Check out Live and Local this weekend on WCCA. Featured bands are 28 Degrees Taurus, a neo-psychedelic band and Stop, Switch, a collaborative rock and roll band.

Live and Local airs 4 times this weekend:

• Saturday August 4 at 12pm and 8:30 pm
• Sunday August 5 at 12pm and 7pm

This show was produced by interns at WCCA. Thanks guys, you rule!

This weekend Coffee with Konnie episode 200 hits the air. Konnie's guest is Nick Reville, the Executive Director of Worcester's Participatory Culture Foundation. Nick and Konnie chat about the online tv player Miro , media reform, technology and Worcester.
Congratulations Konnie and WCCA on 200 shows!

Coffee With Konnie airs 4 times this weekend

• Saturday July 28 at 6pm and 9:30pm
• Sunday July 29 at 1:30pm and 10pm

This weekend Konnie Lukes has coffee with Venice Fouchard, fashion designer, Worcester resident, owner and head chef of One Love Cafe. Konnie asks Venice what it's like to own a business in Main South and tries to get the secret to Venice's Jerk Chicken. Tune into see if Venice gives it up and hear what else she has to say!

Coffee with Konnie airs every weekend:

• Saturday June 30 at 6pm and 9:30pm
• Sunday July 1 at 1:30pm and 10pm

Celebrate 4 years of the Flipside with Lynne Simonds and her friends, June 25-28. Nat Needle performs a song he wrote for the show (what rhymes with Simonds?) Matt Feinstein and Lucelia de Jesus perform "Cooking up a better Worcester" at the Stone Soup Community Center. PLUS...Lynne talks with Perpetual Hayfron and Xzavion Youngblood about being young people in Worcester and what would have to change for them to choose to live in Worcester after college. When you see Lynne on the street congratulate her on a job well done!

Flipside airs on Channel 13 in Worcester

• Mondays at 7:30pm
• Tuesdays at 11am
• Wednesdays at 9:30pm
• Thursday at 1:30pm

Many of you have probably heard about the Verizon bill that is threatening the future of public access tv in MA. On Tuesday Mauro and I went to Boston to for a public hearing about the bill. While we didn't get to testify, we did get to meet other folks from Access centers across MA and hear some powerful testimonies in support of preserving public access tv in MA. The bill was sent to committee for furthur study, but we'll keep you posted on any updates.

In reading an article about the hearing by Colin Rhinesmith I came across a link to a very relevent blog. It's called Community Media in Transition. It's essentially about the intersection of public access tv and the internet. I'll have to make some time to check it out.

Here's another article on the June 5th hearing.

May 1-May 3 Mindy Craver's program helps parents better communicate with their kids. The programs are free (some of them actually pay you to participate). For more information check out Let's Be Honest Workshops.

May 7- May 10 Loa Niumeitolu, a graduate student at Clark University, talks about students' roles in the community, International Development, EPOCA, and globalization. She also reads an original poem.

May 14- May 17 Ryan and Cody, students from WPI's social justice group -The Justice League- talk about activism and preparing to graduate from WPI.

See Flipside's site for showtimes and more.

Lynne Simonds has filmed nearly 200 shows of Flipside! The two-hundreth episode will be filmed sometime in May.

If you have any ideas for guests or performers for the 200th show please comment here or email Lynne at: sevendewey [at] aol.com.

Thanks for watching!

Visit Legal Assistance Corportation of Central Massachusetts' website www.laccm.org

Giving up local control of cable franchising to the state doesn't seem desirable. One can imagine that local needs and local concerns might be lost if all cable franchises are dealt with at the state level. Money that is currently guaranteed for local cities and towns to use for public, educational, and government tv stations would be divided up by the State House in Boston, who knows if Worcester will get the share it is guaranteed.

The Worcester City Council last week addressed the issue of Statewide Cable Franchising. In a resolution all councilors voted “That the Worcester City Council does hereby urge the Massachusetts Legislature, the the strongest possible manner, to oppose any effort to eliminate the municipal consent process for competitive providers of cable television service... ”

Competition is great, yes, but not at the expense of local interest and control.

Hosts Dave Bedard and John DiPietro know the journey is sometimes more important than the destination.
On their show they ask successful people how they made it to where they are today.

Their first guest is Deb Hopkins, president of Junior Achievement of Central MA.

The Success Journey airs weekly starting April 4:

• Wednesdays @ 10:30pm
• Thursdays @ 11am & 8:30pm