The North Quabbin’s AOTV cablevision station apparently can teach a thing or two to other local cable producers around the state.
Athol-Orange Community Television’s Production Manager Shane Brown received the award for Best Drama from Massachusetts Community Media — a nonprofit advocacy agency that works to ensure the future vitality of Massachusetts-based community cable media centers.
Called MassAccess for short, the organization started its Mass Creator Awards to recognize the best that the creative community in the state has to offer. And AOTV took home the top honors this year.
The award was given in the drama category for the audio and visual interpretation of “War of the Worlds,” Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast from 1938 about a Martian invasion in New Jersey. The panel of judges said they loved the creativity and innovation of using both radio and cablevision media simultaneously.
Brown was the producer, but like any good leader, he was quick to recognize the effort and the contributions of his creative team.
“There is a lot of ground work that has to be done,” he said. “The radio script is now in public domain, but since we localized the broadcast by having the towns, restaurants and other venues of the North Quabbin Region, and it made it a special show for us.”
Brown was supported by Executive Director Carol Courville and by Volunteer Radio Operations Manager Diane Towle.
Any production takes hours of research and preparation, and the sound effects were a combination of live effects, pre-produced effects and part of the original broadcast. Brown also created visual effects for the TV show.
The original Halloween radio show caused panic among many readers who didn’t realize it was a dramatization. And true to the original experience, one AOTV listener called in to say she thought it was real until she heard the station ID and disclaimer.
The legendary Orson Welles would be proud.
The project’s creativity attracted actors from across the state. Brown lauded the talent of the actors and the dedication of the crew, calling them “phenomenal.” He praised his cast and crew saying, “Everyone was right on task and worked to make this a great show. And to think it won an award from all the shows throughout the state. We can be proud of AOTV and our entire region.”
We couldn’t have said it better. It shows us that our local cablevision organization clearly is fulfilling its mission of providing community improvement and enrichment through responsible, diverse and informative programming.
But it’s not all about producing exciting shows. The cable station is also busy teaching others in the community about how to use the video medium — a skill that becomes increasingly important in this modern world, especially for young people.
That’s why we were equally impressed when we saw the station hosting Cadette Girl Scout Troop 88285 recently. AOTV volunteer Bonnie Benjamin introduced the Scouts to the way the television and radio stations operate. Volunteers Carol Courville, Diana Towle, Nancy Hume and Madelyn Blattenberger directed the learning so the Scouts could earn their Digital Movie Maker badge. Topics included camera basics, radio production and green screen discovery.
Maybe some of these Scouts will win the next statewide award from MassAccess. We’re looking forward to it.