For Evanston resident Rob Cichowicz, the city’s cable access has been more than just “Wayne’s World” – it has been his salvation.
Cichowicz began volunteering to produce shows for the Evanston Community Media Center in 1992 while struggling to overcome a drug addiction. His drug addiction is gone, but he still produces.
“I don’t know what I would have done had I not had that kind of outlet,” Cichowicz said.
But the center, which airs board meetings in addition to resident-produced shows, faces crippling cuts if the City Council approves a proposed budget for the 2002-2003 fiscal year. City Manager Roger Crum recommends cutting the center’s funding by half, from $310,000 to $155,000, to help alleviate the city’s budget deficit of nearly $4 million.
If the City Council approved Crum’s plan, the center would have to drop three of four cable stations and eliminate three of four full-time positions, said Steve Bartlebaugh, the center’s executive director.
“It doesn’t mean we’d be closed this year, but it probably means we’d be closed in two years,” Bartlebaugh said. “You go from being one of the premier media services in the Midwest to being on the cutting board.”
Yet Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) said he is certain the center will receive its funding, not just because of his own feelings but because the council does not support the cut.
“I think everybody (on the council) would agree that this one’s over with,” Newman said.
Newman, like Bartlebaugh and the center’s patrons, said the center should receive a portion of the 5 percent franchise fee that cable subscribers pay. The fee, originally intended to cover cable line installation, now goes into the city’s general fund. The center receives money from the general fund, unlike some communities, where the full fee goes directly to public access.
“It’s fundamentally unfair if the city tries to take this money that doesn’t belong to it,” Newman said.
Without guaranteed funding, Bartlebaugh said the center remains reliant on the city, putting it in a precarious budget situation.
The center operates three channels from its building at 1285 Hartrey Ave.: Evanston Community Television (Channel 6), Evanston City Cable (Channel 16) and the Education Channel (19), which serves D65. Also under the center’s umbrella is Channel 18, produced at Evanston Township High School.
About 40 resident-produced shows air regularly on the Community Television Channel, said John Wefler, the center’s programming director. Residents can air their work after taking one free introductory class, becoming members for $25, and taking a $75 studio class.
Included in the roster of shows is Cichowicz’s “Two Reel Guys,” a video-review show; “Polarity Live,” a call-in show; and several shows by resident Ashraf Manji. He produces local interest and discussion shows such as “The Reporters” and “Perspective Evanston,” but originally became involved five years ago by producing “ConversAsians” to address a shortage of Asian American programming.
“Essentially there was no coverage of the Asian-American community,” Manji said. “This has been an excellent outlet.”
Bartlebaugh said between 25 and 50 people come into the center during a six-week period to work on programming. About 80 percent of the shows are produced on-site by staff and volunteers who create about an hour of new programming per day, Wefler said. The rest is produced by outside sources and includes Chicago-based shows and Northwestern’s Medill Reports and Northwestern News Network.
To preserve this programming, Bartlebaugh said the center would relocate to a city-owned building to eliminate its $80,000 rent. He doubts a bank would loan the money it would cost to move – estimated at between $500,000 and $1 million – to an organization without steady revenue. The center receives only about $60,000 per year from its 200 members.
Some of these members say cutting the center would be a great loss to Evanston, eliminating a source of cultural sharing and public discussion.
“We would lose a very important voice,” Manji said.
