CBJ: CPA-TV expands, takes to the web

Sitting in CPA-TV’s control room, general manager Cal Tate switched between three camera views while carrying on a conversation.

On the other side of the viewing window, “Breaking the Chains” host Andrea Copeland guided a discussion for the show’s 13th segment. No one manned the cameras on the set.

“We no longer require camera people,” Tate said. “We can change the view with these robotic cameras. I’m just in here with my coffee, pressing buttons.”

Since Tate was hired in 2000, the public access channel has expanded its local programming from six shows to 70. The black screen that appeared when nothing was on was traded for community information.

The station is continuing its metamorphosis this fall as it prepares to launch initiatives to add even more community voices to Channel 13’s airwaves.

CPA-TV soon will offer field production and nonlinear editing, video blogging and social media courses. At the station’s open house from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, CPA-TV will announce it will stream online 24-7 at http://www.cpatv.org.

Tate also wants nonprofits and faith-based groups to get their messages on air.

“We want to reinvent Charlottesville’s public access to make it more community-focused so organizations can look to us to get their message out,” he said.

According to Comcast’s subscriber numbers, Tate said, CPA-TV reaches about 35,000 people in Charlottesville and Albemarle County and about 15,000 people in the counties of Louisa, Fluvanna, Orange and Greene. The Public Education Grant Program funds the three channels with about $45,000 in fees.

Ric Barrick, the city’s director of communications, runs the government access station TV10 out of City Hall and has a hand in Charlottesville Education 14. He said government and public-access television are unique media.

“You’re able to talk about topics that only get a minute or 30 seconds [on TV news] or a mention in the newspaper,” Barrick said. “You can have a discussion on public access and not be confined by the commercial aspect of it.”

Before cameras rolled on the “Breaking the Chains” segment, Copeland organized the set and spoke with her guests. Maurice Jones, assistant city manager, and Frank Dukes, the director of the University of Virginia’s Institute of Environmental Negotiation, were there for a 15-minute segment on race issues in the city.

Tapings don’t always go smoothly at CPA-TV. During the second filming attempt that morning, Tate called out, “Stop, stop!”

“Was I that bad?” Jones asked.

“I forgot to hit the record button,” Tate said.

CPA-TV, which is located at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center, revamped its studio equipment in 2005. Tate brought in the robotic cameras, a 24-channel mixing board, monitor, engineering rack and console. The station stopped holding classes to teach outsiders how to use the equipment while Tate and others mastered the machines.

The station held the first of its four-session TV Studio Basics course in late September. Students will learn how to use the studio’s technologies to become certified producers with studio access to create shows for CPA-TV.

A few of the station’s producers have stuck around for a long time. David Dillehunt got his start at CPA-TV when he was 14 and now assists Tate through his communications position with the city. Dillehunt said people don’t always get what public access is about.

“Folks like to use ‘Wayne’s World’ as an example,” he said. “It might have appeared that way in the early 1990s, but if people haven’t seen it since, they don’t know what they’re missing.”