Re: boston-radio-interest-digest V5 #5

[Eric Aiese <aiese@fas.harvard.edu>]

That's a great idea, Aaron - I got my start in broadcasting back on public 
access back in hometown of Ellenville, NY, at 15.  It's a great chance to 
strengthen your chops and build the resume.  I was pretty rough at first 
and I still can't bring myself to watch a lot of these tapes, but I know 
that they helped me develop as an on-air talent.  And that talent is 
definitely transferrable to radio.  I don't know if I realized it at the 
time, but those years on local cable were an important phase in my life.

Depending on your local system and laws, your cable access may well be 
legally obligated to run anything you give them.  I'm sure that there are 
some exceptions and restrictions, but you can get around those if you want 
it badly enough.

Speaking of this, does anyone remember Squirt TV?  A 15-year-old kid had a 
cult hit on New York City Public Access sometime around 1995, and he got 
major guests into his bedroom studio.  MTV picked him up for a little 
while, iirc.

If you want more info/advice regarding public access, please email me...

Eric

At 02:48 PM 1/9/02 -0500, you wrote:

>I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner...Adam, instead of being so
>gung-ho on radio, check out your local public-access channel on whatever
>cable TV network your town is on.  Usually those folks are pretty desperate
>for programming and they'll put almost anyone on after giving 'em a little
>training.

Eric Aiese                      eric@whrb.org
President
WHRB 95.3 FM            www.whrb.org