3/18/08 – During the last few months MBTV has really started to shine.  The hiring of a new station coordinator set into motion, the new and improved, what I like to call, “MBTV version 2.0”.  We have increased production of new programs, we have developed new systems within the station and we revamped the physical layout of the office, making it more organized and user friendly.

Donna contacted a number of people who had a series in the past and this spawned new interest and programs such as Taxing Times with Ken Pangalinan, Talkin Maine with the Bow Tie Boys with Tom Saviello and Chandler Woodcock, and  Poets, Writers and Publishers with Ruth Evans.  Ken Pangalinan has come back for a second tax season to discuss accounting topics in his show Taxing Times.  Talkin Maine  is being filmed weekly and four episodes have been produced to this date.  Tom Saviello will be inviting several guests from Augusta; the latest guest on his show was George Smith, Executive Director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.  Ruth Evans started Poets, Writers and Publishers as part of a master’s degree project she is working on.  It is her hope to continue the series in the future.  She has done four shows up to date: interviewing local authors Barry Longyear, Nancy Porter, Woody Hanstein, and Wes McNair.

On-going projects consist of The Simple Gourmet with Stan Wheeler, who has produced several new programs this winter; coverage of UMF events and concerts, multi-camera coverage of the Farmington Annual Town Meeting, and several other community events.

John Frary of Farmington came into the station and requested some air time to discuss his running for congressional district office.  We filmed, edited and have it running on the air at present.

We organized the tape/DVD library, cataloged each show and have a new procedure of entering new programs as they arrive at the station.  A contents index is updated as new programs are filed within the individual binders allowing easy access and finding all the different shows in the library. 

Ordered new up-to-date computers and worked with a UMF computer specialist to set up interoffice networking.

More changes are coming to MBTV cablecast.  We received a software donation from Bob Nichols, of Rockland Community TV, who graciously donated this software which he developed for the use by Maine community television stations.  This type of commercial based video server system could have cost MBTV twelve to fifteen thousand dollars on up.  We only had to purchase the computer, itself, which was purchased with this year’s equipment budget.  The new system will change the cablecast broadcast to a video server system in which videos are stored on a hard drive and automatically played during the schedule.  We will no longer be limited to six shows daily and instead will have the capacity to air more.

1/23/08 – MBTV hired a Station Coordinator, Donna Courchesney.  She has been quite busy, right from the start.  On her first day we began to discuss possible rearrangements for office space and talked about future goals for MBTV.  Donna then rolled up her sleeves and made it happen. Starting with reorganizing the office structure to make it more user friendly.  Files were gone through and file folders were made to separate each into specific categories.  Then each office room was reorganized, we put up file baskets for work study students and all office staff, outgoing mail, etc.  We have also revamped the filing of DVD’s in proper books and discussed how best to maintain a program inventory that properly catalogs each program so it is easy to find.

Donna also started the program coordinator part of her job by contacting several people that have had shows on MBTV.  She got in touch with Ken Pangelinan to start taping the show “Taxing Times”.   Production will start by the end of January and every “other” Monday thereafter until complete.  She also talked with Irv Faunce about taping a show for the Western Maine Community Action program, he and Trisha Cook will be working on this show and we hope to start production in the near future.  She talked with Johnnie Buchanan about doing a show on the programs she manages.

12/21/07 – MBTV was quite busy this holiday season.  Jeanne Feder’s violin class recital was another hit and has become a holiday classic for MBTV.  We have sold several copies of the program and I have heard several positive comments on the show.  We also filmed the Farmington Baptist Church’s Christmas Pageant.  This was filmed at the church by one of our student workers.  The program was filled with skits and musical performances.  I also have heard several positive comments about this show.

12/7/07 – I met with Chris Davis, the new Foster Tech Digital Video teacher.  We have started planning on how to combine MBTV and the Tech Center.  They are going to continue to borrow the station’s Field Production Unit and train on how to use it and how to do studio productions.  They have also agreed to help film the Town Meetings in the spring.  I offered to give them training sessions with the FPU as soon as they get their cameras.  I am also hoping that his class will showcase some of their projects on MBTV.  It is my long term goal to have constant communications with him and his class to build a strong bond between the two facilities.    

We have a new series starting in December with the owner of The Foundry Jiu Jitsu Academy, Noel Danforth.  Noel came to MBTV wanting to be able to promote the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to our community.  We are going to be producing half hour shows that explain the sport, give live demonstrations, and then he will break down the demonstrations in detail move by move.  I found it to be quite interesting and it will definitely be a new area that MBTV has not covered before.  Filming is going to be done right out of Noel’s studio on Perham Street in Farmington.  Jiu Jitsu is great exercise and teaches people how to defend themselves if they ever get attacked.