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TV segment on community channel worth the angst

By Cherie Speller
The Daily Reflector
Monday, January 28, 2008

I've seen several interviews replayed on television with Heath Ledger, the actor who was found dead last week in his home in New York. While listening to Ledger and lamenting the loss of someone so young and talented, one of his comments struck a nerve. When one interviewer asked Ledger how he felt about watching himself perform, he said it made him uncomfortable, almost to the point of wanting to vomit.

I could identify with that reaction after taping a segment of "City Scene," a show hosted by Greenville public information officer Steve Hawley on GTV-9, the government access channel on the Suddenlink Communications cable system.

Even though the topic, the Greenville-Pitt Public Access Television Corporation (GPAT), is worthy of such a program, I was dreading watching my performance and had pretty much decided to ignore the popular city program for the week.

"I saw you on TV!" a friend said in a phone call the very first night it was on. "You did a good job ... you talked all over yourself."

"Thanks," I said. "That's just what I was afraid of!"

Then my friend went into a series of questions about GPAT and how the channel works, convincing me that my moment in front of the camera was worth the apprehension.

I volunteer with GPAT, the public access television channel that serves Greenville and Pitt County. It's channel 23 on the Suddenlink Communications cable system and provides the community the opportunity to put its own shows on TV.

You may have seen martial arts demonstrations, heard the speakers at various local banquets and relaxed or danced with an array of musical programs. There also have been religious and political programming, birthday celebrations and programs on area nonprofits. All of these programs are submitted by our fellow Greenville and Pitt County citizens.

Programs provided by communications students at East Carolina University also are aired and you can hear news related to Greenville and Pitt County from 4-5 p.m. Monday through Friday through the Radio Reading Service of Eastern North Carolina's broadcast. The agency's volunteers read The Daily Reflector and other publications as a service to those who are visually impaired.

Through financial support from the city of Greenville and Pitt County, there's no cost to provide programs to the channel that are ready to air but "producers" must register by completing a form that can be found on the channel's Web site, www.gpattv.org.

The channel also will host a meeting to provide more information on how to become a producer at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 in meeting room A at Sheppard Memorial Library.

As others mentioned seeing me talk about GPAT on TV, curiosity got the best of me and I watched the show with my children. My 6-year-old son was in awe that Mommy was on TV. That was enough for him.

My 13-year-old daughter tried to be more critical. "You did good, but you ain't cute!"

In teenager dialogue, that really means she thought I was.

I was just glad to be able to watch the whole segment without throwing up.