need it downtown? Do we need it Stephen's College? Do we need it at Ragtag? Do
we need it in some office space we have access to? And Mediacom could never say
where we needed to put the channel. So, eventually, we just said well, here’s our
studio, let's put it there, that makes
a
lot of sense. And Mediacom said, well, we
said, well, what do you have to do?
don't know if we can get you fiber there. And
I
How do you figure that out? How do you answer that question? And they said, well,
we have to cross railroad tracks and they made that sound like it was impossible. So
I
said, okay, well, before you go down that rabbit hole, let me see if
I
can find some
lot of new technology in the broadcast world in
gentleman named Charles Paige, who’s sales rep
reached out to him or he reached out to me
other options. So, there’s been
the last few years, and there's
a
a
a
at TelVue in Boston, and somehow
I
and he kind of guided me through -- okay, here are your options. If you're not going
to use this Mediacom fiber, here are the other tools available to you to get the
signal out so that you can complete your contract for the City. And, we looked at
each of those options, and it was either too expensive or just not reliable. So we
came back to Medicom, and
do for us? And at this point,
they, you know, thought about some more. We had some Zoom meetings.
loop in Sarah Dresser to those conversations because wanted Mediacom to know
that the City was part of the conversation. felt like, if Mediacom knew that the City
was interested in this, they wouldn't just blow us off. And think it took-- it was
really helpful that Mr. Glasscock wrote that letter because think that really
I
said Mediacom, we have to go with you, what can you
think Mediacom realized we weren't going away. So,
tried to
I
I
I
I
I
I
showed Mediacom that the City was serious about defending its interest in its cable
channel. And now we know why Mediacom was delayed. They’re waiting on this
permit, and they have some steps they need to take on the permit. And now we're
hoping that in November, they might put a shovel on the ground. We'll see.
WANER: Perfect,
mentioned earlier.
I
just wanted you to get at the impossibility defense that you
SCHACHT: Sure, thanks.
THOMAS: Talk about the relative community value in terms of public access media
of the media center as well as the broadcast channel and whether cable or internet
broadcast is preferable, but particularly, talk about the community media center.
SCHACHT: Sure. So, I'll be honest, we’re
a very small nonprofit. We don't have any
full paid, any paid staff. So our metrics aren't good, and I've been told this. My
board knows this. So what I've been able to do is really collect stories of people and
how those stories of the media center have valued them. One of the first stories
got was when was at Salvation Army store, think on Walnut Street, and was
buying rug for the media center. It was giant rug, like 20 feet by 20 feet. It was
the biggest rug they had. And bought this rug and while I'm waiting for like the
clerk in the back room, because it's such big rug can't carry it out myself, this
African-American gentleman comes up to me and he asked me why I'm buying such
big rug. And said, well, we're starting community media center. And he says
you mean like CAT? And was like, yeah, exactly like CAT. And the gentleman says
he tells me his story, which was he was -- he's minister at local church, and
some years ago, they didn't have way of filming their congregations. So if you
were sick, or if you had family or work obligations, you couldn't participate in their
religious services. So they sent group over to CAT and CAT trained those people
I
I
I
I
a
a
I
a
I
a
I
a
I
-
-
a
a
a
a
on cameras, taught them how to edit the videos, and then gave them the
equipment to then film their congregations. And so those individuals became their
AV staff at that church. And, then those individuals actually then moved to another
state -- to another -- and then became part of another church that also didn't have