It’s lights, camera, board meeting as WW makes live debut

Municipal government goes on cable TV.

By: Jill Matthews
   WEST WINDSOR — While there were no makeup artists or hairdressers primping the mayor and council — nor was there a director yelling, "Lights, camera, action!" — the township kicked off its first live broadcast on its cable channel Monday evening.
   Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh’s annual state of the township address, followed by the biweekly Township Council meeting, marked the start of the township’s journey onto the live airwaves around 7 p.m. on Channel 27.
   "What’s exciting is that it was broadcast live — the first-ever live broadcast," Councilwoman Alison Miller, council liaison to the Cable Television Advisory Board, said.
   So what did it feel like to be on the first-ever live township broadcast?
   "It felt just like being on tape delay," Ms. Miller joked.
   The township has had a cable channel for some time but is moving into more advanced and frequent programming through a grant it received from Comcast Cable. West Windsor, along with its neighbor, Plainsboro, received grants from the station that will cover most of the salary for a new cable station manager, who will work in the school district as well. The grant also provided television studio equipment. Plainsboro has its own cable channel, 3.
   While the first live broadcast went well, there were a few small bugs to fix, according to Dan Monroe, the new cable station manager. Mr. Monroe said he will split his time equally among the township, Plainsboro and the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. He began his new position on Jan. 10.
   Mr. Monroe, who came to New Jersey from Cleveland, said he and the engineer for the channel arrived at the municipal building on Sunday to work out any kinks before the broadcast. He also arrived three hours before the live event on Monday to make sure everything was running well.
   Before its launch into live programming Monday, the channel hit some bugs of its own a few weeks back when, after the screen went black because the township did not yet have programming, the cable operator put on religious broadcasting to fill the void, Ms. Miller said. Apparently, the township’s cable advisory board was told, the cable operator has the right to use the station for any programming it wants when the station goes black, but that Comcast would refrain from doing that in the future as long as the township instructs it to do so, Ms. Miller said. In the future, any downtime between programming will be filled with township or school district information.
   Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said he received a response from only one person who saw Monday’s live program. "The person who turned on Channel 27 seems to be impressed by the system," he said.
   "I’m hoping we will be able to improve all of the programs to make sure we can use the program to help educate and present information to the community," Mayor Hsueh said.
   Monday’s broadcast was replayed Wednesday and will be shown again at various times today, Saturday and Sunday.
   But besides informing the community of local happenings, replay could provide other benefits as well, according to some.
   "I want the insomniac’s program," said Ms. Miller. "I want to have council meetings played back at 3 o’clock in the morning so that people who really can’t sleep — we’re going to help you get to sleep.