Neepawa TV station staying on the air
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2016 (3308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It seems Neepawa’s community-owned TV station will not go off the air after all.
On Tuesday, the channel’s board heard three presentations from people who are willing to run Neepawa Community Access TV (NACTV).
After longtime volunteer Ivan Traill announced last month he was leaving, he worried nobody would replace him. But now he’s relieved.
“It may be changed quite a bit, but the station’s not going to close, I’m pretty sure of that,” Traill said.
The future of NACTV matters to Traill, an 84-year-old who has filmed, interviewed and edited for the station for more than 30 years.
He took over management of the station in 1985, and since then it’s become both his outlet and his community’s. Traill, as president and CEO, put in 50-60 hours a week early on. There was no paycheque or even a stipend — at most, an occasional cheque for gas mileage.
“I loved it. It’s probably kept me alive till 84,” he said. “I just have to call it quits, that’s all. It’s not one of those I want to, it’s one of those I have to situations.”
He told the board last month he would step aside. His decision, combined with the station’s financial struggles, forced the NACTV board to recommend ceasing operations.
This ruling would have been finalized at November’s annual general meeting, but this week’s events may keep the lights on.
“It may be different, it may be watered down, it may be more computerized with a lot more streaming, but it’s going to stay,” he said.
The station provides approximately 20 hours of original volunteer-created content per week over the air, on Westman and MTS cable systems and nationally on Bell ExpressVu.
It airs church services, town council meetings, Ukrainian music and bingo games. Manitoba Junior Hockey League games featuring the Neepawa Natives are shown and the town’s newspapers are read each week.
People from throughout the province also broadcast their programs on NACTV.
The station is known beyond Neepawa because of its reach on cable and satellite systems.
There are only eight community stations nationwide, but most are struggling.
The station’s value, according to Traill, cannot be tied to dollars.
“We are a voice for anybody who wants to make programs and we’ve seen that with many other stations. Places that don’t have a voice anymore are crying because they really want that.”
The yearly budget to run Neepawa’s station is $76,000, down from $110,000 two years ago.
He said a yearly telethon, selling DVDs of programming, as well as advertising and donations keep the station viable. It will be up to new management to maintain those revenue streams, and seek new ones. They receive no government support.
Catherine Edwards, executive director of the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations, said they were recently unsuccessful lobbying the federal government to make available the $150 million cable companies largely spend on their own exclusive community channels to non-profit stations like the one in Neepawa.
The remaining community stations will press on, she said.
“The community wants to keep it open, so that the community can see itself,” she said.
The audience for Neepawa’s station stretches cross-country, with people, often from rural backgrounds, who appreciate television grounded in this influence.
Traill said one board member, in a visit to Tofino, B.C., spoke with a NACTV viewer while on a boat watching whales. And he recalled chatting with a man north of Saskatoon who tunes in.
“We always turn your channel on first and if we don’t like what’s on, we go someplace else,” Traill said. “We always give you first right of refusal.”
The viewers are what has kept Traill going. Now, he will give someone else the reins, hoping they usher the station into the digital age.
“The fact that it’s changing doesn’t bother me at all, someone else will put their imprint on it — that’s good.”
» ifroese@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ianfroese