[Paddlewise] Nick's Rec Boat Scenario - on TV?

Matt writes:
Three minutes for a demo. Okay, I'd put him in his own kayak with what he
wears for kayaking, then shove him over, when his head surfaces again I'd
tell him that if he can't get most of his body out of cold water in the next
2 and a half minutes (and if the shore wasn't within a hundred yards or
less) that almost certainly he would quickly become incapacitated and
probably die from drowning or (if he brought a PFD) exposure or drowning.
---------------------------------------------
Here's an interesting piece of information.  Around the country there are a
large number of cable access stations.  Cable access stations provide
training and all equipment necessary for making a TV program, typically for
free or for a very minimal charge.  Equipment basically includes everything
that that you would need for a TV production -- cameras, audio, studio,
editing, graphics, the whole enchilada.  Depending on the access station,
you may even find that there is high-quality digital equipment available.
Also, it is often possible to obtain cable access staff assistance on TV
productions.  And many stations maintain lists of volunteers who are willing
to help out on other people's shows.

So let's take the idea of the demo that you mention above -- and instead of
a demo for one person, you capture the moment on a video camera, and turn it
into a cable access TV program.  If you are particularly ambitious, you
could get some grant money to cover the costs of distributing the program
around the country to other cable access stations.  That way your program
plays not just on one station, but around the country.  You also could
distribute the program on the internet, charging a small fee to cover the
costs of copying and distribution.  You could send a copy of the program to
every kayak and canoe shop in the country.  You could send a copy to every
high school in the country.

To be honest, a cable access program is not going to have 30 million viewers
every night.  But if your distribution is wide enough there will be some
hundreds of thousands of viewers who will eventually see it.  In fact, you
would be surprised at the numbers of people who would see it.  For example,
I was on a cable access program a few years ago.  This was a program
targeted at the hispanic community, and dealt with relations between the
anglo and hispanic communities.  I figured no one will ever see this thing.
Well, for the next year people at work came up to me saying , "oh, I saw you
on TV last night.  You were saying something in Spanish."

The cable access system makes it possible to make a reasonably high quality
TV program at almost no cost.   There is some time required for the TV
production and editing, of course, but we're not talking about a huge amount
of time either.  You also have to do some planning and script writing up
front in order to figure out what's going to be on on the program.  But all
of these activities are basically free or of extremely minimal cost.

When your program is done, the only hard costs are the costs related to
copying and distribution.  This is where the grant money comes in.  But --
since the program itself cost almost nothing to make, you only have to beg
for money to copy and distribute.  So instead of having to ask for $100,000
for production costs, you ask for a few thousand for copying and
distribution.  If you make copies at the access station, then your only hard
costs are the video tape, packaging, and mailing.  So to distribute a copy
of the program is probably under $10.  A $10,000 grant puts a thousand
copies of your program around the country.  I don't know if the ACA would be
interested in something like this.  If you're really ambitious you can line
up sponsors, who for a mention in the program credits, help to defray the
costs.

jim holman



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