Competing Visions for Community TV Draws Ire of City Council

Following a heated discussion, the Los Alamitos City Council opted not to approve funding for the community’s cable TV station and instead opted to hold a March 21^st workshop to iron out the kinks in its structure.

Over the last year, the city essentially paid two producers to manage programming at Los Alamitos Community Television, better known as LA TV or Los Al TV. City Councilman Troy Edgar described a tense power struggle between the two producers, suggesting that the public access programming is suffering for it. Council members also criticized the station for airing too many sports programs and charging high school sports booster clubs hundreds of dollars to film each game.

However, at the heart of the debate lie two divergent visions for the station. One vision emphasizes traditional public access television programs created for and by members of the community. The other sees public access shows as becoming obsolete and advocates investments in technology and new programming to keep up with the Internet and people’s changing viewing habits and tastes for local programs.

“It seems like we’re on e 4 to 5 year collision course based upon what I am seeing here,” said Edgar.

In 2006, the station closed down, but the city reactivated it in 2009, funding an ongoing $20,000 remodel of the station’s studio at city hall and paying Studio Production Coordinator John Underwood to oversee community access programming. The city also funded the nonprofit Community Schools Media Partnership, which was created to produce programs in education and city government.

Vexed by the ambiguous structure and oversight of the station, Edgar took aim at nonprofit and its president Larry Strawther. In its first year, the nonprofit secured revenue from sponsors and booster clubs, making it less beholden to the city for funding and less subject to its oversight, he said. Its structure seemed to center on generating revenue rather than community programming, charged Edgar.

“Now I wonder if, within one year, you’ve outgrown the community,” said Edgar.

“I see an organization now starting to get other funding outside of us. As our funding becomes less and less, we have less influence over this,” Edgar added. “I see us funding a business that is much bigger than we intended.”

The criticism is unfair and frustrating, said Strawther. Strawther said he created the nonprofit to be self-sustaining because city officials said they didn’t want to be in the television business. The fees charged to the booster clubs for game coverage are necessary to cover expenses, and far from airing to many sports games, the station aired more hours of community events and programs in 2010 than ever before, said Strawther.

“I think we have met every expectation laid upon us,” Strawther added.

With the advent of YouTube, there is little demand for public access programming, he said. Strawther said the station is legally obligated to air community-produced programs such as school recital videos but that no one ever submits them.

“Nobody turns them in,” he said.

Instead of producing cable access shows, the station should explore new technologies and online formats because more and more people watch streaming video, he said.

“I am just trying to stay ahead of the curve,” added Strawther.

However Underwood sees a demand in the community for cable access TV shows. Several people have already expressed willingness to fund or partially fund their own shows, he said. By spring, Underwood said he hopes to begin producing studio programs on topics such as gardening, cooking and local politics.

“My only concern is preserving the mission of public access,” said Underwood. “My goal is to open the studio doors and create local programs for locals by local producers.”