LRTV needs upgrade

By Wayne E. Rivet
Staff Writer

John Likshis found himself on the clock when he arrived at Lake Region Television one Tuesday morning.

The public access cable station was off the air, and Likshis had to find out why in a hurry.

“It’s happened on an irregular basis the past couple of years. I thought it would be as easy as rebooting all of the equipment, which had worked in the past,” the LRTV manager said. “I was confident that I could get the station back on the air by 4 p.m. We had a television programmer’s dream of hot topics before the Bridgton Planning Board — the quarry, in-town auto repair proposal and marina — so I knew we would have a big audience.”

Restarting all the equipment failed to put LRTV back on the air. So, Likshis started the long process of troubleshooting each piece of equipment inside the Bridgton-based operation. The problem was traced to the station’s most important piece of equipment — the “live switcher” — which puts LRTV on the air.

Fuses were replaced, but Channels 5 and 7 remained black on the TV monitor. Likshis rewired some connections to no avail. Finally, one new connection solved the problem, at least for now.
“We did a ‘live’ test just before meeting time, and we stayed on the air,” Likshis said.

As expected, a large viewing audience tuned in to watch planners address the three controversial matters. Coverage, however, was interrupted when LRTV’s voltage regulator malfunctioned.
“Well into the meeting, the station experienced surges. Oddly, the screen would blink off to black for three seconds, then come right back on for a minute, then blink back to black again and come back on,” Likshis said. “That kept happening over the last couple of hours of the four-hour meeting.”

When Likshis arrived at LRTV the next day, the station’s answering machine had numerous messages from viewers.

“The good thing about this problem is it confirms people are watching LRTV. They are interested in the programming, which is hard to measure at times,” said LRTV Board of Directors member Rosie Schacht. “Too bad it had to happen in a negative way. Our equipment is aging, and this particular problem has been on our radar screen for over a year now. It was never urgent, but this power struggle has brought the question — how do we go about raising money needed to upgrade our system — back into our and the viewing public’s faces.”

Likshis estimates LRTV will need $25,000 to start a critical upgrade, and the final price tag will likely grow to fully convert to high definition.

“With High Definition conversion happening in the broadcast world, we knew we would have to step up to HD relatively soon,” Likshis said. “Fortunately, right now Time Warner is handling the conversion for us. We send a signal out and Time Warner converts it. Someday in the near future, I don’t believe that will be available. Time Warner is giving everybody time to upgrade their facilities, but that won’t last.”

LRTV has been serving the immediate area for the past 17 years (it now offers programming in 11 communities), and relies heavily on franchise fees — money paid by cable subscribers, which Time Warner returns to towns — and underwriting. Residents annually vote at town meeting to return the franchise fee back to LRTV. Bridgton is the only town that returns the full franchise fee to LRTV, while Naples, Harrison, Casco and Sebago allot varying levels of financial support. Other towns LRTV serves — Baldwin, Cornish, Denmark, Hiram, Parsonsfield and Porter — do not contribute. Funds cover the cost of rent, manager’s salary, office supplies, DVDs, insurance and equipment repair.

Although LRTV has been able to land some grants in the past, Schacht says due to the tight economic times, money “is drying up.”

“$25,000 is a huge number. We’re not going to come up with $25,000 selling copies of basketball games or concerts. We’re looking at a capital campaign to do this,” said Schacht, who has been a LRTV board member for the past 16 years. “We’re hoping it won’t be an emergency situation where we go black and never come back on again.”

Likshis says $25,000 is a starting point. Money will be needed later to replace outdated cameras as the TV station keeps pace with technological changes occurring in the broadcasting world. Likshis’ approach since becoming LRTV manager is to spend funds in frugal ways to best serve the community. His motto is, “A million dollars worth of equipment doesn’t make a million dollar show.” Former manager Bill Severance has helped with equipment troubleshooting, and volunteers continue to be the backbone of the LRTV operation.

Despite a small operating budget, Schacht says LRTV offers more nightly programming — from selectmen and school board meeting coverage to church services to specialty shows — than many rural and city public access channels across Maine. Programming is aired to over 6,000 homes and another 4,000 during the summer when visitors arrive in the Lake Region. Upgrades will enable LRTV to offer “stream programming” and “archive programming” via the Internet.

LRTV will launch a capital campaign this fall. The campaign will include donation requests included in Time Warner billing statements, as well as a pledge drive/auction, much like the one Likshis worked while at Maine Public Broadcasting.

Meanwhile, Likshis keeps his fingers crossed each day that Channels 5 and 7 are still on the air, and not faded to black.

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