Don't Touch That Dial

    Back in 1990, I called then high school principal Dick Woosencraft and asked him if they had any students interested in film or video who might want to do freelance camera work.  He didn't answer my question but suggested I come by and meet with him.  When I got there he told me that "No we don't have a program for teleproduction or electronic media, but we do have a mud room ".  There he showed me an entire 50 foot square room with just dirt for a floor, just inside the west side entrance.  I thanked him for the tour, but I needed camera operators, I had more space than I knew what to do with in our offices in the old Westbrook A-frame office building.  I left with little more than a new acquaintance.
      The following year, after a new cable contract was negotiated with MetroVision of Wisconsin (the cable provider at the time), I received a call from Paul Wickesberg a member of the village appointed Cable Commission charged with purchasing the equipment for a new TV studio in the High School.  I was more than happy to make some suggestions based on my own experience.  Before I left the meeting on that Tuesday night I was asked to be a member of the Falls Cable Access Board and thus began my journey into the world of Locally Produced Public Television.  It also was the start of a relationship between the FCAC and the School District of Menomonee Falls 
      It took a lot of blind faith for the school district to invest in a program where there was no supply of instructors or even a tested curriculum to build on.  Tom Shannon, the media studies instructor has now built the program into one of the best in the state. Media Studies I & II are two of the most popular electives classes at the High School.
   It's because of that popularity and the rapid growth of Cable Access use that the Falls Cable Access board recently approved the funding for expanding the studio at the high school. While the referendum in September '06 provided for new science labs and offices, the media studies studio was on a wish list and low on the priority list.
   Starting next spring the south wall of the studio will be moved out 16 ft. to match the same expansion of the music department.  This will allow for a larger stage, better lighting, storage for props, increased classroom area, dressing rooms, and a parking space for a mobile TV trailer. 
   The decision to expand was an easy one for the Access Board because the other option was to move from the high school and build a new facility.  Abandoning the high school media studies program was never really an option.  When graduates from Menomonee Falls High School continue their education in the electronic media, communications or film, they are usually far ahead of the rest of the field and isn't that what we want for all of our graduates.


THIS WEEK on Channel 14

Concert in the Park - Accompany of Kids 2007 edition will join the rotation of concerts this week.

Village Voices - More info on the Big Pig Gig coming up in September.

I Remember Menomonee Falls - Host Jim Jeskewitz spends some time with his baby sitter on this new installment.

As always......Stay Tuned!