Public Access Television
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which community members can discuss. Bob E., a longtime producer/host at the
access channel and host of the program, “It’s Your Nickel,” a live, audience call-in
show, uses his program as an alternative means of information-sharing among
community members. In a sense, he tries to create or reconstruct ways through
which people get information.
Bob E.: “We’ve had several shows where we’ve brought up a subject,
talked about it and, two days later, it’s on the front page of the newspaper
and nobody has ever talked about it before. We got people watching the
show, reporters and people from the TV stations that are getting clued
in .. .Just the number of people we are reaching and the range of people is
interesting.. .The format works better than any I’ve seen any other place.
We get more phone calls than any other talk show in the world.” (377)
(As demonstrated in this quotation, bravado can be considered a secondary
criterion for this producer’s category.)
Initially, some ego promoters begin as producers advocating an issue or
promoting some sort of a personal project. Many of these producers can also be
categorized as message/issue practitioners (discussed later). Ego promoters integrate
themselves into the story’s center and the original program topic becomes confused
with producer self-interest. Crane H., a social service agent, began his program,
“Coahtion Toward a Positive Future,” as one that dealt with inner city youth issues
and racism. Over time, the program’s message and the host’s personality, have
blurred.
Crane H.: “I keep doing it because it’s a lot of fun and I hke seeing
my face on TV. There’s no doubt that I like that. Being popular is fun and
having people on the street say they saw you on TV is fun. I don’t try to
hide it. Once you get in front of the camera and your friends see you, you
are going to want to come back.” (456)
Apart from the “look at me” syndrome. Crane H. felt that he assisted his
audience in reconstructing misinformation from traditional information sources
about his issues:
“I think it gives the youth a chance to be here and it gives older Ft.
Wayne a chance to see what’s going on with the kids. Instead of making
assumptions, they get to hear where the kids are coming from. That is the
biggest thing that most communities have missed. They get to read about
them in the newspapers, but those views are slanted. So, this way, they