Dracut Access Television, Inc. (DATV) is a non pro� t charitable corporation, designated by the Board of Selectmen to provide Public, Educational and Government (PEG) access programming, facilities and equipment for our Dracutcommunity. Over the years we have

gone from original transmissions from a small building across from the high school to a storage area in the back of the high school, to a small studio in the front of the high school.

� en, in December, 2006, at the beginning of this current contract, we incorporated as Dracut Access Television, Inc. and moved into our current address with 1700 sq. feet, at 91 Mill St. Since that time DATV has grown at a consistent pace, training members, covering public, educational and governmental (PEG) events and all this time continually reaching out to all segments of the community. We are currently in search of much needed additional space in the town. � is has not been an easy venture, but we remain optimistic and hope that in the near future, we will have good news to report on that front.

� ank You.Jack Lyons

President, DATV

Check out our website at “dracuttv.org” to get our cablecast schedule, enhanced “video on demand” & more!

Call us at 978-957-5522 more more information

We are experiencing very exciting times in the world of Public Access Television! I am so pleased that DATV has such an energetic and active membership core yielding new episodes of many different series as well as countless special events. Upgrading our technology to HD over the course of several years has ensured that our members are equipped with state-of-the-art resources. All of us in PEG still await the day when cable TV providers place us on the HD tier of the channel line-up! In the meantime DATV has been very aggressive about uploading hundreds of hours of staff/member-produced HD content to our YouTube channel so that the full quality of what is produced can be enjoyed by all! Check us out on YouTube at “DATV Studios”! As we are midway through 2016

we have a little over a year under our belts in putting one of our greatest new resources...our mobile production unit to amazing use. DATV staff and members have produced hundreds of hours of local, original programming from Dracut High sporting events, to our 2-day coverage of the Lowell Folk Festival, to Dracut’s 4th of July Concert & Fireworks celebration, Dracut Old Home Day and more! Aside from being used to produce multi-camera television coverage our mobile unit also doubles as a fantastic public relations outreach tool to raise awareness about DATV and the wonderful benefi ts we provide to our members and to the town. I challenge any of our members who have not yet taken advantage of one of our many training classes to do so in the coming months and either get active behind the scenes with one or more of our many ongoing productions or create something completely new about a topic that you love and are passionate about! We are excited to help you bring your vision to reality and share it with your neighbors and beyond!

Gary MeuseExecutive Director

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@Dracuttv Dracut Access TelevisionDATVstudios

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Dracut Hannaford

Jack Lyons, President

Bob Corey, Clerk

Michael McNamara, Treasurer

Lou Darvirris

Glenn Mello

Kevin Willett

Phil � ibault

As board president, Jack is an o� cial member of all DATV committees. He observes the full board and maintains close contact with the Executive Director

Bob sits on the Membership and Training committee as well as the Nominating committee. He and his wife, Gay, are amoung DATVs most active members shooting many special events year round!

Michael maintains all of DATVs � nancial records and provides regular reports to the board. Michael chairs both the Nominating and Education & Programming committees and sits on the Facilities & Equipment and Personnel committees.

Lou chairs the Facilities and Equipment committees. Lou also sits on the Membership and Training committee and produces/co-hosts the DATV program, “UCANPC”

Glenn chairs the Community, School and Municipal Relations committee. Glenn is also a memeber of the Finance and Fundraising committee. He hosts the DATV program “DSF Presents”

Kevin chairs the By-Laws and Membership & Training committees and sits on the Community, School and Municipal Relations committee. Kevin produces/co-hosts the DATV program “Business as Usual” and “Voices of Dracut”

Phil chairs DATV’s Personnel Committee. Phil isalso a member of the Community, School & MunicipalRelations Committee. Phil co-produces & co-hosts the DATV series “� e Dracut Connection”.

DATV Board of Directors Gary Meuse- Executive Director. Gary returned & has led DATV since November of 2009 and has over 30 years of experience in the television/media industry having previously managed Dracut’s Public Access TV program before leaving to produce several regional and east coast television programs. Gary enjoys gol� ng and aviation and sits on the board of directors for the Dracut Scholarship Foundation whose annual Telethon he has produced/directed since its inception in 1984.

Ron Zimmerman- Operations Manager. Ron joined DATV in early 2015 amd brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in media/video production and training with over 20 years of experience in community televisionenvironments.

Nate Vezina- Production Technician. Having previously interned with us during the summer of 2009, Nate earned his BS in Communications from Endicott College and is a great asset for our members! Among other duties Nate handles all bulletin board creation and program scheduling.

Mike Dobbs- Production Technician. Mike joined the DATV sta� in 2013 and has played an important role in organizing and coordinating all of our High School sports coverage, much of it using our mobile prodution truck.

DATV Sta�

Contact InformationPhone: (978) 957-5522

Address: 91 Mill St. Suite 7, Dracut MA, 01826

Fax: (978) 957-4243

Tyler Masse- Production Technician. Tyler joined the DATV sta� in November of 2015 as a part of Greater Lowell Tech’s “Co-op” program. He will be attending Middlesex Community College and then transferring to Fitchburg State to continue his education in video production. Tyler has become a valuable member of the DATV sta� .

Also of note was the Richardson Middle School after school video club that I assisted with on Monday afternoons during the school year. The club was organized and overseen by Maryanne Gauthier, a math teacher at the school, and together we introduced the kids to all phases of video production. Several of the kids videotaped the school’s graduation ceremony which ended a great fi rst year for the club! The club will be ramped up even further this school year starting up again in September.

It is nearing the end of summer as I write this and a good time to mention a few of the exciting events that have taken place over the lazy, hazy days! For many kids summer vacation means summer camp and DATV was proud to announce its own version called, appropriately, Television Camp. Aimed for kids ages 10-13 we offered two week-long sessions, one in July and a second in August. Participants learned basic video & audio techniques and how to use DATV’s equipment. The kids then put those new skills into use by producing several short productions that will be edited into a single program.

The DATV production truck was in use this summer, particularly at the end of July when DATV again provided live, four camera coverage of the Lowell Folk Festival from the JFK Plaza. The truck continues to be one of DATV’s primary assets for sports and event coverage and it was present at most of the winter and spring home sports games this year. Worth mentioning is the special truck production workshop that was held at Dracut High School at the beginning of the school year. Several enthusiastic students took advantage of the training and ended up helping with most of the sports related production truck shoots. These same students also transitioned to working on studio shoots and their own video projects! One of them, Christian Ramos, has just started his very own weekly studio show called “Boss It!”

Ron ZimmermanDATV Operations Manager

July 2016 Summer Kids Camp!

Great 3-session introduction to all aspects & phases of video production including Studio Production, Directing, Lighting, Audio, Field Production with our portable camera kits and Editing using Final Cut Pro X. O� ered monthly!

Includes all the necessary training to produce live/taped municipal meetings and events from Dracut town hall including 4 robotic cameras, switcher, Pow-erpoint graphics, audio, etc,

Learn all you need to know about DATV’s Canon XA25 � eld cameras, tripod, battery, & AC power, microphones as well as helpful techniques and shooting tips.

Focusing on all of the functions of the Newtek Tricaster HD production switcher systems including transitions, keyers, clips, CG, etc.

Learn how to set up and operate our production control center on wheels! From sports to concerts, to any � eld based event, our HD van can be used to produce 4 camera live productions!

Learning to create, manipulate, and adjust digital images is lots of fun and lets you be more creative in editing and desktop publishing!

Final Cut Pro is a professional non-linear editing so� ware application developed by Macromedia inc. � is so� ware logs and captures videos onto a hard drive (internal or external), where it can be edited and processed.

Motion is used to edit and create motion graphics, titling for � lm and video produc-tion, and 2D and 3D compositing for visual e� ects.

Beginners Production Workshop

Town Hall

Field Production

Tricaster SEGMobile Production Van

Adobe Photoshop

Final Cut Pro

Apple Motion

I’m proud of the bold and brash improvements in our productions, so I’d like to highlight some people in particular who have helped immensely in the last year. Long-time volunteers Mike Poitras and Chuck Moran have been consistently on-hand to help with cameras, graphics, audio, and generally anything. New volunteers Nathan Coram and Zach Pizzano have become enthusiastic commentators, and have taken it upon themselves to produce their own hockey and baseball productions in addition to our scheduled ones. Finally, staff members Nate Vezina and Tyler Masse have been instrumental with cameras, replay, graphics, setup, breakdown, and bold and brash personalities. Thanks everyone!

As the beginning of school approaches, we’ll be gearing up for high school varsity sports coverage. In the last year, sports productions at DATV have expanded and grown more sophisticated with the addition of replay and commentary. We’ve also added a wireless camera setup, which has allowed us to acheive some more dynamic angles. The “center fi eld shot” camera for baseball and softball has been particularly successful in bringing a more professional look to the games.

I am planning on going to Fitchburg State University to continue learn-ing and educating myself in the fi eld of Video Production. Ive been helping with editing and many sporting events like baseball, football and hockey and have also been helping with town meeting coverage. Using my design skills, I have created various print promos for DATV and have also designed this newsletter. I continue to look foward to more productions and more experiences with DATV. Again, I’m thrilled to be a part of the crew and I am excited to learn more about the world of video production!

I am very proud to now be able to offi cially call myself a member of the DATV staff as of last November! I came to DATV as a part of Greater Lowell Technical High Schools “Co-op” program and have learned about the different aspects of video production and how to use DATV’s equiptment. Since coming here I can truly say that I have enjoyed being here as a part of the DATV crew and have had a great time as well!

started by the already active board member/producer Kevin Willett. He already produces a show every week called “Business As Usual” and now he has started a new program called “Voices of Dracut.” It is a show that looks back into the rich history of the town of Dracut through the stories of lifelong Dracut residents. Dracut has a history of agriculture but has developed and grown immensely over the years. If you’re interested in learning about the history of the town tune into “Voices of Dracut” now airing on DATV Channel 8! Also, I would like to give a shout out to our summer intern Elliot Trubowitz. Elliot has been a huge help to us over the summer and he is also a student at my former school, Endicott College.

Since our last news letter, we have had some new shows come to life here at DATV. We have had a very active year and we always look forward to members creating their own unique content for our channels! To start things off, we have a very active student volunteer, Christian Ramos, who started to produce his own TV show called “Boss It!” “Boss It!” is a show that deals with today’s top teen and tech topics. Be on the lookout for “Boss It!” now airing on DATV’s public channel 8. Another new show was recently

Nate VezinaProduction Technician

Mike DobbsProduction Technician

Tyler MasseProduction Technician