Some of the studios equipment. Bethel Citizen photo by Samuel Wheeler
BETHEL — “Our idea is to be enablers, to enable people to tell their own story, it’s all about storytelling,” Executive Director of Western Hills Access Television (W.H.A.T.). Brooks Morton said.
The story can be about almost anything, which is one of the advantages of the station.
“We are free speech television basically,” Morton said. “We serve the public education and government sectors of society.”
Morton said he uses different cameras to film depending on the event. He uses the “Canon” brand and the Sony FDR-X3000. The latter is a smaller camera that is used more often in confined areas. The FDR-X3000 is used to video the live music performances at Cafe DiCocoa’s.
“Tightrope Media Systems” is the software the station uses.
He said station systems allow for multiple contributors without needing everyone to be in the studio.
Morton said he wants more people in the community to become involved with the station.
“There’s a lot of user interface that can be done by the community as far as contributing and actually running the show,” he said.
Morton plans to run an hour-long class every Tuesday from April 9-30. The class will familiarize people with the system, introduce them to setting up and filming an event. If people are interested in doing their own show, they will be taught how to set up and sync cameras.
The station was on multiple channels in its earlier days, and switched to W.H.A.T. in 2012.
“We needed a name that didn’t have a number with it. We wanted to have a neat name,” Station Manager Wayne Howe said.
The station is located in the middle school section of Telstar, and Morton said around eight middle schoolers show up on Mondays and experiment with the equipment. Some students have already created small projects.
The station has few restrictions, but Morton said material that may be considered too mature for certain audiences would appear at midnight or in the early hours of the morning.
The channel is on 1302 in Spectrum. The channel’s location makes it more challenging for people to find it, but Morton said he is unable to tell how many viewers the station gets.
He posts anything he films on Youtube, which does show how many views he gets. The school-oriented material gets the most attention, he said.
The station has considered airing old events that have already been filmed in the past.
In order for the old film to be aired, Morton said that he will have to work on converting them into the new system.
For more information contact Morton at 207-381-5991 or visit http://www.westernhillsaccesstelevision.com/.
swheeler@bethelcitizen.com
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