Facilities

WCCA TV 13 is located in a condominium building at 415 Main Street in Worcester. It occupies 10,000 square feet of space or roughly sixty percent of the entire building. WCCA uses two floors and a basement for its studios, training and general office space. The condominium that houses WCCA TV 13 was paid for through a five year loan and WCCA owns this property outright. However, the maintenance fees (including heat and cooling) are substantial at almost $3,500 per month or forty-two thousand per year.

The maintenance fees include care and repair of the exterior of the building but not the interior space. The “care and repair” is simply maintenance and would not include upgrades or renovations to the exterior. Additionally, because maintenance or renovation of the interior is the responsibility of WCCA TV, there have been instances when renovation or repair was postponed due to budget constraints. For instance, the basement was renovated by volunteers to house the KidsNet/Youth Channel training and could use further repair and upgrading. The electrical supply in the building frequently surges and equipment and computers have ceased to operate, probably because of “brown out” conditions. Staff believes there are electrical upgrades that need to be made. The heating, ventilating and air conditioning unit (HVAC) is noisy and causes problems with adequate sound proofing during production. Staff estimates there are approximately $40,000 in immediate repairs to the interior and the renovation the façade needs to keep the property in good condition.

There are three studios, Studio A which is 1,575 square feet, Studio B which is 750 square feet and the KidsNet/Youth Channel studio which is in the basement. Studio A and B have dedicated, separate control rooms. The KidsNet/Youth Channel studio also serves as the training classroom for the youth program. Staff reports that they could use an additional twenty-five hundred square feet, perhaps in a satellite location, to comfortably accommodate staff and access users.

Classes and training are conducted in the studios depending on the schedule and use of the studios by access users. While this is not unusual, it would be optimal for there to be a separate classroom facility so that production does not have to shut down to accommodate training. This is more of an issue during the evening hours when most production is done and when training is typically given to accommodate working adults’ schedules. Given the robust amount of programming produced by volunteers, separate training space would eliminate any conflicts in the schedule and free up the studios for more production.

WCCA’s operating hours are as follows.

General Public Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Member Hours Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

WCCA does not open to the “General Public” on Saturdays unless it has a volunteer receptionist available. This is problematic since a good deal of the population works during the weekday. This schedule discourages use of WCCA facilities by that population. Since WCCA maintains a computer lab and internet access in the lobby, this schedule discourages general public use of that resource.

We noted that there was not an adequate amount of separated storage space in the building for the typical sets and equipment access centers employ.

While the building’s location offers excellent public transportation options for access users and the general public, there is no free off-street parking. Parking meters are free after six p.m. but parking garages in the area charge an average of five dollars per visit and staff parking costs WCCA approximately $6,000 per year. The building is accessible for persons with disabilities, however the parking situation can make it difficult for persons with disabilities to access the building if they have to park a block or two away. Additionally, WCCA has many senior producers and parking can be an issue for this population.

Channels

Currently the only channel available to WCCA TV is channel 13.

WCCA TV 13 currently airs one-hundred and twenty-three hours of video programming per week or six-thousand two-hundred and ninety-six hours per year. The programming is supplemented by bulletin board messages for nonprofit and community groups. The channel is analog.

WCCA has very little repeated programming, less than twenty-five hours per week, or twenty-one percent. This is highly unusual for an access center and speaks volumes for WCCA’s work in the community and with community producers. Additionally, very few programs are produced by staff, only two hours per week, again, highly unusual. The bulletin board runs only an hour or so during the day and then during the overnight hours for a total of forty-five hours per week or twenty-six percent of total air-time. When we did a comparison of WCCA against other access channels of roughly the same budget serving roughly the same number of subscribers, we found a range of twenty-three hours per week to as high as eighty-five hours per week of bulletin board programming on those channels.13

WCCA has requested an additional channel as per the franchise agreement:

SECTION 6.1—PEG ACCESS CHANNELS

“An additional channel shall be made available for public access when, over a period of six (6) consecutive months sixty percent (60%) of the prime time (7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. each evening) is fully occupied with first run local programming created by local producers on each existing public access channel, such availability to be provided within ninety (90) days of the Issuing Authority’s certification of such use and request for additional channel.”

The request for the additional channel was made in August 2005. It is our understanding that the City (Issuing Authority) did certify that WCCA had met the requirement to trigger the additional channel but that Charter has declined to honor the City’s request. The small amount of time WCCA is able to devote to bulletin board service during the day on channel 13 is problematic for the nonprofits or other community groups who need bulletin board notices to inform the community.14 Also, WCCA has enjoyed a 52% growth in its membership over the last ten years and increased its total cablecast hours by 153%. At that rate, one channel will not be able to accommodate community demand as it continues to grow.

The ability to compress digital voice, video and data into smaller packets would seem to intuitively suggest that “less” space will be needed once the system is completely digital. However that is simply not the case. As technology and community capabilities increase and the access channels become fully interactive and applications become richer, more space will be needed not less. Looking into the future it does not make sense to require a certain number of channels as the definition of how much spectrum equals one channel will continue to change through compression technology. Instead the growing trend around the country is to require a percentage of channel capacity. The trend for a percentage of channel capacity is 10%. This percentage of digital capacity will allow the access channel(s) to grow as the technology grows.

WCCA does have live capability and has programmed live from various remote drop points in the community in the past. Live programming such as from the Performing Arts School or the Columbus Day Parade is highly valuable to community involvement and participation in events. Recently when WCCA tried to cover a gubernatorial rally at the DCU Center, they were informed that they needed two weeks notice from Charter to connect to the drop and there needed to be a Charter technician present for the live cable cast. There was concern expressed by the City that WCCA’s use of the drop could cause the Institutional Network to crash. While we have never heard of this happening in other cities where access channels use Institutional Networks, this is an issue that should be addressed so that WCCA can provide live programming of events and without jeopardizing the Institutional Network. In many cities, a dedicated strand is supplied for live video playback, separate from the city’s capacity. In addition, WCCA is discouraged from doing more remote live programming because it is unclear where the drops are in the City.

The channel has enjoyed its location on 13 for the past twenty years. This is positive since “branding” is as important to a local access channel as it is to network channels. There has been a tendency by cable operators to move access channels on a regular basis. There have also been horror stories from access centers that were “channel slammed” and received no advance notice, sometimes finding out the channel has been moved through viewers calling in.15

WCCA TV 13 has an established reputation throughout the City of Worcester. Moving WCCA from its channel location will cause it irreparable harm. It is important that the new franchise agreement contain a provision that will not allow WCCA TV 13 to be moved by the cable operator.16 It should also include a provision for other acquired channels that limits how often they can be moved and requires compensation for the move. Compensation for moving the channel includes real costs for logo re-design, printed materials, graphic generation, signage, etc. and should include not only actual dollars but also a number of free “avails” and advance notice to the community through bill stuffers.

Programming

As mentioned above, WCCA TV 13 currently airs one-hundred and twenty-three hours of programming per week or six-thousand two-hundred and ninety six hours per year.17

The types of programming and percentages are as follows:

News/Informational 33%

Religious 27%

Entertainment 13%

Self-Help 8%

Ethnic 6%

Youth 5%

Cooking 4%

Sports 4%

Six government agencies and eleven educational institutions are served by WCCA as well as over one hundred nonprofit organizations. The following is a list of “users” of WCCA TV 13. These users have in some fashion used the services of WCCA, either through its bulletin board, producing programming or by being featured in programming.

Abby’s House

Alzheimer’s Association

American Cancer Society

American Legion Tatnuck Post 288

American Red Cross

Amherst Montessori School

Apostolate Office

Apostolate of the Silent Soul

Armenian Church of the Martyrs

Ballet Arts Worcester

Becker College

Before Closure Corp.

John Binienda, State Representative

Burncoat Baptist Church

Catholic Charities

Center for Living and Working

Central Mass Housing Alliance

Central Mass. Independent Physician

Children’s Friend

City of Worcester

Mayor’s Office

City Mgr.’s Office

Clark University

Commerce High Class Reunion Committee

Compassion Pregnancy

Compassionate Friends

Cornerstone Academy

Daughters of the American Revolution

Dudley Lions Club

Eckankar Church

Epworth United Methodist Church

Fleet Boston

Forgeworks Farm

Friends of Newton Hill

Girls Inc.

Goddard Memorial Association

Grace Community Church

Harford Bible Students

Harvard Medical School

Hessed Foundation

Holden Christian Academy

Holiday Inn

Hospice Education Institute

House Faith Ministry

Iglesias Jesuscristo

In City Times

Italian American Cultural Center

Jewish Family Services

Kelly Funeral Home

King Jesus Chapel Church

Korean War Memorial

LAOH

Legal Assistance of Mass.

Leicester Lions Club

Mass Audubon at Broad Meadow Brook

Mass Justice Project

Mass School of Pharmacy

Mass Veteran’s Inc.

Metrowest Humane Society

Millenium Friendship Club

Morning Star Church

Narcotics Anonymous

New England Ghanian SDA Church

New England Native American Institute

Notre Dame Academy

Odd Fellows Rest Home

Old Sturbridge Village

Operation ABLE

Our Lady of the Angels

Our Lady of Loreto

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

PAL Worcester

Parents and Children’s Services

Performing Arts School of Worcester

Planned Parenthood

Pleasant Street Seventh Day Adventist Church

Problem Pregnancy

Project Bread

Quinsigamond Community College

Rape Crisis Center

Rural Housing Imp. Inc.

Russian Orthodox Church

Saint Francis and Therese Catholic Worker

Saint Joseph’s Church

Saint Michaels on the Heights

Saint Joseph’s Rectory

Saint Patrick’s Parade Committee

Saint Paul’s Cathedral

Salvation Army

Second Church of Christ

Seventh Day Adventist

Supreme Master Chiang Hai International

Sutton Garden Club

That’s Entertainment

Trinity Lutheran Church

True Holiness Church

University Commons Nursing Care Center

VNA Care Hospice

Worcester Animal Rescue League

Worcester Christian Singles

Worcester Columbus Day Parade Committee

Worcester Common Ground

Worcester Community Action Council

Worcester Community Housing Resources Inc.

Worcester Computer Society

Worcester County Food Bank

Worcester County Sheriff’s Office

Worcester Cultural Coalition

Worcester Dept. of Public Works

Worcester Firefighters Memorial 6K

Worcester Interfaith

Worcester Medical Center

Worcester Police Officers

Worcester Public School

Worcester Public Library

Worcester Regional Transit Authority

Worcester Senior Center Campus

Worcester State College

Yellow Submarine, the Band

You Inc.

YWCA

Second language and ethnic programming includes: Spanish, Greek, Albanian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Arabic and Italian.

These nonprofit and community organizations receive tremendous benefit through

WCCA. Their communications efforts are typically limited to a newspaper article or newsletter or perhaps a mention on the local radio station.18 Being able to put information on WCCA TV 13’s bulletin board is of great value to these groups and when they are featured in WCCA programs, the publicity contributes to their ability to deliver services.

WCCA currently has one-hundred and twenty-three hours of video programming (both live and playback) per week, of this one-hundred and four hours is generated by the community. This programming cost the users nothing as WCCA is provided to the users without charge. If the users had to purchase this programming time it would cost them $1,081,600 per year (combined cost).19 This $1,081,600 is only for actual air-time and does not include the cost of production that would be incurred, such as studio, equipment rental and staff assistance. The bulletin board service also has a real dollar value in that bulletin board users receive “low cost advertising” for their events and notices.20

Given that Worcester is served by network affiliates in Boston and not by local network affiliates, WCCA’s role in the community is that much more important as a source for local information and news.

Staff did indicate that they would like to pursue more educational programming and perhaps some distance learning courses in partnership with educational institutions.

Training

WCCA conducts five workshops per year and each workshop is eight weeks long. Workshops take place Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Additional training is provided during weekday evening hours as needed. WCCA also conducts HTML training each quarter with an average attendance of three students at each training. WCCA trains twenty-five community producers, fifty interns and sixty youth each year video production as follows:

o Introduction field production, including camera and basic SVHS and mini DV camera use and tripod set-up.
o In Studio production basics including: training in studios A&B, introduction to studio cameras, audio, Trinity Digital switching, lighting applications, floor director, teleprompter, technical director, production design considerations and director's duties
o KidsNet/Youth Channel media literacy and career skills in communications
o Computer applications : character generator, HTML, vlogging, posting content on the web.
o Studio orientation and facility policies
o Advanced one on one courses on Trinity Switcher and Titlewave programs and Adobe Premier
o Digital and Analog Editing classes

At the end of the training the producers are “certified” on the equipment as a prelude to producing independently. If a producer does not wish to take the training courses, they can certify through a test and if they pass they can use the studio and equipment.

Cost to the public for the eight weeks of training is $35.00. If a community producer does not have the money for the training, WCCA provides volunteer opportunities such as front desk reception, cleaning or assisting with production in lieu of the fee.

Fifty interns are trained at the facility each year. The internships are intensive, ten hours per week for twelve weeks. The interns are responsible for all areas of production and provide assistance, one-on-one to community producers.

WCCA estimates that it now has two-hundred and fifty active producers and production crew members because of its training.

WCCA has placed on emphasis on training youth to produce programming by creating the KidsNet/Youth Channel program. Staff estimates that approximately sixty youth between the ages of thirteen and eighteen complete the program each year. The goals of KidsNet/Youth Channel are laudable. They are:

o To provide students with hand-on experience in a real television station.
o To offer students outside the classroom work in the real world.
o To encourage expression through technology applied in television arts.
o To furnish students with a link into the community, to nurture a sense of belonging while at the same time developing real career skills.

WCCA accepts students through an open enrollment process as well as through affiliated groups such as the Girl Scouts, local schools or youth organizations in the city.

Participants engage in the following training:

o Production Basics - 6 week training course which includes camera basics, lighting basics, audio basics and editing basics.
o Production Clubhouse – reinforcement of the basic training and introduction to additional skills; an intermediate level component which is on-going.
o Power Team – designed for advanced youth; they invite promising youth from the Club House to work with them on advanced projects where they learn additional

skills and production techniques.

In addition, WCCA will provide customized training and media experiences to groups that make a request.

Participants in KidsNet/Youth Channel produce a youth show, Teen Central, which includes community public service announcements and feature specials, such as the recent democratic rally in Worcester with a follow up interview with the now Lt Governor elect, Timothy Murray.

Staff

There are seven full-time staff, including the Executive Director, and two part-time staff as follows:

Executive Director

Operations Manager/Bookkeeping

Membership Coordinator

Engineer/Technician

Youth Coordinator/Program Development

Receptionist

Playback/Technician

Production Facilitator

Web Developer/IT

Staff reports that given the current level of use of the facility by the community, they would like to add two new staff members immediately. Additionally there is a need to add staff to cover a “night shift.” The access center is open until 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 4:30 on Saturday. Most Public access center hours run until 9:00 or 10:p.m. during the week and until 8:00 p.m. on Saturdays, to accommodate working adults. Depending on the program (complexity of the set, script and camera direction) it is difficult for someone to leave work at 5 p.m. and have only two hours for production. Since evenings are the busiest time for the access center, there is greater demand on staff and great demand for space. Additional staff to cover longer hours would result in greater usage of the channel.

Possible new staff positions include:

Technical Facilitator

This would be someone who would work with producers not just in the studios but also at the editing suites.

Full time IT position

This is a position that is becoming more important to access centers as they stream video, which WCCA TV does.

Video Facilitator

This is a position that would work with producers on their video content and quality.

Maintenance Person

WCCA is a large facility and is in constant need of maintenance and repair.

When asked what prevented WCCA from adding staff, we were told that there is not enough money to budget for the long term and there was a feeling of hesitancy in adding new staff considering the City is engaged in franchise renewal. Facility space was also mentioned as a deterrent.

Worcester is twenty percent less expensive to live in than New York City and forty percent more expensive to live in than Baltimore, Maryland. A review of the salaries paid to staff, including the Executive Director, shows that given the cost of living in Worcester, the salaries are low. While salaries in the nonprofit sector typically lag behind the for-profit sector, adjustments need to be made in the salaries to make sure staff can enjoy a decent standard of living. Low pay can create turnover. And while the type of person who works in access usually does so for the benefit of the community and not the pay, the levels of salary of the staff of WCCA TV could be challenging.

Staff receives paid leave, health and dental insurance and a “Simple Roth” match of up to $100 per month. Staff also receives federal holiday leave, three sick days, three personal days and one week vacation (when first hired) that increases as time progresses. There is no “carry-over” benefit of sick or vacation days.

Many personal policies allow carry-over of sick and vacation days to a certain limit. It is particularly important that sick leave be allowed to accumulate for two reasons. When there is no carry-over of sick leave, employees are encouraged to call in sick, even when they might not be, just to ensure that the leave is used. Additionally, if an employee has an emergency illness, such as a simple surgery, it can take anywhere from one full week to six full weeks of recovery. This forces the employee to have to take a cut in pay during recovery.

It is standard for most employees to receive two full weeks of vacation in their first year with increases at various intervals thereafter. Offering only one week vacation the first year can be detrimental to finding qualified employees.

A new practice the federal government has implemented is to award “Time-Off” awards to outstanding employees. These awards can range from eight hours to twenty-four hours. Awards of time off do not incur any out of pocket expenses and encourage employees to excel because they enjoy the recognition.

Technical

Staff was queried on satisfaction levels with the technical capabilities of the cable plant. When asked if satisfied, staff stated “no.”

The reason for this dissatisfaction is that while there are remote drops at various locations throughout the city, WCCA has not been informed where those drops are. WCCA is aware of drops at the DCU Center and St. Paul’s Cathedral, but these are the only two drops it is aware of. Additionally there seems to have been past confusion regarding the protocol for accessing these drops.

In the past, WCCA TV was able to do live programming from a drop on Shrewsbury Street (Columbus Day Parade) and the Performing Arts School. However, when WCCA tried to cover the gubernatorial rally at the DCU, it was denied access and told it needed to give two weeks notice of using the drops and receive approval from Charter management.21 A concern was raised that using the drop without having a Charter technician present could possibly “crash” the City’s I-Net. While giving a two week notice is not terribly burdensome, and the City has a compelling concern for how the drops are accessed, it was the first time WCCA had been informed of this policy, so it was not able to cover the gubernatorial rally live. We have previously addressed the need for a dedicated strand for video delivery on the INet in the “Channels” section of this report.

Staff did report that there are problems with the transmission of the channel and when there are problems they are fixed quickly. However, staff also noted there are transmission issues that have existed since 1997. For example, when there is “snow” Charter fixes the problem fairly quickly but there is intermittent interference from the adjacent Channel 12 when 13 switches to live cablecasting. Channel 13 experiences “ghosting” and “graininess” at these times, resulting in an estimated twenty to thirty percent degradation of the signal (more noticeable on LCD monitors).

WCCA has experienced the channel going dark unexpectedly but staff reports that is usually the result of an outage on the overall system not just Channel 13.

Staff does not believe that Charter is responsive to their technical needs because of Charter’s denial of a second channel and the lack of inclusion of WCCA TV programming in the preview guide.

Equipment

Staff has spent approximately $35,000 per year on production and other equipment.

As per the contract with the City, WCCA TV received grants of $150,000 in 1997 and 1998 for “equipment, furnishings and/or studio renovations.” WCCA’s expenditure on equipment alone has exceeded the sum of the initial grants. Staff reports that approximately 90% of its equipment is getting old and needs to be updated.

Staff has provided us with a list of equipment that will be needed to keep its inventory of equipment current and to fully transition to a digital environment.22 The sum for this equipment is $824,495.00. A large portion of that budget, $154,720.00 is designated for equipment the public can check out from WCCA and use independently of the studios.

Unlike many other access centers in communities of Worcester’s size, WCCA does not have a mobile van unit. In order to do remote location shoots, staff or volunteers have to load up their cars with equipment and transport it to the site. This is problematic in several ways, mobile van unit equipment is typically fixed and as such suffer less wear and tear than loading it in and out of vehicles. Mobile van units are typically equipped with a generator or multiple large batteries to provide a source of electricity for equipment as well as equipment to monitor video and audio quality. Even under the best circumstances, this ad-hoc way of covering remote shoots leaves WCCA at the mercy of not knowing whether they got quality video until they return to the access center.