Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993 TAG: 9303280038
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
What about City Council meetings? Or the Board of Supervisors?
Dull, you say? Too long?
But it's a way to learn more about your local government.
Even if the meetings don't score in the Nielsen ratings and never get mentioned by television critics, they still have moments of entertainment and laughter.
Roanoke City Councilman Howard Musser predicts that the televised meetings will produce political theatrics.
"You won't have to tell anyone to jazz it up. There will be plenty of that," Musser said.
By summer, the three governments in the Cox Cable Roanoke system are expected to have the equipment needed to tape and broadcast the meetings of their governing bodies and other agencies.
The government channel recently was switched from 17 to 3 as part of the realignment of several channels by Cox Cable.
Angela McPeak, manager of the access channel, said that no starting date has been set for the broadcasts, but she expects them to begin before the end of summer. The meetings will be taped and broadcast on Channel 3.
The meetings cannot be televised live until next year when the cable system is upgraded and equipment is installed at 21 buildings in Roanoke, Vinton and Roanoke County.
As manager of Blacksburg's government-access channel before accepting the Roanoke job, McPeak directed the live broadcast of all Town Council and Planning Commission meetings there.
There was no way to determine the size of the audience for the Blacksburg broadcasts, McPeak said, but they seemed to be well-received.
Occasionally, viewers who got interested in issues that arose during the early part of a council meeting would come to the council chamber before the session ended, she said.
Some Blacksburg officials were apprehensive initially about the telecasts, but they got over the anxiety quickly, she said.
"Anytime you bring in something new, there is some hesitancy. Some people were afraid that it would change the dynamics of the meetings," McPeak said. "There were also concerns about whether they looked right and wore the right clothes."
McPeak said it was easy to telecast the Blacksburg meetings live because the equipment and operations for the public-access channel were in the town hall.
Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge said the Board of Supervisors has not decided whether to televise its meetings.
"It is one possibility, but I have not discussed it with the board," Hodge said. The county might prefer to use its time on the government channel for informational programs, he said.
As an assistant administrator for Chesterfield County before he came to Roanoke County, Hodge got experience in televising governmental meetings. The meetings of Chesterfield's Board of Supervisors were taped and televised on the cable system.
"It was a way to communicate better with the citizens," he said.
Michelle Bono, Roanoke's public information officer, said each locality can use its share of the broadcast time on the access channel whatever way it chooses.
The time will be allotted to each locality on the basis of its share of the budget and the percentage of customers in the cable system: Roanoke, 58.5 percent; Roanoke County, 34.1 percent; and Vinton, 7.4 percent.
Because of budget and staff limitations, Bono said, only one meeting a month of the governing bodies might be televised initially. The budget for the government channel, including McPeak's salary and other expenses, is $99,802 for the next year.
The budget is financed by part of the franchise fee paid by Cox Cable to Roanoke, Vinton and Roanoke County for the right to provide cable service.
Salem has a separate cable system. Its City Council meetings are not televised.
Although Roanoke, Vinton and Roanoke County probably won't choose a site for a studio for the government-access channel until fall, they can tape and broadcast meetings before the studio opens.
The studio will be developed and equipped with a $480,000 grant that Cox Cable was required to provide to the three governments as part of a new franchise agreement.
The government-access operations are temporarily located at Patrick Henry High School. The four sites under consideration are: Patrick Henry, William Ruffner Middle School, the Jefferson Center and the Pinkard Court Center.
by CNB