21^st Annual Oceanside Independence Parade 

The 21st Annual Oceanside Independence Parade was colorful and festive with funky floats, beauty queens, military bands, extravagant cars and fire trucks. Thanks to Main Street Oceanside, its hosts, volunteers and Tri-City Medical Center, for participating in this year’s 21^st annual parade.

KOCT has covered the Oceanside parades for the last 30 years and our talented crew was set up by the Oceanside Civic Center to capture the colorful tradition.

Staff included Miguel Blanco, Tamara Ilich, Toby Maysey, Damian Mickey, Tyler Jardine, Bill Peters, Jake Rush, Phoenix VonHendy, Micheyl Steinway, Addison Wolf, and Angela Miranda.

The hosts of parade were Oceanside’s Jim Schroder and Kristi Hawthorne.

The show will air on KOCT’s Community Channel 18 and can be seen in Oceanside on Cox Cable and county-wide on AT&T’s U-Verse (channel 99).   Also, if you have family or friends who don’t live in Oceanside they can still watch  your little baton-twirler perform in the  parade by going to KOCT.ORG and clicking on the “Video on Demand” banner at the top of the home page.

KOCT provides extensive replays on KOCT’s channel 18 and 19 as well as Video on Demand (Specials: Parade) via KOCT.ORG by the following Monday (June 29^th).

KOCT Replay Schedule for the 21^st Annual Oceanside Independence Parade:

·         Multiple replays the week of June 29- July 3^rd

      Sat. July 4^th

o   6 am & 4 pm             - Channel 18

o   12 pm & 9:00 pm      - Channel 19

See KOCT Program Schedule for additional July 2015 air times or watch on your smart phone, tablet or computer by going to KOCT’s Video on Demand and click on SPECIALS: Parade.

(click Community Connection to view our news letter)

The KOCT family would like to give a big THANK YOU to all those that attended the 2015 Open House Event. It was a great opportunity for the KOCT Board and staff to meet our viewers. We appreciate the assistance from Board members Debbie Allen, Michelle Bray-Davis, Frank Gould, Gerald Hampton, Margret Merlock, and Board Chairman Liz Rhea.  We also want to thank our host of Oceanside Spectrum, Elaine Swann and a big "GET WELL SOON" to her husband Chris.

Here are some scenes from our Great Event!

Deputy Mayor Chuck Lowery and Gwen Sanders

KOCT's Aaron Capehart and Gwen Sanders

KOCT's Crew Wolf, Angela Miranda, and Micheyl Steinway

Live taping of the Oceanside Spectrum

Visitors enjoyed the behind the scene perspective 

(L-R) KOCT's Board Member Michelle Bray-Davis, Felicity Gould, KOCT's Board Members Frank Gould and Debbie Allen

KOCT's I.T. Specialist Phoenix Von Handy explaining Cablecast to visitors 

(L-R) Casa De Amparos Director Tamara Fleck-Myers with Host Elaine Swann

KOCT's Executive Director Tom Reeser and KOCT Board Member Janet Bledsoe-Lacey

Green Screen Magic

KOCT's Station Manger Jacob Rush with Deputy Mayor Chuck Lowery

THANKS again for ALL the participation with the Open House!

Preparing for Monday’s KOCT's Open House(click to open the link)

On Monday KOCT will host its annual Open House at our 3038 Industry Street Studio. (Near Garrison and Oceanside Blvd).

Besides meeting KOCT’s staff and volunteer Board of Directors visitors will get to see how Oceanside Spectrum is produced.  Elaine Swann is the host of this long-running, monthly, Community Television Program. You’ll be able to meet her and find out how your non-profit organizations can appear on Spectrum to help publicize your fund-raisers, events or needs.

One of the fun ‘exhibits’ you’ll see is our Green Screen technology.  They use to call it Chroma-Key and its how your local TV weatherman is able to stand up in front of a giant map and tell you that San Diego will again be 70 degrees. (Except for May-Gray & June-Gloom).

Aaron Capehart (left) Jon Beltz (right).

You’ll get to sit in a custom little car designed by KOCT’s Chief Engineer, William Peters, and take a virtual road trip all around Oceanside.  Earlier this week, KOCT’s Production team of Angela Miranda, Aaron Capehart and Damian Mickey drove around Oceanside with our High-Definition (HD) cameras to gather the footage needed for your Trip.

Green Screen Set up.

Yesterday’s crew consisted of Angela Miranda, Aaron Capehart, Tamara Ilich and Jaylen Abrego. They set up an elaborate green screen background to shoot footage that will really make your experience a (as they said in the 60’s) Trippy.

As you can see from the photos it was truly a flying 3D-Circus.  The next step in our preparation for Monday is to take the road trip footage and combine it with yesterdays Green Screen footage so you can experience a drive around Oceanside like no other….

Take a ride with KOCT on Monday, June 15^th from 2 pm to 5 pm for our annual Open House (click to open the link).

 For more information or to RSVP call 760-722-4433.

Random Pixels

Congratulations to this year’s winner of the 25^th Annual Bob Bowditch Scholarship Award, Jade Yusi!  Jade is a graduate of El Camino High School. The KOCT staff met Jade during her Directors Training for this years El Camino high school Spectrum production. (KOCT also produced a Spectrum program with Oceanside High School Students) 

Former Spectrum host Brian Graham, with the first scholarship recipient Jeff Robinson in 1990, 
and Ida Bowditch

The Bob Bowditch Scholarship was created in 1989 to honor the founder of KOCT. His widow, Ida Bowditch wanted to create this endowment to remember Bob and to help young people going to college and majoring in Communications and Media. 

Director Jade Yusi at the controls

Jade is a good example of the young people Ida wanted to assist—Jade wrote in her scholarship application; 

“I dream of making movies. To do so for a living would give me an opportunity to change people’s lives. My passion for storytelling cannot be silenced and I know I want to do this for the rest of my life. This fall, I will be going to the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film-making”.

Congratulations Jade and best of luck in your pursuit of your dreams!

We recorded an interesting new Journalist Roundtable on June 4^th and it will be replayed throughout the month of June AND  you can watch anytime as Video on Demand too. 

KOCT Production Crew preparing for the show.

Our first guest was Chris Jennewein the Publisher and Editor of the Times of San Diego. Chris created the nation's first online and Internet newspaper at the San Jose Mercury News in 1992-94. And we discussed his journey and that of online newspapers. 

Our second guest was Ken Weinberg, Director of Water Resources of the San Diego Water Authority, and our subject was the Drought and everything to do with water or the lack of it in North County.

Our final guest was Eric Larson with the Farm Bureau of San Diego County. We asked him how our north county farmers are doing in this drought and about a new industry: Agritourism.

And remember... you can watch this program on your tablet or smart phone too!

Finally don’t forget to RSVP if you can attend the KOCT OpenHouse on Monday June 15^th from 2 pm- 5 pm. 

You can watch Oceanside Spectrum being filmed, take a tour and meet the KOCT staff and Board. Find out how local television is produced by coming to KOCT-Your Community Channel!