasts amateur videos, like endless minutes of a kitten playing with a ball of yarn or hours of a wedding ceremony and the reception that follows. But, for the most part during the past few years, AOC appears to have grown out of the shock-value stage that once brought viewers a show hosted by a self-proclaimed Ku Klux Klan member and programming that bordered on slanderous and scandalous.

The station is all about letting the viewers decide just how much the AOC's programming truly reflects the community.

"This used to be a place where you could go down and make TV and have a good time and have no consideration," said Ed Bowie, AOC's executive director. "We're not as Wayne's World as we used to be. It's not as kooky. We've transformed over time, where we've reached our maturity level a little bit. ... Now we have people who want to sit down and talk about the community."

Like other public access channels across the country, the station prides itself on serving as the community's outlet to express their views and their First Amendment rights.

The channel is an invaluable resource, said Stephen Handwerk, who hosts AOC's Meet the Democrats. Handwerk admitted his concern about federal legislation that could impact the station's funding.

"People may tune in and see people's dogs or plants, but it gives people a voice," Handwerk said. "This is something that makes the standard of living in Lafayette better. The only other place in the state that has an operating public access station is New Orleans, and that's scary."

The channel gets $220,000 from the city, allocated from the city-parish's franchise agreement with Cox Communications and another $50,000 from Cox. Federal legislation mandates that cable operators pay a certain percentage to local municipalities for use of rights of way. The legislation also requires cable companies to provide channel space for public access.

Now, future funding could be at risk as companies like Verizon and AT&T lobby for video franchising. If video providers aren't required to pay the comparable franchise fees, it could mean that cable operators would fight to not have to pay the fees, which are used to help fund public access channels, according to Anthony T. Riddle, executive director of Alliance for Community Media. Riddle testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee during hearings Feb. 15.

"Alternatively, the incumbent cable operator might eventually transform itself into a broadband video service provider, thereby freeing itself directly from its PEG support obligations," Riddle testified.

The committee has not met again to discuss the issue.

Community service factor
While Bowie is executive director of the channel, he also finds himself in the role of teacher, leading orientation sessions and explaining camera composition and how to make a show more visually engaging for the viewer.

"You've got to keep their brain active," Bowie told members who produce News from the Underground on Friday when the crew came in to learn how to revamp their show.

The live call-in news show looks at topics not covered by the mainstream media. Filmed the first Monday of each month, they're preparing for a show about privacy issues with guest Rick Swanson, a political science assistant professor at the University of Louisiana, according to Barbara Conner, one of the show's producers.

For about two hours last week, Conner and the crew took a crash course on how to improve their show, from picking out the right font for their graphics to perfecting camera angles.

The training is provided free of charge. Last year and through February of this year, 290 people were trained at Acadiana Open Channel. The channel offers courses in editing, production, camera operation and even teaches people how to use their own camcorder.

The show is a tad boring, admitted Ruth Yeager, another producer of News from the Underground.

"We're not satisfied with the way it was," Yeager said Friday. "Basically, it's a talking heads show. We'd like to make it interesting. There are times we could have used graphics but didn't know how."

First Amendment forum
Public access channels put the First Amendment into action, Bowie tells those who show up for volunteer orientation. Those interested in having their own show or having their own work aired on the station first have to go through the orientation training. Before being allowed to submit programming or train on equipment, volunteers have to take the workshop.

"We're here to let you speak," is one of the first things Bowie tells first-timers.

At any given orientation, the reasons that bring people to AOC are different.

Last month, Jonah Bascle, a student at UNO, said he wanted to learn more about how to get involved.

Alvin Jones, the director of SMILE/Head Start, wanted to see how he could get his nonprofit's work some publicity.

Bowie discusses issues producers should consider, like privacy, community standards, copyright laws and the fact that the station can't be used to turn a profit - in other words, there's no chances for a local home shopping network.

"You're responsible for your content. I am not," Bowie said.

During last month's orientation, Bowie referenced one former show host, Andy Hebert, who "pushed the envelope" a few years ago, pointing fingers at city council members and the past city-parish president. The host no longer has a show on the station, but Bowie said Hebert wasn't asked to leave. However, Bowie said he thinks the station still is living down Hebert's comments. Hebert also attends and comments at city-parish council meetings regularly.

On air
Three minutes before his camera man gives him the go signal, Hesham Tillawi makes a confession.

"Right now, my heart is in my stomach," the host of Current Issues, a live call-in show, said, grinning. "But when they say 'Go,' it's fine."

About two years ago, Tillawi, created Current Issues because of his frustration with the mainstream media's coverage of the situation in Iraq.

"We decided to start the program up for people to see the truth as it is on the ground, not as it's fabricated in editors' offices," Tillawi said.

On a night last month, Tillawi's first caller who identified himself as "Freedom" gave Tillawi kudos for discussing lobbyist Jack Ambramoff's questionable practices eight months ago.

"And the mainstream media has just caught on," the caller said. "... Everything now is about bin Laden" - a planned distraction by the administration to divert attention from Abramoff, the caller said.

Callers aren't always polite, but their right to be heard supersedes formalities. But, as host of the live call-in show Talkmeisters, Mark Pope will cut callers short.

"People can say whatever they want. They can call me names. They can criticize what they want. I don't tolerate foul language or people talking about local people. If people say 'He's a crook' or 'He's dishonest,' I want them to back it up or I will cut them off," Pope said before his live show's filming one night a few weeks ago.

One rule Pope has, though, is that he doesn't discuss Lafayette Consolidated Government on his show. Pope is the city-parish environmental quality manager. Pope is also an AOC board member.

"I do this to inspire thought - even with people who disagree with me," Pope said.

Going global
With the help of the Internet, shows like Tillawi's and Meet the Democrats have attracted an audience on the Internet. Tillawi's show is simulcast on the Web.

Tillawi said his site has helped bring more attention to Lafayette, as well.

"They think Lafayette, Louisiana, is a huge metropolitan area," Tillawi said, smiling. "How would a small city do such a show?"

Tillawi noted some limitations producers have with the equipment.

"But it's public access, so we can't complain," he said.

Podcasting training is in the works, but financial constraints have put that project on hold, Bowie said.

Bowie said the station's mission will need to keep up with technology.

"The technology communication landscape is changing," Bowie said. "We've been given reason to believe that we'll be part of the (city-parish) fiber project. We're also going into media literacy programs and how-to programs."

Some of that involves teaching people how to interpret and use the information they're "bombarded with from their cell phones," computers and television.

"I think AOC's new position in the world will be how to make and interpret media communication," Bowie said. "Instead of coming in and spending hours producing a show, they'll be able to produce something on their living room couch, and we'll be a distribution hub. We have a bright future, but we've got to reinvent ourselves."

Originally published February 21, 2006