Minutes of C.T.P.A. / 'Olelo Monthly Meeting with Kealii Lopez
(Posted January 1998 by Wendy Arbeit, President, C.T.P.A.)
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 07:18:52 -1000
From: wendy arbeit
Subject: CTPA/Olelo meeting
Here's the minutes from the most recent (December) CTPA/Olelo monthly
meeting
posted by Wendy Arbeit, President, CTPA
These meetings were mandated by Olelo's Program Committee as a way to
solve the ongoing problems that public users have with Olelo. At the
first meeting I expressed the fear that these meetings would be no more
productive than the Open Forum series in which an Olelo representative
professed interest and dismay and then did nothing (evidenced by the
fact that we have the same solvable problems today that we have been
having for years.) Kealii Lopez (Assistant to the Executive Director)
said that these meetings would be different in that she intended to
follow up and actually produce solutions. You be the judge.
CTPA / Olelo meeting 16 Jan 1998
Q: Wendy A: Kealii X: my comments
Q: You mentioned that Olelo would be doing more advertising. Where is
that advertising being placed?
A: The only advertising so far is about Pacific islander programming It
has been placed in Pacific Islanders in Communication’s (PIC’s)
newsletter. Other venues have not yet been identified.
Q: Grid: I still don’t see any details identifying series and specials
on the grid. Last month you said that once it is posted on your web page
there will be more details. When will that be?
A: Feb. 1. The amount of details available is still not established.
X: Education blocks don't indicate names of series because Educ. doesn’t
furnish that and Pam doesn’t ask for them. Kealii will ask her to ask
for it. (Sounds good but we had the same conversation last month)
Q: Does Olelo receive any compensation from Oceanic for fallow time?
A: No
Q: I would like a list of fallow times.
A: Pam will furnish. The usual programs for fallow times are the Weather
Channel, Knowledge TV, and Learning University. They each run on their
designated channels.
Q: Most recent of volunteer lists?
A: The one that came out a few months ago. It is anticipated that it
will be updated quarterly.
Q: High school students are being trained here. Is their training and
programming considered part of Ed or Public?
A: Education
Q: I understand that most of them come from schools that already have a
full complement of equipment, so why are we doing the training?
A: We train them on equipment that they don’t have at their schools
(e.g. They have field equipment, but not studio. So we train them in
studio techniques)
Q: Will there be an update to the last Heart to Heart report?
A: No.
X. Although those attending the meeting did prioritize their concerns,
that was never published.
Q: How much are we paying/will pay CPB for programming.
A: Nothing. Olelo will air the progamming that KHET receives free as
part of its being part of PBS. Although Olelo is not part of PBS, KHET
is allowed to pass on its “unused” programming.
Q: Why are we running the NASAprogramming on ATTN/2 since it’s about a
gvt. pgm and paid for by a gvt agency (DBED).
A: All channels are public.
Q: Why do we run it for hours when it repeats every two hours or so.
A: We don’t know the length of each loop. Yes, Pam can check and perhaps
schedule it so it does not repeat.
Q. Why is Olelo taking a hard line on repeats of current community
programming (2 showings only), but doesn’t mind end-to-end repeats of
that slow-as-molasses NASA stuff)
A. No answer
X: A question I didn’t ask is why (in this era of state agency
belt-titghtening) DBED is paying for this in the first place.
Q: What will you do with the public’s Hi8 backs and decks once they are
replaced.
A: No decision has been made yet. Maybe they will go to the not-yet-set
up satellite facilities.
Q: Why not buy (as you previously indicated) consumer grade VHS
equipment since it is easier to learn, and cheaper, so more could be
purchased.
A: No decision has been made yet as to whether to buy high or low end or
even if we will buy any at all. The estimation is that digital will be
within our price range in two years. So does it make sense to buy
equipment for only two years? Will our aging equipment make it
imperative to replace it within that timeframe?
Q: Are the minutes from last Board meeting ready?
A: No, not for another week. And yes she is aware that the minutes being
so late is a violation of the bylaws
X: Bylaws mandate that they be available to the public in 30 days. At
the date of our meetiing it was already 39 days, that makes the
projected date of completion almost three weeks late.
Q: How many people are designated Producer without taking the training?
Who is likely to receive it in future ?
A: “Details are still being worked out.” It will always be with persons
who can be paired up with others who are already certified techs.
X: Question to be forwarded by email: Since all producers must be paired
with techs (except for persons with dual certification) and if the
training seems to be extraneous for some persons, why would others need
to go through the training and certification process.
Q: Two months ago you said you would find out why the public does not
have a number for reaching playback, but gvt. and edu. does. What is the
reason?
A: Only persons with live feeds have access to playback. Gvt is not
allowed to use that line if a live program is not involved. If a
Producer tries to, he is told not to call back on the other line.
X: I have since heard that a certain Producer calls about re-airs, and
says so do others.
Q: Will this policy be changed?
A: No. The playback techs can hear the messages as they are being
recorded. It is best that their attention is not diverted.
Q: Two months ago you said that an updated web page was in the works. I
don’t see any change. What’s happening?
A: This is being oursourced. The State-wide Access Review should be up
already. (It was, one day later.) Next should be the program guide (last
month promised for this month, now promised for the end of this month).
Following that will be forms.
X: The company contracted is Cyber-com, the most expensive developer in
the State.
Q: For two months we have been discussing the very cold edit bay temps.
Sony (techs and manuals) said it could be much warmer without adversely
affecting the equipment. What will Olelo do about it?
A: Nothing. It is not a priority.
Q. Public clients have been complaining about it for some time, so it’s
a priority to them. Plus it can be fixed in five minutes by resetting
the thermostats. Why not just do it?
A. I would have to verify that a majority of the clients hadve a problem
with the temp. and I don’t have the time.
Q. Why not use the staff in front who are in contact with clients as
they enter?
A. I trusts Kit’s opinion over Sony’s. Kit says it must be this cold,
so the temperature will not be adjusted.
X: With regard to priority, I have since heard that staff and clients
are getting sick; missing work and edit time.
Q: You have been named as the person in charge of outreach regarding
statewide access. You had no plan last month. Do you have one now?
A: Yes. Reprints are available for pickup out front. It is now (actually
it became available one day later) available on Olelo’s website. It is
listed on Island Info. (But it will be hard to catch because Island Info
has been cut back.) It will be posted as a public notice in the
classified section of the papers. A Public Forum will be held on 29 Jan.
6:30 - 8:00 at Olelo.
Q: Just checking: is the most recent amendment for the bylaws dated
December 1995.
A: I think so. Will verify.
Q: You noted that programs may be assigned new time slots every six
months. Will this be true for Education and Government programming too?
A: The signup cycle for series has been extended from three to six
months. Programs will not necessarily be rotated at that time. Gov. and
Edu’s signup cycles remain at one year.
Q: With regard to CTPA’s request for Statewide Access minutes, Clyde's
18 November letter, which was cc'd to Lurline and Kathy, reads in part,
"Please contact 'Olelo-The Corporation for Community Television for
documentation relating to the September meeting. Funding for the session
facilitator was provided by 'Olelo." Two months ago I requested copies
of the minutes of the September and subsequent meetings of the Statewide
Task Force from you. Do you have those ready for me?
A: No. My understanding is that that is privileged so the group would
need to give its OK. The final report (in Kealii’s opinion) should be
sufficient for me.
Q: It isn’t because I want to see how the final draft evolved. Will you
request the permission?
A: Yes (no timeline given)
X: I will once again request the material from DCCA, which does not
share Kealii’s position that the earlier material is confidential.
Q: Are the third and fourth quarter reports ready?
A: No. The report for the quarter that ended in Sept. will be ready at
the end of January (4 months after the close of the quarter.. The report
for the fourth quarter will be ready for the March meeting (3 months
after).
Q: Why should it take so long?
A: Staff is busy with other items it considers more important. If you
want specific statistics, I can direct staff to get it for you sooner.
Q: How are things going regarding playback errors?
A: Much better now that we have the new safeguards in place that track
every activity every step of the way.
Q: Andwele Gardner’s program again failed to air as scheduled. What
happened?
A: We don’t know.
Q: Honolulu City Lights was simulcast on Olelo and KITV. So KITV, a
commercial station, received free programming courtesy of Olelo.
Moreover, there were commercials before, after, and during the program.
Isn’t this a violation of the commercialism rule?
A: The commercials didn’t show on Olelo, so it’s OK.
Q: According to what you told me on the occasion of the simulcast of the
Economic Task Force Show, the program is considered a public service so
long as there are no commercials during the program. In this case not
only were there commercials during the program, but it was obvious that
the producer knew about it because he had B roll prepared that he ran to
cover those spots. Isn’t that a violation?
A: That was a government show.
Q: So Government has different rules than the Public?
A: I’ll have to talk to the Producer and get back to you.