HomeTowne Television Marks Its 30th Anniversary

There was a time when a HomeTowne Television volunteer fixed the teleprompter by wrapping electrical tape around it to keep the well-known series 30 Medical Minutes up and running.

The tape around the teleprompter sustained for five years and brought a chuckle to Miles MacMahon, the volunteer who put it there. "It was wired together pretty well," recalled MacMahon.

But today the television station—which serves its five main municipalities Summit, Millburn-Short Hills, New Providence, Berkeley Heights and Springfield—has undergone a face-lift, survived a struggling economy and marks 30 years of service today.

"Simply amazing it's been 30 years," said MacMahon. "The station has been a pillar to the communities it serves."

The station, which launched Dec. 11, 1979, was originally known as Public Access Channel 2 (PA-2) and now consists of nearly 200 shows, including its own longstanding local news program. HTTV is still located in Summit's Central Presbyterian Church's basement and now has new equipment, including three new JVC HD250 cameras and a Sony AnyCast portable studio, which MacMahon said has aided to the network's capabilities of reaching the community.

"It's a suitcase device that allows you to edit footage on the fly," he said. "You can do a live show from the event site and use multiple cameras. This gives us options we didn't have before."

Roger Smith, 63, the station's publicist who's been on board for three years after retiring from Merck & Co., thinks the station's resurgence from some financial difficulties a few years ago coincides with Fred Honold's arrival as president.

"He's been inspirational to many people and his energy—he runs this station and also his own consulting business—is endearing," said Smith, a Summit resident. "We were in some financial trouble several years ago but Fred's arrival and the tireless work of our volunteers and a lot of more fundraising, corporate sponsorships and money from local municipalities such as Summit and Millburn has led to a turnaround."

The backbone of the station, Smith believes, is the nearly 100 volunteers who put in "major hours" and "go above and beyond" to make the station and its nearly 200 shows running.

"We have just three paid positions and the rest are volunteers," Smith said. "They have tremendous energy and guys like Joe Amatucci are tireless workers. He rewired the new studio set and design new sets. He's a real dynamo."

The former name of HTTV was TV-36, its home channel on Comcast, but that become obsolete with the arrival of the channel on Verizon, which is 33. So hence, the Board of Directors changed the name to HomeTowne Television.     

"The name change encapsulates our mission," said Smith. "We're here to serve the hometown and the local news and fascinating human interest stories that make Summit, Millburn, New Providence, Berkeley Heights and Springfield great places to live."

Out of the nearly 200 shows, 100 are pro-bono, which the station produced and developed themselves. Among the more popular shows are 30 Medical Minutes, HomeTowne TV News and The Devil's Advocate. Its Web site also stores about 90 to 100 of their shows for viewing.

"The station has been running at a high level and we're evolving, reaching out to the community, getting active participation and upgraded our Web site," Smith said. "Technology and time changes, but we've done a good job of keeping a pulse on the community."

 MacMahon added Millburn-Short Hills has been the stations' focal point through the years.

"The people and station have been influential to each other," MacMahon said. "At times, you run into people and they've seen the people on our station and they go to them, 'hey I saw you on Channel 36 or 33.' It's a topic of conversation for the community and the people are watching because it's the people of the community who produce the shows. It's their voice."