Public access television may be one of the only spots you can click on your remote control and find real people doing real things that aren’t criminal.
In this age of spin control and sound bites, it’s not often that we get to see elected officials free-associate about adding a four-way stop sign at a confusing intersection, watch a woman play a self-penned New Age composition on a tinny electric piano or follow a basketball game where very young players miss the net by very many feet, to be followed by “good try” commentary.
Those who enjoy the unpolished charm of these small moments can take comfort in the fact that sports coverage and governmental use of access stations will not fade away from the local TV landscape anytime soon.
But the promise of public access as a Wild West medium where anyone can use the airwaves to broadcast his or her own world view has come up short.
Howie Samuelson of Highland Park was on his city’s first commission in 1979 that created public-access programs. “We were trailblazing back then,” he recalled. “We set the tone for the area. Public access was created to fill in what’s missing from mainstream television. It could have competed with commercial stations, but instead it has been held to its lowest common denominator format with a minimum of assistance from cable providers. Chicago is still doing pretty well with original material, but cable companies don’t (care about) successful public access because it doesn’t create income.”
Tim Wiberg, assistant to the city manager in Highland Park, takes a more moderate approach, saying a cable company’s choice in deciding whether to offer a public-access channel over the History Channel, for example, can be difficult. “That’s always a dilemma,” he said. “There is no more capacity. There has not been an outcry that we need more public-access channels.”
On the other hand, he added, Highland Park greatly relies on the four channels of public access it does have, including its government channel, and wants to have all the availability it can.
Currently in negotiations with TCI for a new franchise agreement, he said, “We’d be looking to maintain as many as we can. Our stance is it’s a much-needed community service.”
Twenty years ago, cable companies were required to provide public access programming. Some firms, looking to land franchises in Lake County communities, sweetened the deal by offering more than the minimum required by the federal government, including free training, equipment and production facilities for making television programs. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, however, removed the requirement on such local programming.
Now, in 1997, the cable industry is regarded by itself and by many subscribers as an indispensable part of daily life: a utility company with competition. It has become big business, so though the grammar school production of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” airing free on public access may warm your heart, it’s your cold cash that the cable industry is interested in. It is a business, after all.
Short of popping the popcorn, cable wants to make you an offer you can’t refuse: “The English Patient” and the World Wrestling Federation, Jane Austen and the Houston Oilers, “South Park” and South American soap operas. Clearer transmission, more movies more often, more channels and, coming soon to a neighborhood near you, faster ways to hook up to the Internet.
How many people are watching the local offerings? Not even A.C. Nielsen himself knows for sure. “Nielsen was a guest on one of our shows, and he tried to get the ratings on it, but he couldn’t find anything,” said Frank Deuel of TCI of Northeast Illinois in Highland Park. “Bottom line, we do our own surveys to find out what people watch. The bread and butter (for local origination programming) is government and sports.”
Deerfield debates its downtown renovation, Highland Park and Highwood hammer out specifics on the Ft. Sheridan development, Gurnee grapples with rapid growth. Reporters can’t be everywhere, Deuel explained, so the access stations take up some of the slack.
There are two kinds of local programming. Public access has a local slant; no one is paid; there’s no advertising. Local origination has a local slant, but the staff is paid, and advertising is accepted.
In either case, Deuel said, “Local programming can be very ingrained in the community. In some areas, there’s a high level of interest. It’s the electronic town hall for Highland Park and Deerfield. In some communities it’s quieter.”
Ultimately, for those willing to overlook the sometimes five-and-dime production values, local programming is a revelation. Kids are still having fun, residents can heatedly disagree, and the debate on a controversial issue ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
According to Deuel, the very definition of public access TV may be “Cooper’s Corner,” now in its 13th season. Produced by Beverly Cooper of Highland Park and her family, the one-hour show, which airs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays on TCI, has a character all its own. Set on a stage with some hanging plants and white wicker furniture, it is the very opposite of “slick.”
“Most (other) shows are taped. We’re live,” Beverly Cooper said. “There’s no editing, no rehearsals. We don’t have a script or a teleprompter. It’s all spontaneous.”
It’s also a lesson in democracy. Cooper’s discussions may cover flower-arranging or documentary video footage of deer killing. Her guests have included Brownie troops, sword swallowers, political candidates, piano players, Shriners, Rotarians, authors and mothers whose children have been killed.
“I am never in want of subject matter. People call me,” said Cooper, a mother of seven who has lived in Highland Park more than 20 years and is a cross between Martha Stewart and Bella Abzug.
The parameters for her show, and all public access programs, are simple: As long as there’s no selling, no lottery and no obscenity, anything is permissible.
“The program is for all,” Cooper said. “Democrats, Republicans, disenfranchised. We’re not trying to sell anything, promote anything. It’s the right of journalism to keep people aware.”
The show was originally called “North Shore Live” and was begun by Samuelson and the late Sonny Schenker, whose own battle with breast cancer inspired her to get on the air and inform the public about it.
The public’s right to know is a cornerstone of the show. “That pretty much means that our entire premise encourages controversy,” Cooper explained. “We may have (shows) with people who are put down by local government and no one wants to hear their point of view. I have always been for the underdog. Many of the guests are people who have been abused by the system. This is a platform for them to be heard.”
But it is a platform that is being chipped away. There used to be 11 public access channels in Highland Park; now there are four. “The airwaves do not belong to the people,” said Samuelson, who, in addition to his work with “Cooper’s Corner,” for five years hosted his “Earth Network” show.
“Cooper’s Corner” is a fixture, but entertainment programs are harder to find. “The hardest shows to produce are high-quality children’s programming and comedy. You’re either funny or you’re not,” TCI’s Deuel explained.
Dan Capasso, public affairs manager for Jones Intercable, agreed that public access entertainment programs are scarce. “In the early days, there were some pioneers like Jim Broderick, the quick-witted guy behind `The Mundelein Review’–strictly for entertainment,” he said. “But they were few and far between. The promise never really materialized. People are using the Internet more as an outlet for expression.”
The Mundelein resident said that “of 15 to 20 people who start out wanting to produce their own show, maybe three to five are serious, and then only one or two do a full-blown production. The access people–the ones that stick around–are organizations that have the time to dedicate. It’s a lot of work, and the ratio of editing 20 hours of videotape for one minute of broadcasting tends to weed out a lot of others.”
“The common thread to our most successful community programming is anything having to do with education,” he continued. “Students, parents, teachers all get involved.”
In its Libertyville studios, Jones provides a facility for vocational centers, senior citizens and students. The weekly half-hour program “Blast Off” is a production of Rockland middle schoolers and their principal, Marsha Hestad, that airs at 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Fourth through 8th graders perform science experiments and math equations while learning about television technology from Jones staffer Chip Egan, who also hosts the educational show.
Besides his duties as fuelmeister for “Blast Off,” Egan has reported on seminars on drug and alcohol abuse at the College of Lake County, church services and Grayslake citizens meetings on sex-offender registration. But his favorite pastime is being a sportscaster for grammar school and high school games.
“With local-origination programming, you’re not going to get the same stories you see on all the 10 o’clock newscasts,” Egan said. “We provide you with that certain something that’s special to the area.”
That “special something” describes many of Lake County’s access programs. “Kaleidoscope,” the once-a-year 12-hour live marathon program, finds students from Zion/Benton High School camped out in the studio to present their own version of MTV’s “Real World.” People can call in and talk with the students, live, on the air.
Highland Park High School students have a lively weekly show, “Giants In Action,” which offers skits, interviews, remotes and musical revues in a newsmagazine format. It has been credited as the jumping-off point for many graduates who now have television careers.
TCI’s Highland Park studio also serves as home for the highly active “senior producers.” Mostly retired, these residents from several Lake County communities offer numerous half-hour programs, including “The Way It Was,” “Collector’s Corner” and “Cuisine Scene,” a review of local restaurants.
TCI’s public-access coordinator, Philip Satterley in Zion, makes the case for two highly successful entertainment shows “Off the Top Rope,” a one-hour weekly show (8 p.m. Thursdays) and “The Big Show On Video” (6 p.m. Fridays), which won the Cable Access Award as best entertainment program of 1997 in the county. Mike Smith and Tommy Gates, both of Gurnee, are the Conan O’Brien-type guys at the helm. They recently went to Beach Park and set up a card table next to the “Welcome to Beach Park” sign and broadcast their show from there.
“Off the Top Rope,” a call-in professional wrestling show, has a huge following. (“A religious show may get one call an hour; this show gets 15,” explained Satterley.) And the producer-hosts Brian Schenk of Lindenhurst and Danny Bartels of Wildwood–who have known each other since kindergarten–sometimes mock-wrestle at the end of the show during the closing credits. “It’s `Wayne’s World’ meets `Home Improvement’ meets the World Wrestling Federation,” Schenk said.
One evergreen on the community program landscape is “Lake County Live.” For more than 15 years it has served as the area’s only live nightly local news program and runs at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Daily news stories are covered by doing interviews and putting news packages together. Taking their lead from network news, Diane Schepis of Mundelein and newcomer Sharyn Elman of Gurnee anchor and Egan covers sports. Reports range from political announcements to fires to human-interest features. It’s topical and unpredictable.
So are public access shows. During one “Cooper’s Corner” show, wild birds escaped in the studio and the lights had to be turned off to keep the birds and their rescuers from being burned.
Then there was the time a candidate for sheriff promised not to make any political speeches on “Cooper’s Corner.” He broke his word and started campaigning, and the technicians turned the audio off–for 10 minutes.
Another time Cooper tried to do a cooking demonstration, but there wasn’t a stove. She wound up making egg-salad sandwiches with Girl Scouts.
Cooper said it’s the people who make her show tick. “Maybe we just have young people who have been awarded a merit badge or service patch,” Cooper said. “They come up and introduce themselves. Even though papers are inundated with kids doing drugs, youngsters are still striving to be good people. This is something the community needs to applaud. The more you encourage them to do good, the more likely they will.”
“Our programming does not cost the viewer anything additional on their cable bill,” she added. “We come with the basic package. It may not be worth purchasing separately, but we try to make it as exciting as possible.”
