Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

One of KOCT’s great traditions are the family-like pot lucks we have had over the years to celebrate birthdays and Christmas.  This year we had a great mix of Board members, volunteers and staff who attended and brought delicious food to share. There was also a spirited gift exchange with some strategic thefts of prized gifts.  KOCT has been blessed with dedicated board members and talented production personnel over our 30+ years of service to our community. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Board and Staff of KOCT!

Two New KOCT Programs to honor North County Volunteers

KOCT’s camera crew was at this year's 26th Annual North County Philanthropy Council’s Volunteer Awards luncheon.

From left to right: Marjory Pierce, Callie Stewart, Camo Gleisberg, Mary Gleisberg, Michelle Davis,
Cydnie Braden, Debbie Allen and Carol Mudget

We now have two programs about this event to share with you:

1. For those with short attention spans go the homepage of KOCT and click on the big video window for the Newsbrief version. 
2. If you want to see the entire program click here . Every major North County non-profit was at this event to honor the volunteers who give so much to so many.  Long time KOCT board member, Michele Bray-Davis was one of many volunteers to enjoy a lunch and receive a beautiful glass plaque. And  Colleen O’Hara, former Oceanside councilmember and one of the founders of the Women’s Resource Center, was given the Robert Krejci Standards of Excellence Award  for her many years of service to our community in so many volunteer capacities. If you see a friend in the video make sure you send them the KOCT link so they can see it too.

To find out more about the North County Philanthropy Council click here.

Make KOCT your Power-On Favorite Channel (It's easy and smart)

With so many digital distractions it’s not always easy to find KOCT amongst the channel clutter.  Cox Cable has hundreds of channels to wade through, but only two of those many channels are for, by and about our hometown of Oceanside.

One easy way to check out what KOCT is airing is to make KOCT your Power-On channel; that way as soon as you sit down to watch TV you can easily see what  valuable community-centric KOCT program is airing BEFORE you watch the national news offerings. And if you also make KOCT a Favorite channel you only have to push one button to watch KOCT and our city council replays, documentaries and North County talk shows.

Here’s how to do it:

• On your remote control, push ‘settings’ and then ‘A’ or more settings

• Next click ‘My Preferences’. There you will have a choice of selecting your Favorite Channels (18 & 19 of course) and your Power-On Channel: either 18-Your Community Channel or 19-Your Government Channel.  
  

• Then click ‘Exit’ to return to get out of the ‘settings mode’.

You’ll find it’s a lot easier to find KOCT amidst channel clutter by following these easy steps. And don’t forget you can go to the Cox Website for similar information.

Oceanside New Pump Station

On November 19^th the city dedicated a new pump station that takes groundwaters, purifies it and distributes it to Oceanside residents.  KOCT Board member Ira Landis is also a member of the water commission and is shown here, standing on the stand to the right, with elected and water officials.  This was a partnership between the City of Oceanside and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 

November at KOCT

Community is our middle name!

KOCT’s official name is Oceanside Community Television. Community is our middle name and the heart of what KOCT is all about. And no one has more exemplified this than KOCT Board Member Michelle Bray-Davis.  On November 14th, Michele was recognized for her many years of service to KOCT at the 2013 Volunteer Awards by the North County Philanthropy Council.

The event was held at the Sheraton Carlsbad Resort and 55 other non-profit volunteers were also recognized at this luncheon and KOCT sent a field camera crew so we could share this event with our viewers.  Michelle has served on KOCT’s board for the past six years and been the Chairman of our Fundraising Committee, a difficult job that she has handled with grace and style. Michelle will be missed by KOCT but not by the community. That’s because she serves on so many other non-profits, when you see her at their events make sure you thank her for her service to our community.

From left to right Marjory Pierce and Camo Gleisberg,  Callie Stewart, Cydnie Braden, Michelle Davis and Tom Reeser
Debbie Allen and Carol Mudget

Dia De Los Muertos

Angela Wong covered the Dia De Los Muertos event at Rancho Guajoma and KOCT Editor Shawn Lennon edited this News brief about the colorful event.

Community Healthcare Matters

We had a full crew out for a long day of shooting Community Health Matters at Tri-City Medical Center. We filmed programs about Health Insurance and Robotic Assisted Surgery. It’s a delight to work with our talented host, Ricardo Berron.  Ricardo is the host of  Despierta on Univision, channel 17.  Our Community Health Matters series, (which will premier in February 2014) will be available in both Spanish and English, thanks to the expertise of Ricardo.

Ricardo Berron and Fransisco Valle

Production Crew Angela and Anette are working on scripts and note cards for the host

El Corazon Sports Complex Groundbreaking

Over 20 years ago I remember walking the arid landscape of El Corazon with cameraman Matt Beck to document this gift of land before it was even called ‘The Heart of the City’.  It was a great event this past  November 14th when we sent a KOCT crew to site of a former sand mine to document the Sports Complex Groundbreaking near the current El Corazon Senior Center. Look for this news brief and hear about the many citizens and city staff who worked so hard for so many years to turn their vision into reality. You’ll also hear about the investment by local soccer clubs and business investors that besides bring joy to young soccer players will  bring tax revenue to Oceanside. It’s a great story and we’ll send you a link after the edit. Stay Tuned!

Thank  you for your service

Finally I want to end today’s Community Connection Blog with a hearty Congratulations to our Administrative Assistant, (Sophie Crain’s) husband Joseph Crain (HMC) who is retiring from the Navy after than 20 years of service to our country.  If you’ve never been to a retirement ceremony on Camp Pendleton before you have missed something very special. It made  me proud to be an American when I heard about Joseph’s career and service to this country from his fellow naval officers. Joseph served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and has a couple of new adventures to look forward to in civilian life.  A new baby in the new year and an exciting  career with North County Health Services! Joseph, thank you for your service to our country. We wish you and Sophie the very best for this next stage in your lives!

Journalist Roundtable: American Indian Studies, California State Politics and Genentech

We have another special Journalist Roundtable on Thursday night, November 7^th. The program airs ‘live’ on KOCT’s channel 18 from 6pm- 7pm.

To read more on this click on the following link: Journalist Roundtable.

KOCT wins three WAVE Awards!

The annual Western Access Video Excellence awards (WAVE) showcase the best work of community television producers from the western states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico. It’s very competitive and this year there were over 350 entries!

 KOCT is pleased that three out of our six Finalists won a WAVE in their category.

Discover Downtown 2

Congratulations to Producer Janene Shepherd and the KOCT team that produces the Discover Downtown series for winning a WAVE in the Lifestyle-Informational category. Janene won for Discover Downtown 2  which is underwritten by Main Street Oceanside. Janene explores all of the new businesses, restaurants and museums in our downtown area. She just completed Discover Downtown 3 which is currently airing on KOCT. Check it out!

Janene at LL Reptile

San Luis Bike Rey Trail

Another WAVE winner was our KOCT’s Cablecast Team Leader , Angela Miranda for her PSA – the San Luis Rey Bike Trail. This PSA also airs on a special video monitor that KOCT installed in the California Welcome Center as a result of grant from San Diego County to encourage tourism. Angela is a true renaissance woman. She makes sure our two channels run 24/7, edits, directs and does so much more for KOCT. Congrats Angela!

Journalist Roundtable

The State of the Media in North County

KOCT’s Journalist Roundtable  won in the “LIVE” category and I share the  Producer award with the winning crew, hosts and journalists that make this monthly program possible: The JRT team consists of Director Jake Rush, Assistant Director Angela Miranda, Audio Director Peter Bonscher, and camera operators Garvin Ha, Addison Wolf, Anette Lund, Tamara Ilich and Katie Lynn. Our make-up is by our favorite volunteer, Carmel Bowers and the show is defined by our Host Kent Davy and respected journalists Alison St. John and Logan Jenkins. This award was for a special program called “The State of the Media in North County” featuring Dean Nelson, Professor of Journalism at Point Loma University. I did a lot of research for this show and was aided by our Cal State San Marcos Journalism Intern, Jessica Gambrel.

Journalist Roundtable July 11, 2013 from KOCT on Vimeo.

The WAVE awards event was held at the Alliance for Community Media Regional Conference which was held in San Jose on October25th.  KOCT’s Garvin Ha had two of his PSA entries make the Finalist category and should also be congratulated for the quality of his work—and his buoyant personality!

Garvin Ha