Make A Show

Public Access production facilities like Town Square Television empower the public (individuals and organizations) with access to television: the world's most powerful communications medium. Active members use video resources to express opinions and creativity in a form that may be otherwise unavailable to them. Public Access services are available on a first come first served basis - membership and proper training are all that is required.


Town Square Television members who complete an official certification course or pass a proficiency test are considered qualified (members under 18 need written parental permission). Residents and non-residents can sign up for membership at any time for an annual fee. The low-cost certification courses are offered regularly throughout the year for members by the Town Square Television staff.


Our Hours of operation are: Monday through Thursday 1 PM to 9 PM, Fridays & Saturdays 9 AM to 5 PM, Closed on Sundays, Closed on Holidays.
*Hours Subject to change.


Sign up to take classes here!
If you want to volunteer or help on existing shows Click Here

Start to Finish, here is what you need to do:

  1. Take the FREE "Intro to Community TV" Class
  2. Pay for a Town Square Television Membership
  3. Take necessary classes. This may include "Digital Field Production", "Final Cut Pro Editing", "Studio Production", "Truck Production", or any advanced classes you may wish to take
  4. Check-out a camera, then shoot your show!!!
  5. Reserve an Edit Suite, and edit your show!!!
  6. Print the show onto a tape or DVD. We accept Mini-DV, DVCPro, VHS, SVHS, and DVD formats
  7. Make sure the "Town Square Television" disclaimer, along with 60 seconds of tone and bars and a countdown is at the beginning of your program, and at least 60 seconds of black at the end of your program (see staff)
  8. Fill out and sign the "Cablecast Request" form
  9. Hand it in to staff, requesting which channel you would like your show to air on. Channel 16 for multi-faith, 15 for all others
  10. Tell all of your friends to watch your show!!!


Technical Standards

Town Square Television recomends that any program or show that is submited for playback on our channels should follow the following technical standards for accurate playback of your program.

Program Formats that are currently Accepted

Currently Town Square Television will accept the following formats for your program.

  • DVCPro
  • DVCAM
  • Mini-DV
  • DVD
  • SVHS
  • VHS
  • 3/4"
Although we accept older analog formats (SVHS, VHS, and 3/4") - we recommend that you use a digital format (DVCPro, DVCAM, Mini-DV, or DVD). With digital format you achieve a higher video and audio quality.You may also want to consider that older analog tape formats are getting harder to purchase blank tape for, and ,down the road, you may want to submit your program again and we may not be able to play your program simply because the equipment is becoming rare, and expensive to maintain.
You can reuse your tapes (both digital and analog) but they will eventually where out, become dirty, or become "wrinkled" - all of which can damage video playback equipment.

Your Program...

When a program is submited to Town Square Television for playback we would like to see the following items in this order.

  1. 60 Seconds of Black
  2. 30 Seconds of Bars and Tone
  3. 10 Second Countdown
  4. The "Town Square Television" disclaimer
  5. Your Program - preferably approximatley 28 Minutes or 58 Minutes or 1 Hour and 28 Minutes....
  6. 60 Seconds of black after your program
The overall requirment for all of these items is that you have constant, unbroken timecode. Inconsistant timecode can dramaticaly increase the amount of time needed to prepare your program for playback in our master control.

Video and Audio Quality

Your Video and Audio levels have a huge impact on the quality of your program. If ,for example, you have an audio level that is higher than the recommended level, your program will have "distorted" audio, that can be difficult for viewers to understand. Or if you have a Video level that is too high, your camera shots can look overly bright and "washed" out. When you are in the proccess of shooting and editing your program, it is very important to be sure to have these levels correct. - Once you have an incorrect video or audio level it can be difficult to correct later! Another reason to have good levels, is during playback of your program, you have one scene that has a very high audio level, and the next scene you have a very low audio level, the viewer at home is having to constantly adjust their television because of the large contrast of going from something very loud to something very soft. Broadcast television stations are actually legally reqired to keep audio and video levels within a certain tolerance, for this very reason!

Below you can see the display of a wave-form monitor and a vectorscope. Your video levels should not exceed 100IRE.


Below you will see a VU-Meter. This is used to measue the "loudness" of the audio. The goal is to have the average of your audio peaks at 0db.

DVDs

For those that would like to submit a DVD, instead of a tape, here are a few guidelines. We would like your dvd to contain a menu, although not necissary, it makes preparation of your program in our master control easier.


Use this form to Submit a Show! -

Cablecast Request Form



View our Policies and Procedures here -

Town Square Television Policies and Procedures




Subscribe to our Email Newsletter!

Name:
E-mail:

Get involved in Town Square Television by becoming a sponsor

Quick Survey

Which of the following Town Square Television community channels do you watch the most?

Community Ch 14

Public Access Ch 15

Multifaith Access Ch 16

Government Ch 18 & 19

Education Ch 20

Community Bulletin Board