Channeling Creativity

No, it’s not quite “Wayne’s World.” But for enterprising citizens in this city, public access television is pretty close to excellent.

Thanks to a pact between Thousand Oaks and TCI, the city’s leading cable provider, amateur auteurs not only can borrow television equipment at no cost to record whatever they want, but for $35 they can also hire cable professionals to shoot programs for them in the company’s local studio.

The idea was to get some solid community programming from Thousand Oaks’ creative souls. So far, it has proven a success, according to Caroline Milton of the city’s Media Services Office. Nevertheless, she said she hopes more people notice that they can put themselves or their favorite activity on the air for virtually nothing.

“We know there is a greater potential for public access television than what we have right now,” Milton said. “We have a great thing here, and we want more people to take advantage of it.”

Thousand Oaks, like other communities in Ventura County, is already home to an eclectic group of public access television shows. They run the gamut from religion to rock ‘n’ roll, Johnny Carson wannabes to original, if sometimes strange, entertainers.

“Public access television was intended to be an electronic soapbox,” said Alan McDaniel, who manages locally produced programs at TCI. “Professionalism was not meant to be the goal.”

Maybe not. But because Thousand Oaks has been aggressive in its franchise agreements with local cable companies, it has secured an exceptionally sweet deal for those looking to produce their own television programming. Respectable quality has become an increasingly attainable goal.

Thousand Oaks residents can obtain free training on how to use cameras and other video equipment. With money from TCI as well as the city’s two other cable providers--Falcon Cable and GTE--Thousand Oaks also offers grants for residents to buy videotapes, props and other necessary tools. And of course, the technically uninitiated can shell out $35 for the pros in the studio.

“It’s much easier to go in and have the experts handle the cameras and lights,” said Margaret Travers of the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley. “When we heard about that, we were first in line.”

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Travers is the producer of “Arts Scene,” a show begun in June to showcase the personalities behind the Conejo Valley’s cultural activities. After taking TCI’s training course to operate the television equipment, Travers got the show--which she describes as the Thousand Oaks version of “Entertainment Tonight”--on the road, shooting episodes at the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park and at the Civic Arts Plaza.

She has yet to be mistaken for former ET star Leeza Gibbons, but “Arts Scene” co-host Georgeanne Lees said she was slightly shocked by the level of response to the program.

“Surprisingly, I have gotten a lot of recognition,” Lees said. “I ran into the cleaners the other day and the woman said, ‘I can’t believe you’re on television!’ People really watch it, which is good. It’s a good way to let people know about the arts.”

Lemuel Hill, a youth outreach coordinator for the Conejo Recreation and Park District, has been directing public access programs for years, using many Thousand Oaks teenagers in his productions.

One of the former film student’s best-known works is “The Overnighter,” an amateur horror movie shot mostly at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center with young actors and crew members. It premiered at a local movie theater and aired on public access television.

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“These kids came back to life out of the ground and started killing the staff of the teen center,” Hill said, providing a brief synopsis. “Then another kid, kind of a nerdy guy, saved the day. The moral was ‘You can be a nerd and still get the girl.’ ”

Hill’s latest project is “Pulse,” a talk show focusing on teen issues such as drug use, gangs, racism and dealing with authority.

“I almost got this skinhead to come on the show,” said Hill, who said he aims to be the Ricki Lake of the Conejo Valley. “No shows have been controversial yet, but I’m looking for some real debate. I want to get people talking.”

Some of the shows that have aired on Ventura County’s public access channels have gotten people talking, all right--and the talk has not always been good. Public access programming is protected under the 1st Amendment, so cable operators often have to air programs the public finds offensive.

McDaniel of TCI said there have been numerous public complaints and disputes over the tastefulness of shows in the six years he has held his job.

“I’ve found that almost every show offends someone,” he said. “I’ve had my life threatened. I’ve had police call, asking about certain [program producers]. The bottom line is, public access includes everyone, from religious groups to--how shall we say it--extreme individuals.”

One show, “Hemp Hemp Hurray,” consisted solely of a dancing graphic with the program’s title. The same person behind that also put on a show called “Hurray for Hemp,” which discussed the uses of the hemp plant for clothing and fiber. Residents complained it was promoting marijuana use.

Two other shows, “Chaos TV” and “Joke TV,” included sensational footage of everything from actual police cars running over people to a clip of a Pennsylvania politician committing suicide at a news conference.

“These shows were shock TV,” McDaniel said. “They had one thing that we determined was obscene, so we took it off the air. They had people dressed in anatomically correct uniforms with large sex organs, simulating sex.”

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But the most offensive public access television show to hit the Conejo Valley airwaves was easily “Dino & Rocco’s Back Alley,” a racist, sexist, homophobic program produced by two San Fernando Valley men. The hosts, whose goal was to outdo radio personality Howard Stern, urged viewers to bash gays and proposed team logos depicting Native Americans as drunks and thieves. It also featured actors dressed in blackface eating watermelon.

McDaniel, who once went on the “Jerry Springer” show to debate the hosts of “Dino & Rocco,” said their sophomoric humor caused the cable company, then Ventura County Cablevision, a heap of problems. But there was little he could do about the show or others of similar taste unless they could be declared obscene.

“These guys stepped on every toe around,” Hill said. “They exploited women, gays, Jews, everyone. The community was outraged, and as an African American, I was really upset. But it’s public access. You can do almost anything you want.”

As it turns out, most public television shows are far removed from the level of bathroom etchings--focusing instead on substantive issues and local organizations. Indeed, Thousand Oaks viewers are most likely to come across religious programming on public access television, McDaniel said.

“It takes a lot of work to put on these shows, and the religious groups have the commitment to do this,” McDaniel said. “Most people come to realize that the amount of work it takes to put on a show is more than they anticipated.”

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Hope Minnich is a die-hard public access producer: She is involved in putting together not one but two programs. One, “Country in the Conejo,” features the work of the Ventura County Producers and Songwriters Guild. The other, “Real Estate Today,” is a forum for discussions on fair housing, landlord-tenant disputes, senior rights and other general concerns.

She has secured hundreds of dollars in grants from the city of Thousand Oaks for both programs, and she is looking to learn how to use all the equipment.

“I consider this such a great opportunity,” Minnich said. “You learn a lot. It takes a lot of time to get it right, but it’s worth it.”