PCTV at 30 has upgraded facilities, equipment and a quirky range of programming
April 17, 2016 12:00 AM
John Ventre, left, of Greensburg talks with guests Rhonda Vari and Fred Saluga about “UFOs Over Pittsburgh,” and the paranormal at PCTV’s studio on the North Side.
Where but PCTV21 can you see an hour of serious political discourse, a half-hour of “UFOs Over Pittsburgh” or an all-girl robotics team display their latest creation at the annual Maker Faire Pittsburgh?
“PCTV is, unfortunately, a well-kept secret, and we are trying to change that,” said John Patterson, station director. “We think it is one of those undiscovered gems of Pittsburgh that people don’t know a lot about.”
PCTV’S “UFOs Over Pittsburgh”
“UFOs Over Pittsburgh” host John Ventre interviews a mystery guest on his PCTV show.
PCTV’S “Art Happens”
Jen Saffron and Christiane Leach of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council host Rachel Klipa on their PCTV program, “Art Happens.”
The public access channel, now in its 30th year and headquartered on the North Side’s Western Avenue, has recently held several open houses since completing a yearlong renovation of its facilities. In addition to adding better cameras, servers and editing bays, new offices were constructed in spaces that were once large storage areas. A classroom and second studio also were created.
The walls are painted in bold colors, and, of course, there is a green screen room. Through Verizon and Comcast cable franchise agreements with the City of Pittsburgh, money goes to the city, which in turns funds PCTV in the neighborhood of $450,000 a year.
In an age of YouTube and other social media, public access stations have to offer more than a viewing platform. So, Mr. Patterson said, PCTV’s big draw is as a do-it-all facility, where would-be filmmakers and hosts have access to superior equipment they will be taught how to use.
PCTV offers production services, as well as classes from a beginner’s overview to working with HDTV equipment. Fees for hosting shows begin at $75, and you need not be a city resident to use the facilities.
Shows can be viewed on Comcast channel 21, Verizon 47, on YouTube or at pctv21.org.
“The key to staying relevant is being connected to the community as much as possible, in terms of what’s going on in the city, what its needs are,” Mr. Patterson said.
From politics …
To that end, PCTV’s lineup is dotted with programs about art fairs, locavore movements, education issues. There are also niche shows and some very out-there entertainments (Harold Keller’s “Traci the Trailer Trash Girl”).
Attorney Steve Irwin hosts a program called “Political Jungle,” whose guests have included Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht, former Allegheny County Councilwoman Heather Heidelbaugh and state Rep. Jake Wheatley.
“I know most of these folks, so I can get them to start a real conversation and ask some things they might not otherwise be asked,” said Mr. Irwin, who has deep experience in state and local politics and once was a policy analyst for Florida’s attorney general. “The idea of the show is to understand who these people are, as people.”
Mr. Irwin was contemplating a run for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor about four years ago. He suddenly developed a chronic, painful bladder condition that kept him home from work until a combination of treatment and yoga helped ease the symptoms.
Around this time, Carl Cimini, PCTV director of community relations, approached him about doing a show.
“I went home and laughed about it until my wife said, ‘You know, you really should do this. You need something.’ ”
He began working on it in the autumn of 2014, taping the first show in early 2015.
“The purpose of this show is two-fold. No. 1, to have people have greater insight into the people who are elected officials.
“And secondly, to give younger folks who are considering a career in politics a chance to understand all the different things they can do … besides be a candidate. How to get there, because not everyone is born a Flaherty, a Wecht, a Knoll, into the political royalty.”
… to UFOs…
For John Ventre, the conversation takes a very different turn. A retired state security and public affairs director and the head of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Mutual UFO Network, he has produced 32 episodes of “UFOs Over Pittsburgh.”
He has been a public speaker about such phenomena, and given his occasional presence on History Channel’s “Hangar 1 — The UFO Files,” he figured he could do his own show.
Mr. Ventre said he has never witnessed a UFO but some of his guests have. Other guests, such as former Allegheny County Commissioner Bob Cranmer, come onto the show to discuss more earth-bound supernatural happenings.
On the subject of hauntings, Mr. Ventre said he can relate. In June 2014 and at Thanksgiving last fall in his own home, “there was clearly something demonic in the house. It smelled of death.”
“I’m telling you: banging on the walls, pictures moving, something poking me….”
He said he eventually cast it out in the name of Jesus Christ. Religion often is discussed on his show, including an episode featuring a man wearing a mask to hide his identity as he described his repeated abductions by aliens.
Are they sincere? Mr. Ventre said his dealings with the supernatural and UFOs “are like a miracle [but] people will think I’m nuts.”
“I get it from the scientific community. If the scientists cannot explain something, it doesn’t exist. They are so arrogant.”
PCTV’s mission statement notes it exists to “encourage dialogue, promote media literacy, provide a platform for free speech and build a stronger community through training and by providing local citizens and non-profit organizations with the tools to produce and broadcast program from their own unique perspectives.”
… to social issues
Kalpana Biswas’ “Indie Film Forum” was a natural extension of her work here. For a time she was the board chair of nonprofit Women in Film and Media Pittsburgh, where she “met several independent filmmakers who have a world of experience, were passionate about social issues, and had a lot of interesting and complex stories in them. But they had very little guidance, very little idea how to make their films.”
Filmmakers join her on the show to discuss a broad range of topics. “They talk about what works, what they have done…. we would like to bring world-class filmmakers to our audience, and Skyping makes a huge difference,” Ms. Biswas said, adding that streaming interviews with guests around the world will be held once the the kinks are out of the system.
Ms. Biswas has been working on a documentary about war widows in Afghanistan. She spent six weeks in Kabul and Kandahar a few years back, doing interviews and “filming them fight the fight,” she said.
Mr. Cimini saw a trailer she had made for the film, and, as he so often does, encouraged her to try PCTV.
“It just sort of meshed with what I want to do,” she said.
There’s a PCTV show, the title of which nicely sums up the vast, genially scattershot variety of programming on public access: “Art Happens.”
“It [public access] is not for everyone. We know that,” Mr. Patterson said. ”But there are a lot of people out there who want to be heard, and they find PCTV to be a great forum.”
Maria Sciullo: msciullo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1478 or @MariaSciulloPG.
