Districts fundraising for TV project
A documentary on Hickory High School in the 1940s is one of the features broadcasting on local cable through Hickory Telephone Co.’s new project, “Local Media,” in collaboration with Avella and Burgettstown school districts and WalshMedia.
Announced in October, the schools have produced content that has been airing since February, according to marketing director Terri Jeffers, but more content will be on the way only if the schools can crowd-fund high-definition upgrades.
“The infrastructure we have does HD, but the schools need equipment to push that content out. Otherwise, as it stands now, it will look pixelated,” Jeffers said.
Hickory Telephone officials said about $9,000 is needed for each district to get HD cameras, converters and suitable computers for editing and broadcast. In a sort of crowdfunding competition, each district has its own GoFundMe page. For Burgettstown, the website is https://www.gofundme.com/burgettstownhs. Avella is accepting donations at https://www.gofundme.com/AvellaHS. Both crowd-sourced fundraising pages are administered by the districts’ superintendents. Avella Superintendent Cyril Walther said the original agreement was to have corporate sponsorship and advertising make up those costs, but Rick Walsh of WalshMedia said those couldn’t be assured in time to pay for the installations. Walsh said sponsorship would still be offered to carry the channel.
“We installed all the neccessary infrastructure at no cost to the schools to allow for fiber streaming and (quick-upload) data transfer,” said Walsh.
The programming will be broadcast on Channel 1014 through Aurora Cable in the areas of Atlasburg, Avella, Hickory, McDonald, Westview, Westland and, in the near future, Cherry Valley, according to Jeffers.
Some of the student programming, like features on Gettysburg, or “The Eagle Eye News” at Avella and “The Devils Do” at Burgettstown, will be aired alongside other locally produced content.
“We’re so excited to bring such hyperlocal programming from students and live events. We’re looking to broadcast programs from state Representative Jason Ortitay, as well as local church services and live broadcasts and programs from the Covered Bridge Festivals and the Avella Arena,” Jeffers said.