Dealings with the UCO Reporter

Here is a story of a completely happy resident trying to do the right thing when it came to posting on channel 63. Read to the bottom. You will see he ran afould of Ed Black and Joy Vestal. Two know nothings in this instance. But they managed to chase the knowledge away.                     

 A SILVER LINING IN THE CLOUD

         It is with a profound feeling of dismay to learn that a long time dedicated volunteer at the UCO Reporter was recently dismissed. But somehow it does not surprise me. I have had dealings with the UCO  Reporter in the few years I have spent living in the village as a full time resident. I placed an ad in the paper and ended up going to the office and constructing it on their computer with their software. 

 I had a lot of experience with their program and with graphic design programs in general. I offered to volunteer some time to help with the layout and left my phone number .I never heard from them again on my offer.

         My next encounter was in reference to a letter I sent to the editorial staff deploring the fact that a prescription would cost me over $90.00 at the village pharmacy. I had a quote from them and a receipt from an independent pharmacist for the same prescription for $17.00 . I thought the $90.00 was a bit exorbitant and questioned how this could be allowed to continue. I was subsequently summoned to a meeting with an editor of the paper , he informed me that he would have to “sanitize” what I had written as he did not want to upset the village pharmacy as they publish a full page ad in the UCO Reporter every month and he didn't want to jeopardize the revenue. The letter was published after some changes . The Village pharmacy and the independent pharmacy were not identified in the letter.

         I offered to help in an initiative with channel 63 to produce programming for broadcast . The first committee meeting We ( members of the actors studio of Century Village) were encouraged to submit a budget proposal to supply some funds . We did prepare a proposal which was accepted by the committee in the amount of $10,000.00 to be paid in 12 monthly installments to the UCO Reporter! In reviewing the officers meetings at UCO I recently watched a segment where the issue of volunteers using their own funds to produce programming was brought up.

          I spent the next few months working to produce  video programming, I wrote original scripts , directed and edited video  and managed to get a couple of programs aired. At first the 63 committee was supportive of our efforts, They gave me a vote of support despite some criticism and I continued to work.

         The first problem I encountered was when I was suddenly denied the use of the video camera . Ed Black is the gatekeeper and suddenly decided that I was not allowed to use it any more. When I went to pick it up I was informed at the WPRF office that I could not get the use of it . Ed Black had instructed them not to release it to me. When I confronted Ed about this, he denied doing so. In any event I was not allowed to use the camera , which  is owned by WPRF.

         I decided to go ahead with producing video with my own camera and showed up at the office to get them aired. I suddenly found the staff to be uncooperative and failed in my first three attempts to get video on the schedule. The scheduling system is very confusing  and expensive. I discovered that UCO is paying someone to put items in the schedule. Every item change on the broadcast schedule is sent electronically and then returned by a company somewhere on the ethernet . I don't remember the exact figure UCO is paying for this service but I know it is in the hundreds of dollars a month. On top of that UCO is paying a $49.00 per month subscription fee for an editing  program ( Premiere Pro )that is not really needed. The scheduling program we are all paying for every month can be purchased for a few hundred dollars.

         The last meeting of the Channel 63 committee that I attended I tabled a set of broadcasting standards to be adopted by the committee as guidance in programming. The standards included technical standards as well as content. I did this at the request of Joy Vestal.  judging from the programming being aired on Channel 63 I can see that none of the standards are being applied.

         The technical issues are irksome but an issue that is more troubling  to me is the plagiarism they are engaged in.  It is distasteful for anyone to copy another's work without permission or recompense, Worse yet is the fact that we and Comcast can be sued or at the very least lose broadcasting privileges.

         I gave up trying to get programming on the schedule and tried sending another volunteer from the actors studio to get it done. I sent three videos . The first was an interview with a doctor discussing diabetes, The second was a promotional video for upcoming events by the Actors Studio, the third was a video of a resident showing some great talent in performing magic. They were all refused by Joy Vestal, who had been installed by D. Israel as the head of the channel 63 project.

         It was obvious that there was a problem with the committee but I really can't say why. Maybe it's because I challenged Ed Black on the quality of the sound on Channel 63 , I showed him how to resolve it, but he steadfastly maintained that the sound issue was caused by out of date equipment and he had some hair brained theory about video compression files pushing all the levels down. A theory he had expounded on more than once. I couldn't make any sense out of it , the fact that I had aired video without sound problems seemed to make no difference and they continued airing video where the sound quality was bad and the video was not much better . Despite the knowledge that I knew how to fix it I was never approached.

         Another thought that crossed my mind was the treatment I received at the last meeting of the committee that I attended, I know that the proposed standards were not very well received by the people who were responsible for the poor programming quality and the plagiarism. The standards proposal  was proclaimed to be B/S and was ignored  by the  rest of the committee.

         At the end of the meeting a loud angry outburst took place where I was threatened with physical violence by one of the members who  aggressively charged across the room at me.

         I objected to this behavior and sent a letter to Joy Vestal declining participation in the committee if this behavior was to be permitted. She did not address or respond to the letter.  I did not participate in any more committee meetings and have since abandoned airing video on channel 63. It is a bit disconcerting that the same person is responsible for everything and anything that is printed in OUR newspaper or aired on OUR community channel.

         As for the $10,000.00 I have no idea what happened to it, I would bet that there is an item in the proposed budget for more money for channel 63. Judging from the last comment I got from Joy Vestal I guess that any hope of producing programming for channel 63 or getting articles published in the newspaper is out the window . As I was leaving the last budget meeting in the clubhouse where I was recording the meeting at the request of Mr Grossman , She commented that she was surprised to see me working on behalf of the malcontents. She also expressed that she was happy that at least I didn't have a vote.

         The last word is for the person recently dismissed from the UCO Reporter. Do not despair ! There is a silver lining in every dark cloud. The Messenger club has just launched a newspaper dealing with topical issues here in the village. I am sure that your talents could be put to good use in that effort. Don't be discouraged by the fear of being branded as a malcontent. You and many others know that this is just name calling propaganda. Besides working as a malcontent is a lot more rewarding than working for the cronies.

          I know this because I am currently having fun producing video exposing the truth about the goings on in the village keep your eye on this blog  to see them.

                                                   Neil J Moore.

We have to get rid of these anti-peoples. Lets start with insisting on a sensible and accurate Budget. For now Vote this one down!!