Announcing My New Radio Show (a Love Letter to Public Access Television)

There is something I adore about public access television. The often awkward, always underfunded shows broadcast by people out of passion rather than chasing a paycheque. The television nobody watched. Well, not nobody. There's the host's mom, or a third-shift worker with the sound off, or a sleepless teenager channel-surfing at 2am. Public access television existed at the frequency of good intention. No ratings. No sponsors. No notes from the network. Just a person, a camera they'd borrowed from the community media centre, and heart goddammit. I found myself watching these when I was a child. In Calgary, Shaw Community Television was on Channel 10, broadcast from studios on Macleod Trail and another on 27th Avenue Northeast. In Winnipeg, there was VPW 11, run by Videon Cable dating back to the late 1960s, only to be absorbed by Shaw in 2001. I found something so comforting watching these everyday people on modest sets. The low fidelity camera equipment and questionable signal…