Community TV Goes on the Air : Pasadena Prepares to Become Video Village

Video is Victor A. Laruccia’s life, but even he has to admit that watching a five-hour broadcast of the Board of Directors debating zoning amendments, committee reports and then parking problems near city hall is a bit much.

“Bored? Well, yeah,” said the city’s telecommunications administrator, adding that he has yet to watch the whole taped session in one sitting. “An hour and a half discussing parking can be interminable.”

But, although the program was only slightly more exciting than watching a television test pattern for a few hours, Laruccia said its broadcast was a sign of exciting things to come.

Inaugural Broadcast

The marathon airing of the board meeting two weeks ago was the first broadcast on KPAS, Channel 55, the city’s cable television channel and the first of several community channels that will be broadcasting to cable subscribers in Pasadena within the next few months.

“It’s like the prow of a big ship coming through the mist,” Laruccia said.

Where there was once only electronic snow and hissing, there will soon be a bewildering mix of programs, including city meetings, documentaries on Pasadena, educational programs and high school sports.

KPAS will specialize in government affairs, but it will be joined early next year by a school district channel, a Pasadena City College channel and a public access channel that will give residents the opportunity to televise their own productions.

“We’re going to see stuff that ranges from the extraordinarily spectacular to the terrible,” Laruccia said. “We’re going to see some dumb things. But it’s amongst that stuff that we’re going to see what makes us Pasadena.”

‘Wired City’

Laruccia, a former professor of communications at the University of California, San Diego, and now in charge of KPAS, likes to use phrases like “the global community,” “the wired city” and “the village well” when he talks about cable television and its ability to easily and inexpensively link the city together.

While most viewers think of cable in terms of movies, news and sports any time of the day or night, Laruccia’s thoughts focus on the 10 channels, out of a possible 62, that were set aside for community use when the city’s cable franchise was awarded to Falcon Cable TV in 1984.

Under the contract, Falcon agreed to transmit community programs over special channels to cable subscribers, who now total about 10,600 households. The programs also will be available to the approximately 950 Kinneloa Television Systems subscribers on Channel 3 and other channels that will be decided on later.

To supervise the community channels, the city, the school district and Pasadena City College created a nonprofit organization called the Pasadena Community Access Corp.

Start-Up Funds

Falcon promised to provide $800,000 to start the corporation, plus a percentage of its annual gross revenue to keep it going, said Falcon spokesman Craig Watson.

Edward Garlock, president of the corporation’s board of directors, said the community channels will allow city government, the schools and residents to provide previously unattainable levels of local programming.

“Just like there is a need for a local paper, there is a need for a local station,” he said.

Because of financial problems created by competition from television stations and videocassette rentals, Falcon has given the corporation only $455,000 in start-up funds and about $96,000 over the last two years in operating funds.

However, the corporation, aided by $93,000 in city funds, has been able to buy portable cameras, a van with television equipment and studio equipment that residents will soon be able to use. The school district, the college and the city also have bought their own equipment for their productions.

Local Productions

The city has actually been producing short programs for the last three years and aired some of them on Channel 12, Falcon’s regional access channel.

The city programs, which now will shift to KPAS, include talk shows hosted by members of the Board of Directors, a series on crime prevention and a few documentaries, Laruccia said. Tapes of most of the programs are available at the central library on East Walnut Street.

He acknowledges that some of the programs have very limited appeal. For example, during one airing of a call-in talk show on parking, the nightmare of every talk show host happened--no one called.

But there have also been pleasant surprises. A documentary on northwest Pasadena and one on the city’s deteriorating roads have been frequently viewed by public officials and community groups.

The focus now is on board meetings, which will provide hours and hours of programming each week on the new channel. The meetings will be broadcast live on Mondays, starting at 2 p.m. The program will be rebroadcast Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Wednesdays at 9 a.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m.

New Avenues

“Getting the board meetings up is the doorway,” Laruccia said. “Once we open the door, we can start exploring.”

Laruccia, who is aided by a crew of three paid assistants, more than a dozen volunteers and an annual city budget of about $230,000, said he hopes eventually to have programs on arts and culture, analysis of local politics and more call-in shows.

“What we want is a fermenting pot,” he said. “Hopefully with a brew that looks and tastes good.”

Pasadena City College currently broadcasts three student-produced programs on Channel 12, and instructional programs, along with other community colleges, on Channel 50, said telecommunications instructor Ken Patterson.

Starting this spring, Patterson said the college plans to shift its student production to its own channel, Channel 58.

Student Video

Student productions this year included “Pychic Circle,” which looks at paranormal events, “Air Talk,” a talk show on community affairs, and “Legal Impact,” a talk show concerning legal affairs.

The main purpose of the programs is to give students live experience and a chance to showcase their work, Patterson said. But the programs have developed a surprisingly loyal following, he added.

“All three are quite popular,” he said, adding, “I’m not sure why.”

The Pasadena Unified School District currently has no programs on the air, but Peter Arnold, manager of the district’s telecommunications department, said the district plans to have KLRN, Channel 57, operating by February.

Arnold said the district has discussed having a call-in homework show, training programs for teachers and educational programs.

Viewer-Access TV

One of the most interesting community channels will be the public access channel on which residents will be able to air their own productions, as long as they are tasteful and legal. The access corporation has considered calling the channel KPTV and it probably will be offered on Channel 56.

The corporation will teach any resident how to use the equipment, which will be lent free or for a nominal charge.

“The possibilities are almost endless,” Garlock said. “If you wanted to do ‘Aunt Hattie’s Cooking Corner,’ you could do that. It’s infinite.”

A live broadcast of the Doo-Dah Parade, a series of health programs in conjunction with local hospitals, religious shows and a broadcast of a neighborhood picnic are programs that have been considered and may run in the future.

“This is a real opportunity for the citizens of Pasadena to be part of the telecommunications age,” Garlock said. “Not passive observers, but active participants.”