Cable’s Public Access TV Offers Users the Limelight

James Bucar says with a wide grin that public access television is his “cup of schnapps,” which is to say that he likes it quite a lot.

Bucar, 26, moved to Los Angeles 2 1/2 years ago from Illinois. He’s been making a living doing some security work, some public relations and a little bar tending. What he really wants to do is be a television talk show host.

And, for the past three months, he’s been just that. “The James Bucar Show” airs on Group W Cable’s public access channel weekly.

“A lot of people belittle public access. They say that it’s trashy stuff,” the curly-haired, boyish-faced Bucar said, still grinning. “I think it’s educational stuff. It’s not just entertainment. It’s religion, politics, philosophy and otherwise.”

Bucar is one of a growing breed of avid public access channel users. The reputation of such people is that they merely dabble in television, thanks to the cable companies’ offering free air time and even the use of a fully equipped television studio to anyone who signs up for it. The shows often look like glorified home movies, with crude camera work and voices that sound tinny from cheap microphones.

Dead Serious About Shows

But many of those who appear on the gratis channels are dead serious about what they do. Nine such people arrived one recent night at the United Cable offices in Van Nuys for an orientation on that cable system’s new public access studio.

United Cable has just begun service to some of the 176,000 homes in the East San Fernando Valley. Cable franchises such as United Cable offer the free air time as a public service, one of many such community-oriented programs local governments mandate. The cable system was supposed to have been completed in December, 1985, but company officials estimate that it may be as late as April, 1988, before all of such communities as Sylmar, Pacoima and Mission Hills receive cable.

The system’s public access studio is running behind schedule too. It is, in fact, no more than a cavernous, empty room now. Veronica Rowe, who is in charge of public access at United Cable, said the studio won’t open for another month and public access shows won’t begin airing until October.

But demand for free air time in Los Angeles is great, and people who have heard about United Cable’s imminent debut have been calling the system’s offices, asking to be put on a waiting list. So, United decided to hold a meeting for the public.

‘It’s Exposure’

“There are so many people competing for time out there,” said Bob Kanter, a Van Nuys electrician. He and his wife have had a show, “Dining Out,” on a number of local cable stations for several years. They have ambitions of taking the restaurant-information show to a major network.

“We’d like to do a weekly show, if it’s possible,” said Kanter’s wife, Judith Bernstein-Kanter, who sells real estate. “We’ve been involved with public access for a couple of years. It’s exposure.”

Bucar nodded.

“I’ve been chomping at the bit waiting for this place to open,” he said.

Users must live in the area United Cable serves, although other cable companies do not have such a requirement. Beyond that, the would-be television stars have only to attend a series of free workshops the cable company provides to teach users how to operate studio equipment.

Once they are trained, users make an appointment for studio time. They must provide their own videotape and crew. Each show is given two hours to set up, rehearse and tape.

Scheduling the Shows

The shows are scheduled for air time by the cable company. There is no time limit for shows, but half-hour programs are given more desirable time slots. Longer shows may be religated to the early-morning hours.

Those who showed up for the meeting at United Cable gathered in a small, gray-carpeted waiting room that was crowded with metal chairs. Rowe stood at the head of the room, between doors marked “MEN” and “WOMEN.” She asked everyone to tell why they wanted to be on public access television.

Jane Kelly, who sat alone in the front corner of the room, said she was a data processor who has been taking night-school film classes at UCLA.

“What I really want to do is direct dramatic films,” the 44-year-old Chatsworth woman said.

David Aurell, 42, an architect who helped build the United Cable building on Oxnard Street, said he was interested in learning about video equipment because he wants to use computer-generated pictures on a television screen to design homes.

Simple Rules

Jim Margolin, a resident public access director at Valley Cable for three years, said he wants to act in his own shows. Michael Probert, a Valley Cable producer, came out of curiosity about the neighboring cable system. Glenn Probert came because he is Michael’s little brother.

The rules regarding public access at United Cable, as Rowe explained them, are relatively simple. Studio and air time are given on a first-come, first-served basis. Shows may not promote any business or product, nor may they endorse a political candidate. No slanderous, libelous or indecent subject matter is allowed.

“If it shocks me,” Rowe told the group, “I’m not putting it on.”

“How do we know what shocks you?” Margolin asked.

“Well, if it’s not for the sake of art, don’t try,” Rowe answered.

“It’s amazing that people don’t even know that public access exists,” said Margolin, a bearded, 28-year-old sign maker. “For a lot of actors it’s a great avenue. You can star in your own half-hour television series.”

‘Practicing the Craft’

Margolin said he sees public access as television’s answer to Equity Waiver theater, where stage actors can gain exposure by working in small playhouses for wages below union scale.

“If nothing else, it’s a chance to work in front of the camera,” he said. “It’s practicing the craft.”

Kelly expressed similar designs. She hopes that the shows she directs for public access will land her a directing job in television or motion pictures. She thinks that the free experience may allow her to jump to the director’s chair without having to work her way up from the bottom.

“This is a way of getting hands-on experience and not spending five years being a gofer getting people coffee,” she said.

Aurell’s visions of grandeur were somewhat less artistic.

“I’m just crazy about video-computer interaction,” he said.

Computer Design

With the knowledge the architect hopes to gain through public access, he envisions someday sitting down with a client at a computer terminal and designing a house right on the television screen. By pressing a button, a doorway could be moved to the other side of the den. Miniature, full-color drawings of the client’s furniture would appear on the screen and be moved about in the rooms.

Of course, there still are those who come to public access for fun, merely to experiment in television. Rowe expects to see that kind of user showing up at her office once the channel gets going and becomes more widely known.

But, she said, “the people who stick to public access are very serious about it. They are pursuing careers.

“Public access gets a lot of bad press,” she said. “I think there are some pretty good shows. And public access provides a forum for people to express their ideas . . . views that would not necessarily be on a network station.”