We could really use public access TV now

The Cloquet-based Community Access Television channel, CAT7, has taken some big hits in recent months. Its broadcast services were off the air for most of 2019 before being restored late in the year. And now, the station has “gone dark” once more.

This comes at a time when our community needs every public resource available to provide critical local information about the current COVID-19 pandemic. If it is to become a real asset to our community in crisis, CAT7 must get back on the air. Now.

If CAT7 goes back on the air, how will that help us?

We only need to look to nearby Duluth PACT-TV’s excellent programming to find a model for moving ahead. We can learn from them, but engage some of our own unique area resources to build a truly local community-accessible television station.

In a nutshell, Duluth PACT-TV has three basic types of programming: Community Calendar (information on community events and other public notifications), programs produced by PACT-TV staff, and programs produced by members of the public. Impressively – and unlike CAT7’s past programming – 70 to 80 percent of PACT-TV’s programming is publicly-produced.

PACT-TV offers training to the public on how to use available cameras and editing gear, and the public responds by creating programming that airs on PACT-TV’s cable channels. Community members have also collaborated with television station staff to produce high-quality programming.

With those three mainstays of solid cable broadcasting in mind, CAT7 might have a clear direction. Let’s imagine what that could look like.

In the past, CAT7 has had a community calendar that scrolled through slides of community events and important public notifications. CAT7’s response to the current public emergency needs to start with this capability — its value is immediately apparent.

Locally-owned and operated news outlets could play an indispensable role in meeting this critical public need for information. Their business is news, they are deeply embedded in our community, and no one is better positioned to provide the locally-aware, time-sensitive newsfeed that should drive CAT7’s community calendar/public service announcements/local news scroll, especially during this crisis.

Well beyond this, a rapidly-mobilized CAT7 might quickly offer opportunities to support local businesses and churches, as well as bring education, the arts, and other locally-sourced cultural content to citizens who are physically isolated, but seeking social support and connections.

The City of Cloquet has had some discussions with Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College about managing the station’s general broadcasting services. While their immediate-term ability to provide critical, pandemic-related programming may be limited, I strongly believe that FDLTCC would do a fantastic job if tasked with general CAT7 operations.

After reviewing several online videos produced by FDLTCC’s Ojibwemowining Digital Arts & Storytelling Studios, there is no doubt in my mind that they can deliver high-quality productions and innovative approaches to Community Access Television. And, FDLTCC would be the perfect local source for the training necessary to both students and the public to create their own great local-content programming.

In the midst of this pandemic, it is clear that the future of publicly-generated video content has never been brighter. I’m especially excited about how many area musicians have risen to the occasion — livestreaming full concerts from their kitchens and living rooms, or video-recording their music against a background of the remote and rocky North Shore with its dazzling water and sky.

Not everyone has music or art that they would like to publicly share. But we all know people who have something they love to do so much that they might want to show others how to do it — or even just share their joy of doing it.

With the current flurry of pandemic-related livestreams and videos hitting social media, many people posting these are new to video production. I’m already seeing novice social media videographers looking for new ways to create videos with high production values, beyond what a single smartphone might offer. This might mean multiple cameras and microphones, better camera work, high quality audio, and audio/video editing capabilities.

Providing the resources and training necessary to do this is an important way that a revitalized, high-functioning CAT7 can become a real community asset. CAT7 should be all about giving our community access to the tools needed to make authentic, locally-relevant television.

The benefits to our communities from working together to build this cross-cultural communications service would be immeasurable, and serve to bring us all into a greater, more inclusive community.

In this critical moment we have an opportunity to pull together and build lasting bonds through an important community resource — a resource that, with care and creativity, will serve us well into the future. Let’s not allow CAT7 to remain dark.

Carlton’s Timothy Soden-Groves is a member of the Cable Commission, the volunteer board that advises the city of Cloquet on CAT-7. He is also a freelance writer for the Pine Knot News, a musician and an avid arts supporter.