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Other government operations look to Dunedin TV

Mark Schantz/SUNCOAST

Courtney King, Dunedin TV director and city communications manager, shows volunteer assistant Jim Garrison, a recent Tarpon Springs High School graduate, one of the fine points of program production using the newly installed studio equipment.

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: June 26, 2009

Updated:

In these days of shrinking governmental services, Dunedin TV is renowned as the little municipal television production operation that could.

When cities like Largo and Oldsmar are considering revisions to their cable TV operations they turn to Dunedin TV. It is known for producing its own local programming and news coverage on a shoestring budget.

Courtney King, Dunedin TV director and city communications coordinator, said Dunedin TV's legacy began in the 1970s, when it went on the air. Its history of producing local programs to inform residents and promote the city began in the early 1980s.

At that time a few visionaries, like resident Gus Cooper and members of the city's Public Relations Advisory Committee, realized the importance of cable television in promoting the city. The city's television production studio is named for Cooper, who died in late 2007.

Those who supported the station in its formative years made sure that it was adequately funded, in large part through a cable TV franchise fee.

Now most people realize the city's cable franchise and Web site are an integral component of the city's continuing community redevelopment efforts and its ability to promote itself regionally on cable and throughout the world on the Internet.

"Other cities want to know how we are able to do this on such a tight budget," King said.

King and a group of volunteers that includes high school students produce the city's television programming.

Jim Garrison, 18, a recent Tarpon Springs High School graduate who plans to study aerospace engineering at the University of Florida, said working at Dunedin TV enabled him to experience a professional TV operation.

He has learned valuable skills and gained experience working with all sorts of production equipment and software, he said.

Every few years the city replaces aging TV production equipment that would be too costly to repair, King said.

Most other municipal cable stations just show slides and replay tapes of city meetings. Dunedin TV offers a wider variety of on-air fare.

Dunedin TV has regular viewers who tune in to see locally produced programs, King said. Its small but productive crew also does advance stories that promote upcoming events and attractions, cover parades, provide municipal election coverage and spotlight services the city provides as well as its people.

Dunedin TV, King said, has become so well know that the city communications division now helps ensure other media organizations have everything they need when covering events in the city.

From the opening of the city's Purple Heart Park, which received national media attention, to sending out press releases keeping the city's name in the spotlight, Dunedin TV has grown into one of the city's most important marketing components.

The Dunedin Chamber of Commerce recently turned to Dunedin TV to produce a piece to promote the city regionally, she noted.

This is a good time to be working at Dunedin TV because it has come of age and recognized by others in the field, King said.

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