Town Square Television: 25 years of Telling Your Stories
F
ormed in 1987, Town Square Television is a local, non-profit corporation based in Inver Grove Heights that functions as the local community television station for seven cities with seven channels. They serve the cities of Inver Grove Heights, Lilydale, Mendota, Mendota Heights, South St. Paul, Sunfish Lake and West St. Paul. For 25 years, Town Square Television has remained committed to telling the stories of its communities and helping other people tell their stories as well. “Twenty five years is a big milestone for us and we’re really excited about it,” says Executive Director Jodie Miller. “We are a local community media outlet that is similar to a local newspaper except we use video. In our early days it was cable TV only, and now with web streaming viewers can see our programs LIVE or on-demand from anywhere they can use the Internet.” Town Square Television covers numerous events such as graduations, sports, elections, multi-faith services, parades, summer festivals and more. It produces local programs, keeps up with the latest technology, promotes freedom of speech, covers local events, and preserves and documents local history. Not only does Town Square Television produce local shows, but it also allows volunteers and community groups to come in and record their own stories. “Half of our shows are produced locally by our staff and volunteer producers, the other half are produced elsewhere and submitted to our channels. Many volunteers and groups submit their programs to us, and we are very reliant on the community to be involved. We have been pleased with our rapid growth in website viewing with live, on demand and archived shows and we’ve seen an increase in the number of people wanting to buy DVDs,” Miller says. Last year, Town Square Television logged 1,500 hours of volunteer time, Miller adds. “That really leverages what we can do in the community.” In addition to a plethora of volunteers, a team of 15 employees works to make Town Square Television a success. “We have a highly talented staff who are very involved in the community. Many of them live in the areas that we cover so they know this community on a personal level,” Miller says. “The average employee tenure is 11 years, and the two longest-serving employees have worked here 22 years.”
Coverage and channels The seven channels that are broadcast are: Community (Ch. 14), Public Access (Ch. 15), Multifaith Access (Ch. 16), Government (Ch. 18 & 19), Education (Ch. 20) and Community Bulletin Board (Ch. 21). “Our highest locally programmed channel is Multifaith Access 16. There is high interest in the faith groups in our area submitting very diverse programs such as teen music concerts, Bible studies and Sunday services,” Miller says. The most popular shows on Community Channel 14 include Insight 7, Girl Talk, Amp it Up,
Game of the Week and SportsZone. On its Government channel, Town Square Television broadcasts city council meetings of West St. Paul, Inver Grove Heights, Mendota Heights and South St. Paul. “We’ll also be busy with election coverage in 2012,” Miller adds. “We always do a lot of programming around candidate information shows and we cover the elections themselves.” In 2011, nearly 1,800 new programs were televised on Town Square Television channels. Also last year, Town Square Television began broadcasting live sporting events in the community, including high school football, volleyball and soccer games, among others. Miller says she hopes the success of recent additions will encourage local businesses to sponsor programming. Additionally, Town Square Television programs have been regional Emmy finalists and won national government programming awards. “We are very proud that our staff can compete at a national level; it is our version of the Oscars,” Miller notes. In addition to adding new programming, Town Square Television has also completed an overhaul of its master control center, investing about $180,000 in equipment upgrades. “That was a big improvement to the ‘central nervous system’ of our stations, where all programs are scheduled and sent to the cable company for distribution to the viewers,” Miller explains. The Community Bulletin Board (Ch. 21) will also be getting a makeover thanks to the new system. “It will be a much more state-of-the-art channel and will have both traffic and weather updates,” Miller says.
Classes and donations Want to find out how it all comes together? Consider taking one of the many classes offered, including Intro to Community TV, Lighting For TV, Digital Field Production and Final Cut Pro Editing. Once people have completed the appropriate course, they can check out cameras, tripods, microphones, light kits and batteries to try out their skills in the field. “Our classes are inexpensive and it is hands-on training,” Miller says. This year, Town Square Television also began offering semester-long classes to give students an opportunity to dig into topics more in-depth, Miller adds. The first class, Filmmaking 101, started in January and an upcoming screenwriting class will help interested students learn how to write a TV show or movie. More information on classes can be found on Town Square Television’s website at www.townsquare.tv. Town Square Television is thankful for the support and donations from the community. “We want to thank everyone who has supported us. People don’t realize that just by purchasing a DVD or taking a class they are supporting what we do,” Miller says with a smile.
Live production of Call-n-Talk Taxes in studio.
Volunteers direct local high school drumline competition from inside the production truck.
Left, state-of-the-art production truck is a studio on wheels. Right, volunteer camera operator for Henry Sibley High School drumline competition truck shoot.