Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Random Pixels

Cox Communication has recently changed their television program delivery to ‘a purely digital signal’. According to Cox ‘this upgrade to All digital will impact any televisions that currently receive an analog-only signal’. I found the process to obtain a free mini box (free for one-year) for one of my older televisions to be really easy and Cox was very responsive. I called their phone number, 858-836-7983, pushed a few buttons and received the box in the mail the next day! (You can also go to their website for help) It took me less then 10-minutes to hook the box up and I’m now able to watch KOCT in my home office. (I’ve got to get my LIVE council fix!) Please let KOCT know if YOU have any problems receiving KOCT’s Channel 18 or Channel 19 during this digital transition. E-mail us at KOCT@KOCT.org or call the station at 760-722-4433 during normal business hours.
Measure A ALERT: Tell your Carlsbad friends they are going to want to watch KOCT on January 7th, Community Channel 18 at 7 pm. KOCT will be having a Special Election 2016 Journalist Roundtable on Measure A —the strawberry fields project initiative. We’ll have a Proponent of the Caruso shopping mall, Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall and we’ll have an Opponent: Cori Schumacher with Citizens for North County. 
It’s easy for them to watch this high-definition program by going to KOCT.ORG and then clicking on the Streaming 18 button, or they can watch as Video On Demand throughout the month of January and right up to the February 23rd special election.
Buy a Banner Ad on KOCT.ORG-A simple way to help KOCT and promote your organization at the same time is to buy a Banner Ad on KOCT.ORG   These small banners adorn the KOCT home page, VOD and News pages on the lower left side of each page. Prices range from $150 for 3 months to $300 for a full year.  Buy a Banner Page and you let our community know that you support independent, local media while also promoting your business or service club.
IF you had told me when I started at KOCT that one day our highest quality hi-definition television signal would not be what we air via cable but instead distributed via our internet signal I’d have asked if you were dizzy and needed to sit down.  But thanks to the effort of a lot of people, that is the KOCT reality. It started with a grant from the County of San Diego to upgrade our Mobile Studio to Hi-Definition. Thanks to Supervisor Bill Horn and all of the Supervisors for their support of community television.  (And thanks to KOCT Grant Writers Carol Mudgett and KOCT Station Manager Jake Rush for a successful application!)
The equipment would still be in boxes if it wasn’t for our amazing Chief Engineer Bill Peters and the hundreds of hours he has invested to install, test and troubleshoot this new technology. KOCT’s IT Specialist Phoenix Von Hendy has also been busy converting all of our Editing Suites to Hi-Def.  And then I have to acknowledge &  thank my two key staff members; Production Supervisor Angela Miranda and Station Manager Jake Rush who have had to learn how to use the new sophisticated Switcher, cameras and how to process the subsequent giant files of information.  They are talented and tenacious in grappling with this huge learning curve.   So when we go into 2016, ALL of KOCT’s programs will be produced, recorded and edited in Hi-Def. Whoa now I’m starting to feel a little Dizzy!



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