Walnut : Public Access TV Production Class Offered

A new course in public access television production techniques at Mt. San Antonio College will pave the way for Walnut residents to develop and produce local television programs.

The 12-hour course, scheduled to begin Feb. 11, is the first of its kind to be offered at a community college in the San Gabriel Valley, said Edward Hernandez Jr., dean of community services. Hernandez said the offering is a cooperative venture between the city of Walnut, the college and Falcon Cable TV.

A television studio in the basement of the Mt. San Antonio College library is equipped with $35,000 worth of portable equipment given to the city of Walnut by Falcon, which holds the city’s cable television franchise. Anyone who lives or works in Walnut and who completes the course may use the equipment to produce programs for broadcast on Channel 12, a community access station originating at the college.

The Mt. San Antonio College course, which will be repeated monthly, is limited to six students per session. Students will learn how to operate cameras and 3/4-inch recording equipment and how to edit the final program from raw footage, according to Luanne Gregor, Falcon television producer, and David Mead, director of the college’s audio-visual services.

Thelma Vickroy, programming manager for Falcon, said that similar studios are operating in Alhambra and Monterey Park and that a new studio for use by West Covina residents will be operating in that city by early summer.

Vickroy said that programs produced in some cities include high school sports and entertainment as well as educational programming and community news.