The new news.

I haven't posted anything in the last two weeks, I guess because there hasn't really been much going on that is very noteworthy. However, I'll update with what I've got, because I have been going to the TV station as scheduled. With the posts up until 9/24 I had 37.5 hours, just for the record. Since then I've been in:
Wed. 9/26 2 hours (I've started going in between 9 and 10 on Mondays and Wednesdays)
Fri. 9/28 8.5 hours
Mon. 10/1 2 hours
Wed. 10/3 2 hours
Fri. 10/5 7 hours
Mon. 10/8 2 hours
Wed. 10/10 2 hours......... thus bringing the total up to 63. About half way to the required hours, although I'm not worried about that since we have so many extra outings to count.

Now, past the bookkeeping stuff...

We have officially posted the position to hire someone to run the Gratiot studio, because Lori (the interim) had surgery for her detached retina and hasn't been in. Even though we would like for her to apply for the job, this is proving more difficult than we first expected because she isn't sure if she's up to it. This is too bad, because she has a doctorate in broadcasting and is a retired CMU professor and would have been absolutely perfect for the position. Hopefully she'll get to apply, because while we have some other applicants I think she would probably work out the best for our purposes. In the meantime, TJ and Jan have been taking turns at the Gratiot studio- I've been going with Jan on Fridays for a while, but since I'm not yet ready to run the place by myself I can't go alone.

The other major thing that's been going on at the station is the survey to the NPO's of Gratiot county. I think we've been through at least 7 drafts of the letter and the survey questions, and today was finally the day that we sent them out. The reason these took so long was that a) we were working on these at the same time we were working on everyday tasks that need to be done around the station, so they didn't have the full attention that they deserved each time they were looked at, and b) every draft we'd make we would take some time to let it sit so we could look at it fresh later on. This turned out for the best I think, because we went from a 1-page piece that had the introduction and the survey questions on it to a 4 page mailing. The first page was a letter introducing MAC 3 TV, for those who are not familiar with how public access works. Then it explained all of the free services we offer, and mentioned the attached interest survey. The last thing it did was mention the Gratiot access center (which is the target area for these NPO's to use) and explain that we are remodeling and will soon have a Grand Re-Opening that they will receive an invitation to when the time gets closer so they can come take a tour of the center. The second page had the questions, which were pretty simple: do you ever use the Gratiot access center? Would you be interested in using it? Do you have any special/yearly events that you would like taped and on public access TV? Would you be interested in having some of your volunteers attend the free training to be certified to use our equipment and tape your event? Questions of this sort. And then the last 2 pages were part of our rules and regulations that explained about what kinds of things can be put on public access TV and such. Overall, I think it was a very simple mailing in the sense that the way we set it up will be easy for the recipients to understand what we've sent. We put the fax number on the first 2 pages, the front page is on our letterhead, and the second page it is listed at the bottom of the survey so they can return their answers without the hassle of envelopes and postage.

Another cool thing that's been going on is we've been preparing for Dr. Gilbert's performance of "The Emperor's New Clothes." We'll be taping the show on 10/19, also the same day that I take the GRE (wish me luck!). I'm excited to go and tape a live event, which is good because I'm kind of learning to use the cameras. I still need to take the official training courses, but so far they've all been on Monday nights and I work on Mondays so that hasn't worked out. However, I think we're doing a 1-day session of it before the 19th so I'll be useful during the shoot for Dr. Gilbert. Jan and I are going tomorrow night to the dress rehersal to spec out the area and see what equipment we're going to need, where to position things, how many people we'll need, etc etc. This should be good fun.