Los Alamitos Cable Access in Limbo

The future of Los Alamitos’ cable access station took a dramatic turn Monday night when the man responsible for most of its programming announced plans to reject funding from the city.

Before the City Council could vote Monday night on a six-month $12,500 contract to help operate LATV, Larry Strawther, said he intends to reject the city’s contract. Strawther accused the council of being unfair and disrespectful during recent council meetings and workshops about LATV.

For the last year, the city has paid Strawther’s nonprofit television company, Community Schools and Media Partnership (CSMP) to produce shows for the community’s cable access channel. Strawther and the CSMP are best known for filming and airing Los Alamitos High School sports.

“I can only surmise that CSMP will never get fair treatment from this current City Council. If the best year in the history of the station isn’t good enough, then nothing will ever be good enough,” said Strawther. “Our board, an all-volunteer group, entered this project thinking we could do something good for the community. Many of them, not just me, have put in numerous unpaid hours of time. We made the station more watched. We made it more accessible to students, and we made it more affordable to community groups. Our reward: lack of appreciation, baseless accusations and looming implications - actions I find very disrespectful.”

Strawther concluded his remarks to the council by saying he would urge his board of directors to reject the city’s contract. He then left the meeting before city officials could respond.

CSMP can continue to operate and produce shows without city funding, Strawther said after the meeting.

 “We can still make deals with booster clubs,” he added. “We would turn the game in like anyone can do with public access, and they would have to air it by law.

The council had been scheduled to vote Monday on a six-month contract with CSMP, but after Strawther’s announcement, the council voted 3-2 to scratch the contract and form a commission to help figure out how the city should move forward.

“I am a little bit surprised by the comments that were made by Mr. Strawther,” said City Councilman Troy Edgar. “I think it leaves us in a little bit of a quandary.”

Over the last year, the city essentially paid CSMP and LATV producer John Underwood to upgrade the cable access studio and manage programming at LA TV, which is also known as Los Al TV. Throughout that time, a public rift developed between Underwood and Strawther over resources and the future direction of the station. At recent public meetings, council members criticized Strawther for airing too many sports programs and charging high school sports booster clubs hundreds of dollars to film each game.

At Monday’s council meeting, City Councilwoman Gerri Graham-Mejia accused Edgar of politicizing or taking sides in the rift.

“Mr. Strawther did what we asked him to do,” she said to Edgar. “The fact is you never once questioned Mr. Underwood, who never met any of the benchmarks we set for him. It seems like you have your own agenda.”

However, the rift at LATV had been ongoing, and the city’s poor management of the cable station contributed to the problem, said Edgar.

“How far are we going to go with LATV,” he asked. “We deemed it by our actions as not a priority. I think we are hoping this away, and it’s not getting better.”

Edgar suggested that the city consider establishing a joint powers agreement to operate the station.

However, a joint powers agreement with a neighboring city would take the local flavor away from LATV, said Underwood.

“Yeah, we are rudderless, but they are making us that way with their leadership,” said Underwood. “It’s sad. We have so many people, who are waiting at the doors to use the studio and resume doing what we have been doing since 1983.”