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Politics & Government

Town Workers Using Local Station to Get Their Message Out

TV9's staff assists Seekonk staffers who want to highlight the town's work on air.

Town Administrator Pamela Nolan wants to highlight the day-to-day work of Seekonk's employees, so she does so through a TV9 program called “Seekonk Works.”

As Seekonk's local cable access station,  gives different town departments the chance to to get information to local residents on the air, in addition to the work they do with residents who want to run their own shows. Police Chief Ronald Charron's "Police Beat" show, which is but may be brought back, was one of just several programs putting the spotlight on the town's work.

Some of the other town programs running on TV9 are “Your Public Library,” “YMCA Update,” “Helping Hands” for the senior center, and “Adopt This Pet” for the Animal Shelter. TV9 also runs public services announcements for Veterans Services and will be promoting the various events for the town’s 200th anniversary. These programs are in additional to its coverage of various town events and all of the Board of Selectmen meetings.

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The station is not required to provide local government coverage or programming and is not governed by the Board of Selectmen.

While the hosts, such as Nolan and Chief Charron, provide the content for their programs, TV9's Executive Director Jeff Fountain, along with Cody Peixoto, do much of the behind the scenes work for them, such as shooting, lighting and editing.

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“We produce them as a public service for the town of Seekonk,” Fountain said.

On Nolan's program, the administrator interviews various town workers to show what their job entails, and all the responsibilities that come with it.

Nolan said she had done this type of program in her previous position in Weymouth and believed it would be a good idea to carry it over to Seekonk. So far she has profiled the town clerk, the animal control officer and the workers at the senior center. She is planning to do an episode with the Department of Public Works as they prepare for winter snow storms.

For residents who want their own show, things are not the same. Residents come in and are trained to use cameras, editing programs, and the studio and its control room.

“Our mission is to train people to use the equipment,” Fountain said.

John Turner is a resident and president of the cable board. He hosts “Sports Attic,” a sports show that has been running for the past 47 weeks. Turner has been involved with the station for many years. He started out filming football and appearing on the long-running sports show, “Sports Show,” for a number of years before hosting his own program and becoming president of the cable board.

Some other shows produced by residents include “Talking About Seekonk” with Don Kinniburgh, “Point of View” with Mike Brady and Bob Richardson and “Women’s Outlook” with Deb Hoch.

These shows, as well as previous selectmen meetings, are now available to watch on the TV9 website. Older meetings that are not available online can be requested from the station.

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