Reading Community Television (RCTV) hosted a virtual Annual Meeting on October 26 for its members, staff, and interested community members. Board of Directors President Christopher Cridler opened the meeting introducing the Board of Directors, after which Executive Director Philip Rushworth introduced the RCTV staff.
“Thank you to the staff for everything they have done for RCTV . . . throughout the pandemic,” Cridler added.
The membership then voted Rich Vecchione to represent them on the RCTV Board of Directors for a three-year term. Vecchione, an active member of RCTV, is the Digital Marketing Specialist at Reading Cooperative Bank.
Deputy Executive Director Angela Merrill announced Luke Backer as the recipient of the 2021 RCTV Scholarship. Backer, who graduated from Reading Memorial High School (RMHS) in 2021, has been working on RCTV productions since he was ten years old. Merrill also noted that Backer has been an intern at RCTV since 2019 and was instrumental in helping keep RCTV operations functioning during the pandemic.
New HD Channel
RCTV is preparing for a new high-definition broadcast channel on Verizon thanks to the new cable tv contract the Select Board signed this past July. RCTV has been compiling footage in HD since approximately 2009. Some classics such as Reading @ Large are getting an upscale high-tech treatment, taking them from standard definition to high definition.
RCTV @ RMHS
COVID 19 brought a lot of new challenges to RCTV Video Production classes at RMHS, specifically with producing videos while remote. This shifted the focus to more history and theory-based classes, including television history from 1930-2020, film analysys, and more.
The Spring 2021 semester brought students back into the classroom part-time, which allowed for creating video projects again while still keeping some of the history and theory brought in at the beginning of COVID. The program is back full-time in person this school year, and students can create video projects fully in person. Completed projects this semester include Inside RMHS News Segments, Recreating a TV Scene, and Horror Films.
The meeting concluded with a highlight video of the past year’s activities, including the 72 Hour Film Festival, the 9/11 remembrance on the Town Common, RMHS Graduation, and Porchfest. The highlight video also included footage from the Spring Band Concert, the Department of Public Works 100 year celebration, and RCTV’s summer workshops.
A copy of the RCTV written Annual Report is available at RCTV.org.
