Election Programming

KOCT has completed the recording & editing of all of its Election Programming!! All of this programming (13+ programs) will now be shown on KOCT’s Channel 18 community channel throughout the month of October. You can also view KOCT’s election programs as Video On Demand and watch on your smart phone while waiting in the DMV line.

KOCT has done its job and now it’s the task of each citizen to watch these programs and go to the polls as an informed and educated voter.

KOCT Fundraiser Reminder

Tickets are still available for KOCT’s FUNdraiser for both the 11:30 am and 1 pm seating’s on Thursday October 23^rd. Tickets are only $20 per adult and all proceeds benefit KOCT and our goal of producing more community television programs.

If you can’t attend but want to help KOCT AND our military families you can buy a ticket & we’ll provide a free lunch for local military families. Call 722-4433 for more information or stop by KOCT and buy your ticket TODAY.

PROPOSED COMCAST/TIMES WARNER CABLE MERGER OPPORTUNITY FOR PEG CHANNELS

The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing Comcast’s acquisition of Times Warner Cable. This is an opportunity to address concerns and problems that have resulted in the closing of hundreds of PEG channels like KOCT all across our nation. Access Humboldt and American Community Television have filed comments that ask, as a condition to any consent to the transfer, that the FCC should prohibit discrimination against PEG channels, ensure that PEG channels have the same features and functionality and same signal quality as that of local broadcasters channels. They should also require that PEG channels be easily accessed on menus and that PEG channels be available on the HD tiers. Many of these requirements are in the current PEG laws but are not being enforced. 

It is my opinion that cable companies make a self-fulfilling argument that is not in the public interest—On the one hand they claim not very many people watch community channels and on the other they do everything they can to discourage viewership! They refuse to put program information on their Program Guide, make it difficult or impossible to record with their DVR’s and ban PEG channels from the High Definition tiers-all actions that confuse consumers and ‘hide’ PEG channels. What they cannot do is argue that every one of their thousand channels is of more value to the consumer than programming for by and about their own customers communities. Shopping Channels Vs Election Programming?? No I’m not buying that argument.

Tom Reeser-Executive Director- KOCT Your Community Channels 

Our next few Community Connections will be Throw Back Editions because KOCT is celebrating 30 years of service to our north county community!

The entire community came out to the Oceanside band shell in 2001 to celebrate our local Little League teams Western Division Championship! They lost in the World Series even though it was later discovered the other team’s pitcher was older than allowed for a little league participant!!

Below the team answers questions from the audience and then KOCT Sports Announcer Tom Sheridan just prior to the ceremony by the Mayor and elected officials to honor our young sports heroes!

Brian Cook was our 2^nd Oceanside Spectrum host and was instrumental in promoting the show to the many non-profits and city departments to help promote their events. KOCT’s Executive Director, Tom Reeser, below presents Brian with the Beacon Award for ‘shining light on our community’ with his many years of dedicated volunteer service to our community. 

Brian was also the originator of the annual ‘Sock Drive’ for Brother Bennos. Below, (with the KOCT production team) are the founders of Brother Bennos, Harold and Kay Kutler along with Voice Host Bill Fritsche and the late Dick Goodman who was the Director of Housing for the City of Oceanside for many years. This was in 1992.

The annual Western Access Video Excellence awards (WAVE) showcase the best work of community television producers from the western states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico. It’s very competitive and this year there were over 350 entries!

 KOCT is pleased that three out of our six Finalists won a WAVE in their category.

Discover Downtown 2

Congratulations to Producer Janene Shepherd and the KOCT team that produces the Discover Downtown series for winning a WAVE in the Lifestyle-Informational category. Janene won for Discover Downtown 2  which is underwritten by Main Street Oceanside. Janene explores all of the new businesses, restaurants and museums in our downtown area. She just completed Discover Downtown 3 which is currently airing on KOCT. Check it out!

Janene at LL Reptile

San Luis Bike Rey Trail

Another WAVE winner was our KOCT’s Cablecast Team Leader , Angela Miranda for her PSA – the San Luis Rey Bike Trail. This PSA also airs on a special video monitor that KOCT installed in the California Welcome Center as a result of grant from San Diego County to encourage tourism. Angela is a true renaissance woman. She makes sure our two channels run 24/7, edits, directs and does so much more for KOCT. Congrats Angela!

Journalist Roundtable

The State of the Media in North County

KOCT’s Journalist Roundtable  won in the “LIVE” category and I share the  Producer award with the winning crew, hosts and journalists that make this monthly program possible: The JRT team consists of Director Jake Rush, Assistant Director Angela Miranda, Audio Director Peter Bonscher, and camera operators Garvin Ha, Addison Wolf, Anette Lund, Tamara Ilich and Katie Lynn. Our make-up is by our favorite volunteer, Carmel Bowers and the show is defined by our Host Kent Davy and respected journalists Alison St. John and Logan Jenkins. This award was for a special program called “The State of the Media in North County” featuring Dean Nelson, Professor of Journalism at Point Loma University. I did a lot of research for this show and was aided by our Cal State San Marcos Journalism Intern, Jessica Gambrel.

Journalist Roundtable July 11, 2013 from KOCT on Vimeo.

The WAVE awards event was held at the Alliance for Community Media Regional Conference which was held in San Jose on October25th.  KOCT’s Garvin Ha had two of his PSA entries make the Finalist category and should also be congratulated for the quality of his work—and his buoyant personality!

Garvin Ha