Access 4 Producer's Group: Fred, are you spamming our page? I would be happy to put a link to your site on our links page on our site if you want, but I would rather you didn't say things like that when we are trying hard to keep Access going.
When I was a student at UIS I was a producer and studio technician for Access 4. Then Comcast ripped it out from under us and the students were out of part-time jobs and some university employees lost their jobs too.
But theres more...
From 1994 to 2001 I was the Photo Classified Advertising specialist for Cable Channel 5 in South Bend, Indiana. When I started working there it was called TCI Cable Advertising. Then TCI sold the operation to AT&T and it became AT&T Cable Advertising, luckily, we kept our jobs. Wait, there's more!
One morning my top sales exec brought me a newspaper clippping which read "Cable customers will finally see 'Buffy' on Cable Channel 5." Two weeks before the Cable Channel 5 team were to received their termination notices, the South Bend Tribune published an article explaining that Cable Channel 5 was to be sold to the Warner Brothers Network. Apparently, customers were complaining about not seeing Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Oh, wait, there's still more!
My boss was embarassed that I found out so early, but I took it in stride and stuck it out until the exit interview and the nice severence package. My boss, Mike Cannon, told me that I was responsible for bringing in $500,000 a year in revenue through Cable Channel 5.
Long after I moved on, I called the office in South Bend to check up on some olld friends. I learned that I was laid off because AT&T wanted to sell the cable system to Comcast. After Comcast bought the unit, everyone but the office manager and one video technician was laid off. The traffic manager committed suickde.
AT&T was shedding as much dead weight as possible because C. Michael Armstrong (in an interview on CNBC) was spooked by WorldCom profits and AT&T was shedding thousands of jobs. AT&T sweetened the deal for the South Bend unit by selling my channel to Warner Brothers.
Later it was discoverd that Bernie Ebbers over at WorldCom was cooking the books. He was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 25 years according to CNBC. Hang on, I'm almost finished.
So I was laid off in June of 2001. Right before the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, right at the beginning of the first of several huge recessions. I searched for employment in the South Bend area for 11 months. I finally wound up working for Lowes, but it didn't pay me enough to keep my house. So I had to sell my house and move back to Springfield where I was born.
I went to UIS and earned a BA in Communication. While I was a student there, I got a job at the Office of Electronic Media as a studio technician. I was interviewed by Dave Antoine and he apparently was impressed with me. At the time, The Public Access studio was operated by the University with assistance from Comcast
Then one day, the university wanted to get a different cable system so some students could watch Al Jazeera, which was not provided by Comcast. What did Comcast do? Stay tuned!
Comcast yanked the Public Access production operation out of the University of Illinois at Springfield, laying off some long-time full-time staff and student employees, INCLUDING MYSELF! AGAIN!
So, that's my hate-hate relationship with Comcast. I applied for work there when I first came to Springfield. Nope. Not a chance. They are beyond redemption.
So. Do you think you're safe in the hands of Comcast? I think not. I would, if I were a producer on Access 4, get a presence on the Internet, and develop a relationship with SPFLD.TV
I wiill gladly provide a link to your website and your YouTube channel. I don't charge anything. I never made any money with this. My equity is entirely in brand distribution.
