Katy McNeill expressed this same message in more of a hands-on way. A videographer who received her training at CATV, she wants to make sure that others in Boulder receive the opportunity, too. "It's a great means of expression, especially for the young people of our community, and I think their voices don't always get heard," she says. To that end, she started circulating a "Public Access and Free Speech Petition" that placed possible funding elimination in a national context: "In the midst of the Federal Communications Commission consolidations that inhibit sincere and representative media, we can emerge as a community that provides a safe haven for free speech," its introductory paragraph declared. McNeill eventually gathered approximately 500 signatures.
This document and the sizable pro-CATV turnout at the October 7 city council meeting helped sway the majority of elected representatives. Eldridge was the only person to turn thumbs down on the budget as a whole, saying it didn't go far enough. (For example, there's still no money to keep the imperiled firefighters, although the council is expected to back a ballot issue asking Boulderites to extend a tax slated to expire at the end of 2004 that would save their posts.) Riggle, meanwhile, was alone in voting against the six-month subsidy extension for Channel 54. "I would have supported a three-month extension," Riggle reveals. "They say they need time to study a merger, but they've already been studying it for three months and there's three months left in the year, so why do they need another six on top of that? It's not that complicated."
Mark Manger
DIY TV: Boulder Community Access Television's Andy
Bergey monitors shrinking funds.
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Figuring out how to keep public access alive in an age of reduced governmental largesse certainly is. Eldridge and Riggle both say they fault CATV for not doing more fundraising of its own, particularly since a clause in the 2002 agreement directed the station to raise $25,000. Through events like the annual Boulder Community Media Awards, Channel 54 scraped together a mere $9,000, and Bergey understands that upping this amount will be a struggle. According to him, "It's hard to be successful at a time when no one's successful at raising money. And we don't have anyone on our board or staff with any expertise in fundraising or grant writing."
DCTV does now; a professional fundraiser was hired out of necessity. As board chairman Bussinger acknowledges, this year's budget, which is in the $500,000 range, is down about ten percent from the previous year. To save simoleons, DCTV shrank its staff by two fulltime positions and now shuts its doors one extra day a week. "I'm sure there'll be fewer hours of programming, too," Bussinger says. "We just don't know how many. The producers are trying to pack more into fewer days." To prevent further slides, "we're planning some event fundraising and looking at a number of creative solutions to see what we can do about diversifying our revenue sources."
Another sort of diversity fuels Bergey's passion to keep CATV alive. "We're the most diverse channel out there, because anybody can get on. We have no agenda, no programming committee that decides what we play. We really are a reflection of the community -- and we hope the community appreciates that."
