KOCT & The Tide

Below is the KOCT article that was in this month’s City of Oceanside digital magazine, The Tide. Have you heard about this great resource of events and ‘things to do’? This quarter they highlight the great lectures at MiraCosta College and numerous cool events like Pride by the Beach on October 10^th, Dia de Los Muertos on October 25^th, Haunted Market on October 29^th, the November 8^th Oceanside Music Festival and much, much, more.  

The talented Editor of The Tide is Terry Gorman Brown who works in  the City Manager’s office and she said that it’s easy to subscribe to this Quarterly magazine: Just go to http://www.ci.oceanside.ca.us/mycity/default.asp where you’ll make an account---You’ll be asked to  confirm your email address and then be presented with a short check-off list of community and city information—make sure you check The Tide and you’ll get this informative digital magazine every quarter.

http://www.ci.oceanside.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=40721

October Journalist Roundtable

KOCT’s first show of the fall, Journalist Roundtable on October 1^st had a diverse variety of topics:  weather, money and media.

Our first guest was Alex Tardy, a Meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He discussed the Ying and Yang of our weather—the Drought and El Nino. Alex is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San Diego.  He has worked for the National Weather Service for 22 years.

Our second guest was Dan McSwain, the business columnist for the San Diego Union Tribune. He discussed the Pension issue and its potential negative effect on local and our state government. He revealed some sobering pension statistics facing the City of Oceanside.

Dan McSwain has 15 years of experience in San Diego County as a journalist. Before joining U-T San Diego in 2012, he was managing editor, news editor, editorial page editor and a business reporter for the North County Times.  (Long time KOCT viewers will also remember him as the former host of JRT).

Dean Nelson (L) and Dan McSwain (R)

Our final segment was a roundtable discussion about the firing of the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune and the lowering of its financial forecast for the year. The journalists discussed the state of North County media. Our special guest for this segment was Dean Nelson, Professor of Journalism at Point Loma University, and the media all-star panel included Dan McSwain and the host of Journalist Roundtable, veteran journalist Kent Davy. Our other panelists were our long-time contributors, KPBS’s North County Bureau Editor, Alison St John and San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Logan Jenkins.

Program replays can be viewed on Channel 18 Cox Cable in Oceanside as well as AT&T and U-Verse Channel 99 county-wide. This program airs at 7 am and 6 pm Monday thru Friday on Channel 18. You can also watch the program as Video On Demand via www.koct.org and on your smart phone, tablet or computer by clicking here:  http://koct.org/video/category/journalist_roundtable/detail/journalist_roundtable_october_1_2015

  Stay in tune with your community by tuning into KOCT-Your Community Channel.

Flashback Thursday

It’s KOCT Flashback Thursday with a glimpse at memorable pictures from the KOCT archives:

Hosts for KOCT’s video magazine Inside Oceanside. City of Oceanside’s PIO Don Williamson and Amy Forsythe

Amy Forsythe with the Marine Corps at the Syrian Border during the Iraq war. Amy has continued her military media career, now with the Navy, and is currently in Guam. She is an amazing woman.

KOCT’s Station Manager Jacob Rush and Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman. August 2008

August 2001’s Journalist Roundtable (L-R) J. Stryker Meyer, North County Times Reporter,  San Diego Union-Tribune’s Logan Jenkins and then District Attorney Paul Pfingst

Marina Towers construction site circa 1966

KOCT Board of Directors – late 90’s

KOCT supporter and Fun Flights pilot Brian Shepherd & KOCT Board Member Janene Possell Shepherd creating a KOCT ‘Bonzer Tucker’ fundraiser PSA

City Clerk Staff circa 2000

Ron & Sandy Thurlow at Election Headquarters (KOCT's Administrative Assistant now famous Ojai artist)

Oceanside Programs New and Old

Oceanside programs new and old are the focus of this weeks Blog:  KOCT’s talented production crews have produced another interesting Newsbrief.   KOCT’s multi-talented Peter Bonscher was the Producer, Writer and Editor for a program about the  Oceanside Outrigger Canoe Club. The Videography was done by John Goodman and you can watch this new program on your smart phone, tablet or computer.

SuperGirl Surf Contest –Oceanside IS a surf community and this years SuperGirl Surf Contest had surf and much, much more. KOCT Station Manager, Jake Rush was also the Videographer for the contest and the program was edited by new KOCT employee, John Goodman.  This is an upbeat joyous celebration and easy to share with your family and friends who are not fortunate enough to live in North County.

KOCT’s Video On Demand has some other interesting programs from Yesterday you may not have discovered. The black and white movie “ Oklahoma Cyclone”  staring Bob Steele had many of its scenes shot right here in Oceanside in 1930.  Wickipeda describes the film: Oklahoma Cyclone is a 1930 American Western film directed by John P. McCarthy that is a forerunner of the singing cowboy genre . Note it was a big deal to promote the film as “All Talking”—in contrast to the Pride of Palomar.

Another gem in the KOCT vaults was the silent  movie the Pride of Palomar—many of the scenes were shot in the San Luis Rey Valley and at Rancho Guajome too. Oceanside Historian John Daley gives a brief introduction to the program. Here is a movie synopsis:  

 This virile drama, produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Pictures, was based on the novel by then-popular author Peter B. Kyne. After serving in Siberia during the Great War, Don Mike Farrell (Forrest Stanley) returns to California to discover that his father has died and the family ranch is now in the hands of John Parker (Alfred Allen). Parker's daughter, Kay (Marjorie Daw), falls in love with Farrell and tries to help him get his rights back. Her attempts, however, are in vain. Parker is working in partnership with Okada, a Japanese land speculator (Warner Oland), who is determined to have the ranch for himself. Farrell has to use all his resourcefulness to defeat the two men. First, he raises the necessary money through chasing down one of his father's debtors, and raises the rest at the racetrack. He then bluffs Parker and wins back his land -- along with Parker's admiration and Kay's hand. ~

Thanks to Kristi Hawthorne and the Oceanside Historical Society for helping KOCT obtain copies of these early movies and for the peek into our Oceanside past that they provide.

Kristi Hawthorne (L) with Board Secretary Kiersten Hill (R)

Newspaper Junkie Goes Cold Turkey (well almost)

KOCT has been providing local community information since its incorporation in 1984. When I joined the organization there were at least two large newspapers and many weekly papers in north county.  I wrote a weekly column for one of those papers and Bob Bowditch, the founder of KOCT, wrote a cable column for the Blade-Citizen for many years.

I love newspapers and pick up every local print offering that I find on the newsstands or sidewalk racks. Growing up in Santa Fe Springs meant access to at least three daily papers such as the LA Times and the Herald-Examiner. But that was then.

For the first time in my adult life, I have stopped receiving a local newspaper and I miss it. (OK I’m still getting the Sunday paper—I couldn’t go cold turkey)  Our only remaining regional paper has gotten too expensive to subscribe to and the digital reading experience is not the same—navigation is slow and cumbersome, there are too many pop-up ads, and with fewer local reporters, there are only a handful of new local stories per week.

I’m not alone on this journey—the July/August Columbia Journalism Review says that only 23 percent of Americans get their news from print compared with 75 percent who get it from digital (Reuters Survey).

And while it’s true we have more media choices then at any time in history, we probably have less local news than we did only a few short years ago.  Kent Davy, the former Editor for the North County Times, sent me this link to a fascinating though depressing article by Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab, entitled “As giant platforms rise, local news is getting crushed”.

The article discusses the ongoing loss of newspapers and how “Young people are already tuning out local TV news, just as they did to newspapers earlier…” Many young people state that they get most of their news from Facebook and other social media sites.

KOCT has also been affected by the many changes in media and media habits. Once, viewers would find us because we were on the standard channel tier they would ‘surf’ through and then discover a local program they enjoyed.  Today, however, like most PEG channels across the country, we are only available on the standard definition tier and many if not most viewers surf only in the high-definition tier and don’t realize we are still producing a wealth of valuable highly local programs.

Progress has had one big advantage over the past, however.  Formerly, KOCT was available only in Oceanside on Cox Cable. Today we are also available county-wide on AT&T’s U-Verse and world-wide via the internet on KOCT.ORG

KOCT streams both channels and we endeavor to make all of our programs available as VOD or Video On Demand. That means today’s viewer can watch when they want to and not just when KOCT puts their favorite program on their TV schedule. But we are also competing against thousands of other media choices from “House of Cards” to cute kitties.

KOCT does have one huge advantage over these other choices—we are the only non-commercial independent media outlet whose sole focus is the north county community we all live in and value. We cover and replay local and regional government meetings and provide long-form programs about local transportation, water, development and election issues. Not one commercial channel can say the same thing. That is what gives me hope and why I think we have a place and a future in this rapidly changing digital media universe.  There is only one KOCT- Your Community Channel.

Random Pixels

OCT’s new series about Oceanside's thriving Arts & Culture scene is funded, in part, by the City of Oceanside’s Arts Commission. One program covered in the series includes the Art Walk in Downtown Oceanside. This program features interviews with artists, visitors, and Art Walk creators, and showcases this cultural gem that takes place every month in Oceanside. This program was Produced and Edited by Angela Miranda. Watch now!

KOCT’s Station Manager Jacob Rush attended the 2015 National conference of the Alliance for Community Media that was held in Pasadena. There he received, on behalf of KOCT, a Hometown Media Award for KOCT’s “18th Annual Inter-Tribal Powwow”. The Hometown Media Awards recognize the best community media programming of 2014, and include student, independent producer, and access center professional categories. Judges scored over 1,000 entries that were submitted from around the country. 

The KOCT crew for this award winning program was:  Producer Angela Miranda, Videographer, Angela Wong and Grip, Tamara Ilich. The program was edited by Brandee Wyse Bovaird. 

Thanks to Promise Yee with The Coast News for an article about two large grants that our Oceanside Public Library received.  KOCT hopes to work with the Historical Society and the Library to tell the Latino story in Oceanside. KOCT has an archive of programs and interviews with Latino residents about our community and their history in Oceanside. We hope with this grant that KOCT can produce additional historical programs. If you know a business or individual who would like to help Underwrite these programs and contribute to Oceanside’s historical legacy please have them contact Tom Reeser at KOCT- 760-722-4433.

Born and Brewed in Oceanside

The Hops Highway is the fun designation of Highway 78 because of the many local breweries that have been established along this route from Oceanside to Escondido. “Born & Brewed: Oceanside” is a new KOCT program about the big impact craft beer is having on Oceanside and is produced by the City of Oceanside and KOCT.

In this video, we speak with Oceanside locals and brewers about the growth of craft beer and its impact on Oceanside’s economy and culture. Hosted by Marie-Claire Lemoine; featuring Chris Cochran of Stone Brewing Company, Mark Mericle and JJ Synder of Legacy Brewing Company, and Jeff and Dande Bagby of Bagby Beer Company. 

The program’s Producer and Editor is the talented Angela Wong who has produced a number of programs for KOCT. This is some of her finest work and I wish her well in her future endeavors!

If you want to watch this new program right now on your Smart Phone, Tablet or Computer Click Here!

http://koct.org/video/category/shop_oceanside/detail/born_brewed_in_oceanside

 You can catch this new program on KOCT’s Channel 18 and Channel 19 at the dates and times listed below:  

Born and Brewed: Oceanside (August 2015 playout)
DATE	Channel 18	Channel 19
11-Aug	7am, 4pm
12-Aug	330pm	8:30pm
13-Aug		3:30pm, 8:30pm
14-Aug	3:00pm
15-Aug	5:30pm	9:30am, 9pm, 11:30pm
16-Aug		8:30am, 6:30pm
17-Aug		4:30pm, 8:30pm
19-Aug		9pm
21-Aug		7:30am, 6pm
22-Aug		10:30am, 10pm
23-Aug		8:30am, 3:30pm
24-Aug	3:00pm	7:30pm
25-Aug		2:30pm, 6:30pm
26-Aug		4:30pm, 8:30pm
27-Aug		10pm
28-Aug		7pm
29-Aug		1:30pm
30-Aug		7pm