TV35 Hopes To Upgrade Facilities

Cranford's public access television station, TV35, is hoping to upgrade its facilities this year. Station manager Ed Davenport is looking into getting a new console and reorganizing and cleaning the editing room.

The labor will be done by Davenport and TV35's Eugene Kobliska, with the help of volunteers. Davenport had originally asked to reserve money in the capital budget for a company to come and do the work quickly, but with the economy as it is, decided to go the volunteer route. The new console will be donated by one of Davenport's industry contacts. In fact, the only aspect of the project that will cost anything is new cables, which should be less than $1,000 and will be paid for by TV-35's equipment budget.

"There are people in the business who like to help companies like us," said Davenport of the console's donor. "They prefer to remain anonymous."

The new console will have seven bays, more than twice the current console's three bays. It is a custom piece, which is why it will be donated to TV35 instead of sold to another company; most companies prefer to have equipment built to their specifications. TV-35 is rare in that it makes other companies' custom pieces fit its facility as a cost-saving measure.

Davenport hopes to have the new equipment installed by Thanksgiving. He expects the installation to take eight to ten weeks. Davenport and company will work from the studio with a control switcher and a few monitors while they're doing work in the editing room. There will be fewer programs on the air, but the bulletin board and the live meetings from the council chamber will be aired as usual. Davenport expects very little complete service interruption, a few hours here or there.

TV-35's original facilities were put together in 1993 for a total cost of $130,000. Since then it has been upgraded twice, most recently to the Final Cut editing system and a digital Hitashi 3000 video camera. Davenport has been leery of getting rid of older equipment, as some of the production capabilities require it. The accumulation of equipment and cables has resulted in clutter, and Davenport points to a time last year when TV35 was off the air for two days because he had to sort through the rats' nest of cables to find a problem. The new console will eliminate the need for older equipment, resulting in a more efficient working environment. Davenport is glad to get the new equipment, not so much for himself but for his student volunteers.

"It keeps our kids working with equipment that they'll go outside (of the TV35 facilities) and use," he said. "It's giving people in the community who want to get into this business the opportunity to come down and see if it's really for them."