Independent Media = Local Election Programs

KOCT is celebrating 30 years of service to our community and we are very proud of the many election programs we have produced since our creation in 1984. And, as you will see, we have an exciting election 2014 line-up we are ready to announce.

KOCT is the San Diego County leader when it comes to the number of local election programs we produce. Why is that? It is because we are not, a government agency nor a commercial cable TV channel.  KOCT is a independent  non-profit corporation focused on and driven by our mission to provide programming for, by and about our community—even in the challenging battleground that is often local politics.

KOCT’s first election program was on October 1^st 1983—a debate about Proposition L (Pier & Groin?) and our second was a candidates forum on October 20, 1986. Every year since then we have refined our Election guidelines, improved our coverage and increased the number of races and programs that we provide.

It has not been easy and with our reduced staffing and budget we have reluctantly had to charge a production fee for our formerly free service, Candidate Statements.  However this fee is far less than what most serious candidates pay for signs, mailers, flyers and consultants.

Earlier this week invitations went out to candidates inviting them to appear on the following shows:

Journalist Roundtable -    September 4^th (LIVE) -  Candidates for Oceanside City Council

Voice of Oceanside -       September 18^th - Candidates for MiraCosta College Board of Trustees

Voice of Oceanside -       September 18^th - Candidates for Oceanside Unified School District

Journalist Roundtable -     October 2^nd (LIVE) - featuring candidates for Tri-City Medical Center Board of                                         Directors

Voice of Oceanside -       October 9^th - Candidates for Oceanside City Council

Voice of Oceanside -       October 9^th (recorded for later airing) - featuring candidates for the Tri-City                                                Medical Center Board of Directors

In addition to these programs the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with MiraCosta College, have agreed to share with KOCT viewers their televised coverage of Candidate Forums on September 11 & 18, featuring City Council, Hospital and College candidates.

Candidates for these offices as well as regional races have been invited to take advantage of KOCT’s Candidates Statement service in which each candidate can make a five-minute statement directory to their voter/viewers in their own words.

All of these programs will be replayed extensively on KOCT throughout October and right up to the last weekend before the election. All of these election programs can also be viewed on your smart phone, computer or tablet by using our extensive Video-On-Demand service available at www.koct.org.

And don’t forget to send in your questions for city council, school, college and hospital board candidates to KOCT at koct@koct.org.  We would love to hear what issues, topics and subjects you care about and we’ll try to incorporate them into our shows if we can.

It takes a lot of planning, effort and diligence to produce election programs but we believe it is one of the most valuable services that KOCT can provide.   However this is only effective if you, the Voter,  watch these programs, research the  candidates, listen  to their positions and vote in the November election.

If by chance you are running and did not hear from KOCT, it means we do not have your contact information and we need to hear from you. KOCT's Election Programming will air soon and we want all candidates to participate!