When Jay and I first decided to engage the community in some kind of project to bring awareness to cultural and non-profit events in Westminster, we went to our local cable access studio, AWCA-TV, located within Oakmont Regional High School. We took the relatively simple training required in order to have our own locally produced TV show. In 2008 we became members of the non-profit organization, and we were ready to go.

Jay and I may each remember it differently, but there was definitely a bit of miscommunication between us because I know I never would have agreed to be on TV—I thought I was there to be the production crew.

In the end I decided to volunteer on the crew of Keith Harding’s Your Voice show, and did that for about a year with Jody Jess, Jim Delisle and Barbara Friedman (Barbara, Jody and Keith are pictured below with Matt Bourgault). Your Voice, now getting ready to film episode #100 of local programming, has been in production since 2007.

Most of the guests on Your Voice are from Westminster, but all have a connection to Westminster. Our daughter Jane was the guest about 4 years ago after she had returned from a semester at sea with Outward Bound. Other guests have included local craftsmen, groups and commissions in Westminster and every single candidate running for Selectman and State Representative since the show began. The crew from Your Voice also addition films on location on occasion, including at the Town of Westminster 250^th Anniversary Parade in 2009 and at the Town Benefit Day each year.

Most of the Your Voice episodes run on channel 8 four times, and then if the content is not time-sensitive, they may be aired again on later dates as well. Air times are Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday at noon, Saturday at 8pm and Tuesday at 4:30pm.

Another long-running program that has shown more than 100 episodes on AWCA-TV is Kingdom of God, produced by Ashburnham resident Brian Aho.

All of this is made possible by a line item on your Comcast cable bill that is labeled ‘Access Fee’. The studio and all of the equipment is funded by 4.25% of the cable TV portion of all cable bills for Ashburnham and Westminster being given back to the non-profit AWCA-TV. It is important to note that this isn’t a 4.25% add on, but an amount that if it was not given to AWCA-TV, would be retained by Comcast.

At the time that we were involved in the production of the Your Voice show, all administrative, production, editing and the actual set for the show were in two rooms that were less than 650 square feet. There were only 2 workstations so it was an adventure in juggling to allow people to edit their shows, employees to put up bulletin board announcements, DVD copies to be made, and not stepping all over each other was an issue, too.

After a long and painful period of renovation, a brand new, state-of-the-art studio has been constructed in the back of Oakmont, in a section of the old gym (actually it is the old gym to the old gym), possibly remembered only by alumni pre-1975.

I recently had a tour of this new studio, which is over 1,800 square feet, with multiple workstations, a very much expanded studio space for filming and actual storage space for equipment. The cool thing about taking the training with AWCA-TV is that once you’ve taken the training, you are free to borrow cameras and equipment for on-location filming.

I interviewed Matt Bourgault, Executive Director of AWCA-TV about the new studio and what he would like Vine readers to know about AWCA-TV. The first thing Matt mentioned is that he wants people to know how easy it is to get a show up and running. In the past you not only needed an idea and a person or people to be on the show itself, but you also needed to round up a crew to help with the production. With the new equipment and some training, it is entirely possible for two people to get together and create a show for our local access television audience.

The studio is regularly used by Oakmont students for the 9am daily OTV (Oakmont TV) announcements that are shown in each classroom, and can be viewed at home on channel 9 by students who are absent or parents who would like to be ‘in the know’ as to what is going on at Oakmont. Two years ago,  AWCA-TV loaned their old bulletin board system to Oakmont, which uses it to show graphical announcements 15 minutes before and after the school’s daily broadcast and is displayed regularly within the school on its own TV's.

Speaking of the Bulletin Board, AWCA-TV is happy to promote your non-profit event in its Bulletin Board system. Some guidelines for submitting Bulletin Board announcements: More words are not always better! Watch the Bulletin Board for a while before submitting your own announcement.  Viewers need to have enough time to read what is on your slide and they don’t want to have to squint, so be concise! Bulletin Board announcements can be simple text information that the AWCA-TV staff will format into a slide or you can submit a Power Point slide (.PPS file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . You can also submit your event information through an online form by clicking here or can mail it to AWCA-TV, 9 Oakmont Drive, Ashburnham, MA 01430.

The studio has two employees other than Matt Bourgault--Dave Belliveau and Oakmont alumni Jane Peters. Dave has been with AWCA-TV since 2005 and is currently a Video Production Specialist and Jane (Video Production Technician), is a student at Fitchburg State who is studying video production.

A recent addition to AWCA-TV is the ability to watch Public, Educational and Government shows on-demand. AWCA-TV uses a free service called Blip.tv instead of YouTube because, for one thing, YouTube videos are limited to ten minutes (which is obviously not the case with School Committee meetings).

I love the on-demand feature because when Jay is traveling and needs to write about a School Committee meeting he has missed, he can still write the story. I also really like being able to embed video of a meeting directly into our stories so that if readers would like to watch the meeting or presentation and then read our story, they will get the full story and maybe come to a different conclusion.

While some meetings and presentations can be shown live, most are recorded on to a DVD or hard drive then uploaded to the website for on-demand viewing. Live shows can be filmed at Town Hall and the VMS Building (Senior Center) in Ashburnham and in Westminster at Town Hall. Additionally, all five schools in the district have the capability to record live in specific locations.

When choosing equipment for the new studio, Matt wanted as much state-of-the-art and user-friendly equipment as possible. One item that he seemed particularly proud of with was a Broadcast Pix Slate 100 Customwhich, at $15,000, is the entry-level version of what is used at major networks like ESPN and NBC.  He said that in the past if someone wanted to have a show, they needed a crew, but with this equipment and the right training, all production work can be done by one person. This equipment is connected to a PC, something people are readily familiar with, so the training starts at a level where people are comfortable with, even at first glance.

The computers in the studio were designed and built by Matt Bourgault to exacting standards (and to save money) and include PC based editing systems, including Adobe Premier Pro CS5, which is a beginner to intermediate level software. All systems are built for growth, including High Definition.

The cameras in the studio are brand new JVC and cost upwards of $20k each. Keep in mind that this portion of your Comcast bill would be kept by Comcast if contracts were not negotiated with both Ashburnham and Westminster for AWCA-TV to exist.  Knowing that the studio is funded by a percentage of Comcast bills and knowing that I keep a pretty tight hold on my bill these days (mainly by saying no to lots of $5 on-demand movies the kids want to watch), I was curious how the economy has affected AWCA-TV’s bottom line. Matt said that his experience has been that although people are willing to cut out a week’s vacation in the summer, they tend to not want to cut things that they use every day. He’s actually seen a steady increase of no less than 5% annually, year over year, in funding to AWCA-TV.

Being frugal with spending has allowed for capital purchases and cutting-edge technology as well as proper maintenance of the equipment.

Matt said the studio could use some volunteers, including someone with knowledge of creating multi-purpose databases for equipment inventory and archiving of recordings.

What’s coming up at AWCA-TV? They will soon be implementing a Green Screen, similar to ones used by weather people on other channels.

If you are at all interested, take the training classes—it opens up a whole new resource library of high end camera equipment that you can borrow.

AWCA-TV is now on Facebook, and has just started to reach out to the community through social media. Become a fan of AWCA-TV and stay in the know about your studio.

Membership at AWCA-TV is free, use of the equipment is free and it’s another great way to stay connected to the community.

The current AWCA-TV Board of Directors includes Chris Gagnon (President), Sallie Thoma (Treasurer) and Dan Dubrule from Ashburnham and Bill Waight (Clerk), Mike Sunderland and Jim Delisle from Westminster. There is equal representation from each town on the Board of Directors.

If you see or hear an audio or video problem, contact Matt at the station at 978 827 5089 during the hours of operation:  Monday and Tuesday  10am - 6pm, Wednesday and Thursday  12pm - 9pm or Friday 11am - 5pm or leave a message.

Click here to view the AWCA-TV Policy Packet

From the AWCA-TV Frequently Asked Questions Page:

Who Is AWCA-TV?
AWCA-TV is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in charge of overseeing the PEG Channels.  AWCA-TV is governed by a Board of Directors which is made up of interested residents from Ashburnham and Westminster.

Is AWCA-TV Run By the Cable Company?
No, AWCA-TV is a completely independent corporation and is not run by Town government, the cable company or the school district.

What Is PEG?
PEG stands for Public Educational and Government access channels.  Currently channel 8 is for public access. Channel 9 is currently set up as Educational and Government access.  Important note: when selectmen meetings occur in either Ashburnham or Westminster, they will only be seen LIVE in each town respectively.

Who Creates The Programs Seen on AWCA-TV?
Some of the programs on AWCA-TV are produced by residents in our towns.  Other programs are also imported from other towns and cities through a process of sponsoring by a resident in our towns. An important reminder is that AWCA-TV is not responsible to create programming but rather recruit local residents to join our membership and get involved to producing you own ideas into television programs.  AWCA-TV mission is to train residents to create their own television programs by use of our professional equipment and knowledgeable staff.  We provide FREE training classes to empower peoples ideas into television programs.  In order to use the equipment that AWCA-TV provides you must become a member.

Is It Hard To Produce A TV Show?
Television production is not as complicated as someone might think.  The skills needed to produce a simple but interesting programs are capable by most people in our communities.  People of all backgrounds and ages are involved with access television somewhere in the country as well as our own communities.  The best way to see if producing a television show is for you is to give it a try!

Can You Produce A Show For Me? Will You Film My Event?
AWCA-TV is nearly entirely run by volunteers; volunteers produce all the material on our channels, with the exception with some municipal meetings we are contracted to film. If a resident wants a show or event filmed, such as sports games or a brand new film, it is that resident's responsibility to gather a crew to produce that program. We would be more than happy to help you find volunteers to aid you in your production or help you get the training you need to produce it yourself, however we will not produce it for you.

Can I Produce A TV Show About Anything?
Yes, with a few exceptions; Invasion of Privacy, libel and slander, commercial use or use of a lottery, insurrection against the United States Government are not allowed.  Television show ideas are only limited to your imagination.  Here are some examples of show ideas:  Special interests, hobbies, general interests, community issues, etc...  AWCA-TV does not censor material created by producers.  People that are interested in producing a show show carefully read the Policies and Regulations packet located in our forms link in its entirety.

How Do I Get A Public Announcement Out To The Community?
You may send your public announcement to our email address at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or use our online bulletin board form.   If you have an image that you would like us to include, your message must be emailed.  If you created a PowerPoint slide you may send that to us as well.  Guidelines for submitting powerpoint slides can be found on our Community Bulletin Board link.  Remember: We DO NOT accept any commercial advertisements for the bulletin board.

How Do I Request To Air A Show From Outside Of Our Community?
If you are the producer of the program and want to air your show on AWCA-TV, simply download the appropriate program form (single or series program request from our forms page.)  The producer will fill out this information.  As the producer, you must find a resident (in either in Ashburnham or Westminster, that is a member or is willing to become a member of AWCA-TV) to sponsor your program to be aired.  Once we receive both the program request and receive or verify a member that will sponsor your show, we will begin cablecasting ASAP!

What is Video-On Demand?
Visit our Video on-Demand FAQ page to learn more about this exciting feature!