Cable access institution celebrates its 50th anniversary
Over 50 years, Austin Public has helped open the doors of TV studios to the community. This weekend, that history is celebrated at a special mixer and screening at AFS Cinema.
(Image courtesy of Austin Public)
The Austin Chronicle
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
3:25PM, WED. OCT. 4, 2023
TV was for stars. Household people in faraway cities. Respected local anchors in suits. But when the Federal Communications Commission came up with the idea of public, educational, and government access in 1969, anyone could be on TV.
And when the city of Austin launched Channel 10, its first public access cable station, in 1973, Austin’s DIY culture embraced the opportunity – and has kept embracing it through the cable explosion, the streaming revolution, and beyond.
Now AFS Cinema is moving Austin Public from the small screen to the big with You’re On!, a special celebration of 50 years of not only giving Austinites a forum but also a place to learn the skills to make TV. Austin Public General Manager Doug Gray said, “It’s still one of Austin’s best kept secrets, which it shouldn’t be – everyone should know about it.”
The celebration began when Council marked the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast by proclaiming June Austin Public Access Television Month. It continues this weekend with a mixer that will bring together veterans and newcomers to Austin Public. That will be followed by a special screening of memorable clips curated by documentarian John Spottswood Moore, creator of the Our Town on TV webseries exploring the history of Austin Public. Gray has uncovered some extraordinary footage, back to what Gray called “the Mount Larson days” when the team had to plug their recording equipment directly into the Capital Cable equipment shack on Mount Larson. “The goal,” Gray said, “is to highlight the five decades of Austin Public.”
“For some people it’s about the training, for some people it’s about networking, and for some people it’s a hobby.” – Austin Public General Manager Doug GrayAcross five decades, adding two extra channels, and a long series of name changes and managers (most recently Austin Film Society), Austin Public has broadcast everything that the imagination of contributors and the Federal Trade Commission would allow. The channels nurtured the creation of uniquely Austin shows like Carmen’s Banana Cooking and Face Your Pets, but also served as a launchpad for careers. Gray said, “We’ve got an edit lab in the back hallway where Robert Rodriguez edited El Mariachi. We’ve got people who will edit a film there and it gets into South by Southwest, or have a pilot that gets picked up. That’s very inspiring.”
Gray counts himself as one of those people who was inspired. Although he was a student at UT, he was not in the Radio-Television-Film program, and so when he joined Austin Public’s Producer Program in 2007 “it became my education as someone who wanted to be a filmmaker."
“It’s really helped people who had no way of getting their voice out to the general public,” Gray added. “For some people it’s about the training, for some people it’s about networking, and for some people it’s a hobby.” Most importantly, Gray said, it’s a way to meet in a collaborative space. “I fell in love with the concept of community media.”
Austin Public keeps evolving to reflect how the community creates and watches. The studio is now a state-of-the-art facility with 6K cameras, but there are also programs livestreamed from producers’ homes. Gray said, “It gives me goosebumps to be part of something like this.”