WYOU Summer Youth Camp starts off with a BANG!

The 2009 WYOU Summer Youth Camp got off to a great start this past week with a group of middle school students from the Wisconsin Youth Company. Each day, the kids came into the WYOU Studio to learn how to use digital video cameras, to write and produce short films and commercials, and to go live on real television. Each student went home at the end of the week with a DVD of the video work they'd accomplished.



Watch a short faux commercial clip of their work.

WYOU at the Marquette Waterfront Music Fest

WYOU was at this year's Marquette Waterfront Music Festival.

WYOU takes fundraising to the community

WYOU gets written up in a Jane Burns 77 Square article!

Hands On Fund Raiser: Press Release

WYOU calls for Hands On support this Summer to raise funds, profile and
support for Madison’s Community Access Television

WYOU Community Television kicks off its Summer membership drive/fundraiser, “Hands On WYOU” on Monday June 8, 2009 with plans for on-site booth presence at two free music festival events in June and July, and culminates with a party at the High Noon Saloon on Sunday, July 12th. For donations of $50 or more, contributors can create a “Hands On” handprint in a form of papier maché that will be used to construct a WYOU Hands-On contribution wall to commemorate community support for Madison’s only public access television station.

Donation hand prints and “stories” will be gathered in the WYOU booth that will be onsite at the Marquette Waterfront Festival at Yahara Place Park on Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and June 14 and at Le Fete de Marquette at 50 S. Baldwin St. on Saturday, July 11th. In addition to creating handprints, booth visitors will be invited to sit down in front of the camera and tell their stories about favorite music
festival moments, life in Madison and testimonials supporting WYOU’s open community access. Hand prints collected throughout the fund drive will be fashioned into a Hands On WYOU support wall that will be used as the stage backdrop at the High Noon Saloon party. Collected stories will be edited into a series of vignettes that will air on WYOU throughout the summer and fall.

The Hands On WYOU party at the High Noon Saloon takes place on Sunday, July 12th from 4pm – 8pm and with an on-stage line-up featuring Baghdad Scuba Review (www.baghdadscubareview.com), Adam Isaac and the People (www.myspace.com/adamIsaacandthepeoplemusic ), and trombone band, Hot Cross Bones (www.hotcrossbones.com .) Support materials including station brochures, class
information, program schedules, membership sign-up sheets and commemorative pint glasses will be available inside the venue as well as on the patio. Member/producers will be “on hand” to meet guests and answer questions about their shows. No cover will be charged at the door but donations are strongly encouraged. The party is open to adults, 21 and over, and children under 18 with supervision. The High Noon Saloon is located at 701A E.Washington Ave.

WYOU provides an extraordinary range of locally produced programming from music and travel shows to in-depth interviews, church services, politics, educational programming, feature-length films and much more without commercial interruption 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Information on the station, its programs and how to donate is available at www.wyou.org or call 608-258-9644.

WYOU is cablecast via Charter Communications in the greater Dane County area on analog Channel 95 and digital Channel 991. Charter describes WYOU’s potential audience reach as 200,000 households. Since March, 2009 WYOU is now streaming 24/7 live at www.wyou.org.

Hands-On Membership Drive & Fundraiser: June 8-July 12

Hands-On WYOU Membership Drive & Fundraiser will kick off June 8 and culminate in a festive summer party, to be held at the High Noon Saloon on Sunday, July 12, 2009, from 4-8 p.m. (21 and over, 18 and under with supervision.)

Give WYOU a hand! Donate $50 and your handprint will be immortalized in state-of-the-art paper-mache on our real and virtual display ‘Wall of Support,’ displayed at the Hands-On July event. Donate online at www.wyou.org or call 608-258-9644 for details.

In true WYOU fashion, the High Noon Saloon event on July 12 th will be creative, multi-faceted and full of life. You will see a meet and greet walking TV welcoming you into a variety of booths from WYOU show producers and local area businesses. The main event will feature an on-stage line-up to include Baghdad Scuba Review ( www.baghdadscubareview.com ), Adam Isaac and the People ( www. myspace.com / adamIsaacandthepeople music ), and trombone band, Hot Cross Bones ( www.hotcrossbones.com ). Pioneering video creations can be sampled around the venue to pique your eye’s interest, with an original WYOU comedy sketch show from the 1970’s, the latest special feature shows on-air, and on-site video remixing and projection. The Hands-On House Party will be streaming live on-air and on-line as well.

Act Now to help the station by:

* Contributing $50 to the Summer Hands-On Fundraiser Drive to immortalize your support in a creative hand-tile, to be created at WYOU, 609 E. Washington St., contact 608-258-9644 to sign-up.

OR Get Involved by becoming a member, intern or volunteer!

What Does WYOU Mean to You?

We need WYOU to stay active and healthy in its mission. I see the true mission of community access televeision to be to enhance and promote community interests and awareness. One thing which is highly valuable about WYOU and community television nation-wide is the force to serve as an incubator for alternative voices, as well as to counteract the corporate saturation of mainstream media voices, which by inherent nature, has particular interests guiding its content.

Not being encumbered by the strict rules of profit methods means being able to air shows that are important for the community, but have not developed enough, or do not hold the financial backing, to reach the attention of the corporate world, but still deserve to be aired and feed the communities' needs for a healthy future.

Such shows as West African Experience, En Vivo, Madison Progressive Voices and other alternative shows give voice to the various members of the Madison Community in the media, where there are no other current local outlets. Undoubtedly, these shows contribute to the health of the local community and provide an interaction between diverse populations within the area.

While WYOU, has been around a long time, its potential to be a fully developed avenue for community voices has still yet to be realized. In part, this situation is due to the need for an impetus to move forward, better organizational capabilities (which require additional community funding support, that's you!) and a vote of support for including community voices to the media elements of our individual lives. Make your voice heard! Make It Yours! The NEW WYOU!

Sankulay Jallow Is Getting Noticed

Ever since WYOU implemented the live streaming of all our shows back in March, long time producer Sankulay Jallow has been getting noticed. His popular show, West Africa Experience: Music from the Continent, is being watched by a growing number of fans in his native country The Gambia. It's being promoted by the Gambian online newspaper, Gainako News and also the radio station Paradise FM.

Rock Band Contest Finale

Four weeks and six bands later, the dust has cleared. The WYOU Rock Band Contest was a success as the bands competed live on stage at the High Noon Saloon. Thanks to producers Craig Meyer and James Malone for all their hard work in putting this together.

The Saga of PEG funding nation-wide: WYOU is not alone.

The issue of PEG funding is coming up all over the nation. Some of the comments on this current dynamic are below:

"Public, education and governmental (PEG) access has emerged from 30 years of development at a watershed moment. Will the lessons learned from the past three decades form a foundation for public media in the future? Or will weakened legislation harm PEG access to the point of no return?" Article by Barbara Popovic in Spring 2009 NATOA Journal, see: www.alliancecm.org/node/11

For more information on Congressional actions regarding PEG funding versus large media outlets such as Comcast and AT&T, see: www.saveaccess.org/node/2119/print

To see a letter to the editor on Illinois PEG Channel legislation, "TV Standards," see: www.cantv.org/Articles/Trib-TVstandards.htm

WYOU Shoots the MAMAs

Last night WYOU covered the Madison Area Music Awards. Watch for a 2-hour special to air on the station at 9:00 pm on Sunday June 14th & 28th.

'Collide-a-scopes Gallery Night: Experimental Video Art at Dance Fabulous Studio

WYOU and Dance Fabulous Studio collaborated last night for a successful Gallery Night event of experimental video art and dance.

The space was flooded with video images projected onto multiple screens, crossing dancing artists and capturing their movements in dimensions totally unique. WYOU offered 'Collide-a-scopes' to the open house city-wide free art-venue shows. 'Collide-a-scopes' was a unique and innovative collaborative by Eric Allen, WYOU technical director, and Heidi Johnson, veteran producer of the WYOU show Sleep Walks. The combination of dance performance, videoed re-mixed live and projection back onto the multiple screens in the space was spectacular. The show fused modern improvisational dance with international performances from Dance Fabulous' downtown on Henry St. Uniquely creative and avant garde, the show was intriguing to all who attended. 'Collide-a-scopes' may have truly created a unique and veritable life-size walk-through inter-cultural artistic kaleidoscope.

Amy Goodman Live in the WYOU Studio!

Amy Goodman of the nationally syndicated program Democracy Now is in Madison this weekend, and she came into WYOU this morning to do her live broadcast from our studio.
Friday morning, bright and early at 6:00 am, just before the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Progressive Magazine is to begin, the world-reknowned cutting edge free-speech news journalist, Amy Goodman came to Madison's only community television station, WYOU, to tape the daily edition of Democracy Now!, the widely viewed program which covers the news that mainstream media doesn't.
The atmosphere was positive to bring a positive start, inspiration and professional approach to the studio in a matter of minutes. With a make-up artist, a satellite truck in the parking lot and professional assistants to coordinate the program with the New York studio, the buzz of energy was exciting and remarkable. Goodman was kind, friendly and professional. She encouraged the station and offered clips to encourage sponsorship of WYOU on-air. Busy as can be, the crew rushed off to the next event at the Progressive Anniversary Celebration.