Minutes Cable Teleprogramming Commission 5 5 09MINUTES OF CABLE COMMUNITY TELEPROGRAMMING COMMISSION MEETING
May 5, 2009
CITY HALL ANNEX - 2nd FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM #2
MEMBERS PRESENT: Jennifer Tigges, Sr. Carol Hoverman, George Herrig, Pauline Maloney,
AI Vincent, Burton Everist arrived at 4:10 p.m.
MEMBERS ABSENT: One seat is vacant on the Commission
OTHERS PRESENT: Jim Barefoot, Mediacom
Becky Specht, Wahlert High School
Craig Nowack, City of Dubuque
Sr. Hoverman called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m.
Acceptance of the Agenda
Upon a motion by Ms. Maloney, seconded by Mr. Herrig, the agenda was accepted as published by a
vote of 5-0.
Approval of the Minutes of the April 7, 2009, Meeting
Upon a motion by Ms. Tigges, seconded by Ms. Maloney, the Minutes of the April 7, 2009, Meeting
were approved 4-0; Mr. Vincent abstained.
Public Comment
There was no public comment.
Grant Agreements/Programming Review
Ms. Tigges stated that she had asked for this item to appear on the agenda because it had come to
her attention that no programming had been received from either Roosevelt Middle School or
Hempstead High School, both recipients of grants for equipment with which to produce programming.
Since last month's meeting, Roosevelt had submitted and Channel 19 has aired asixth-grade
orientation video for incoming students.
Mr. Nowack stated that the grant agreements now being used are customized for each grant.
Roosevelt's agreement stipulates 30 minutes of programming per quarter that must air on Channel
19. A Wahlert agreement would stipulate 30 minutes of programming per quarter that must air on
Channel 17. A Mediacom agreement would not stipulate producing any programming because
Mediacom acquires equipment so that other individuals and groups can produce programming or so it
can air the programming produced by others.
Ms. Tigges said it was her understanding that Tom Decree will not be at Roosevelt next year and she
wondered what will become of the equipment received through these grants there. Mr. Nowack
suggested that the Tricaster and cameras could go to Becky Specht at Wahlert if they were not going
to be used.
Mr. Barefoot said programming is being produced at most if not all of the Dubuque Community
Schools locations that received grants; that programming is just not getting on the air. Ms. Tigges
wondered if a process needs to be put into place to get it on the air. Mr. Herrig wondered if a letter
needs to be sent to each grantee informing them that programming must go on the air in order to get
the equipment.
Ms. Tigges moved to authorize Mr. Nowack to contact the Dubuque Community Schools grant
recipients to help facilitate the airing on Channel 19 of programming produced by the various schools.
The motion was seconded by Mr. Vincent and approved 6-0.
Mediacom Cable Report
Mr. Barefoot said he has still been working with Tightrope on the problem of the C drive filling up and
preventing the Cablecast software from working correctly. Now the issue concerns sudden stops in
the recording process.
Mr. Nowack suggested that perhaps a separate encoding station be purchased to prepare programs
for air. Not only would this eliminate the simultaneous encoding on the same computer that is playing
back, it would give some control and consistency to the audio levels. An Adobe Premiere Pro system
with Matrox hardware, if still available, would allow for much of the process to occur in faster than real
time.
Mr. Barefoot reported that many producers are using the editing facilities at Mediacom.
Cable TV Report
Mr. Nowack said that the City Expo telecast from last month was the first use of the camera cables
and wiring recently installed at Five Flags to bring the TV signals back to City Hall Annex via the I-Net.
He discussed a project he is going to propose called "From the Archives" which will show some of the
old programs that aired in years past on CityChannel 8. He meets tomorrow with the City's Personnel
Director regarding the Cable TV summer internship. He also discussed a proposal by Loras College
that it take over the day-to-day operation of Channel 17. The commissioners discussed the pros and
cons of this idea.
Adjournment
Upon a motion by Ms. Tigges, seconded by Mr. Vincent, the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
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