ORCTV HIGHLIGHTS 2009
2009 was our first official full service year. We started many great services and programming has really taken off. In the beginning of the year we held our Annual Meeting and seat new board members. We changed our bylaws to have a membership seat opened up every year for members to be seated on the board. We also enter into political season in the three towns. We offer candidates interview shoots to all candidates running for local office. They have a 5 minute piece produced for them that highlights their desire to run for an office. We also cover candidate forums and Town Meetings in each town.
Also in the spring we held our Public Service Announcement Shoot Days for nonprofits, groups and town departments. Groups have a PSA produced for them highlighting their missions and needs. This program has been very popular. We offer it in the spring and fall. Since it began we have served over 60 nonprofit/groups in the tri town area.
This year we started our February & April school vacation camps for youth. Kids ages 12-15 come in during school vacations and learn media literacy, camcorders, digital editing and studio production. Kids love this class as they get to write and produce their own videos. All videos are shown on ORCTV channels. In the summer we also started two week camps for kids. These are held in July and August. It's wonderful to watch kids come out of their shells and shine as they produce videos. We received generous grants from the Local Cultural councils in Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester to help support the costs of the summer camps.
Many residents took classes and produced programs at ORCTV. The facility and equipment got used regularly. We had several regular shows such as Marion Art Center's Gallery Talk, Kik Fit training information, Tri Town Business Ass. Show, Rochester COA and Tri Town Topics. There were many field shoots as well including: Mattapoisett Bike Path dedication, Mattapoisett Historic Projects, Poetry Reading Events, Reg Carter Music events, Rochester Cong. Church, Rochester Playground Dedication & doc, as well as submission from Marion Historical Society to name a few.
May through September brings many local events that ORCTV covers. We shoot and edit these into programs for the channels. These include: Memorial Day events including Rochester Boat Race, Marion Parade & Mattapoisett Parade. Marion July 3rd Fireworks, 4th July parade Marion, Horse Show Marion, Mattapoisett Road Race, Mattapoisett Harbor Days and the Rochester County Fair. Come fall we also shoot: Halloween- all towns, Veterans Day and Christmas events.
We began shooting school committee meetings for those who requested. These include Marion K-6 and Rochester K-6. We also continue covering Selectmen and Planning Board Meetings as well as misc. government meetings that come up each year.
In the fall of 2009 we began a new program for youth called Half Day/After school video club. Youth from the junior and high school come to ORCTV on early release days as well as the first Thursday of every month. They learn media literacy, camcorders, digital editing and studio production. It has been very well received by parents, the schools and the kids. We plan to offer this program in years to come.
On September 20th from 4-8pm, ORCTV and The Showstoppers teamed up to bring a LIVE TV Telethon. It was a great success. We had four hours of local live entertainment. This year we had singers and musicians. We had several local business sponsors who helped fund the Telethon and got a graphic up on the screen during the shoot thanking them. We also had call in donations. The crew and talent had fun and we had a lot of great feedback from the community. We plan to do this even every year and are already planning how to expand the Telethon in 2010. was our wonderfully talented and entertaining MC for the event.
We continue our Community Bulletin Board and daily average about 115 pages. This is widely used and promotes many organization and events. We also use our web page and quarterly newsletter to keep people updated on our services and programming. We also continue our business sponsorship program to raise funds for ORCTV services.
Finally the year ended with our Holiday Greetings. We opened up the studios to the public to come in and have a greeting taped. People sing songs, give a greeting or read a story. It has been a great year and we are happy with the response we have from the community. We look forward to continuing our services and programming.
