Your article on the “Middle school students report on themselves” certainly took me back to my days in Scarborough when my vision for the town local access channels was, literally, at the forefront in the state of Maine for school production and student involvement.

As a member of the Middle School Building Committee, I pushed for a high-tech ability to broadcast internally and also to the town from the middle school. In conjunction with community services and the Cable TV Committee, we acquired the equipment and internal setup for such a venue in the new school.

Unfortunately, the ed tech the school department hired to oversee this venue, and also the one in the high school, was not qualified to set up, run, or even teach the kids the who, what, where, when and how of local access TV broadcasting. Her immediate supervisor in the high school also had no local access TV structural education but felt that newspaper writing and access TV were one and the same. It is not. So, refusing the expertise of the experienced members of the Cable TV Committee, both venues went for years sitting unproductive, except for any cross-programming that was produced by the Cable TV Committee.

Over ten years in Scarborough, the Cable TV Committee and town residents have produced several thousand programs of local interest. These productions included town events, sporting events, interviews, and local informational programs. I, personally, have produced over 1,000 shows, sporting events and community programs for the town of Scarborough – all volunteer efforts. Some were firsts in the state of Maine. Because of the lack of new programming, the archives of Scarborough Community Television are still being broadcast on local access.

So, it was so nice to see that there are still volunteers like Leslie Walker, teacher, who are willing to take the time to guide these students in producing a news program on WSMS. It is hard work. It takes time. It is educational. It takes teamwork. You get to see yourself and your friends on TV. And most of all, it is fun. Please keep up the continued support of this venue.

Bob Osborn

Saco

Former host of Scarborough Community Sports and Inside Scarborough