Tuesday, February 10, 2009

PLEASE SUPPORT THE KPA FUNDRAISER

Dear Viewers:
The KAPA will host a Fundraiser on Saturday, February 21, 2009 at Keegan Ales. We need your support in returning Kingston Public Access Channel 23 to our viewing audience.
If you are interested in purchasing a Ticket please contact me at
845-338-1366, My Blog http://jeanjacobslive.blogspot.com, or my e-mail sweetshope@aol.com.
Thank You
I look forward to seeing you there!!!!!
"Jacobs Live People for People"
Kingston Public Access
Channel 23
FUNDRAISER
TICKETS $40.00
When: Saturday February 21, 2009
Where: Keegan Ales
Telephone: 845-331-2739
Address: 20 St. James Street, Kingston, NY 12401
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Downtown Café will provide hors d'oeuv The res and Sonando will provide music.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

JJ

As I understand it some of the KAPA Commissioners are going to be selling tickets to this event, this Friday, at the Hudson Valley Mall (I don't know the exact location of the table...) this Friday, as well.

NS

Anonymous said...

Why is Mario so critical of you?

Anonymous said...

The ticket price for this fundraiser is way too exorbitant even it’s for a meal and real entertainers who donate their talents. I’ve contributed my fair share during the previous telethons only to have the channel taken off the air twice. I shall invoke the same old argument that most mention about the franchise fee paid to the city being the only legitimate revenue needed which should have been more than enough to provide not only the rent for a studio but also the finest equipment and periodic upgrades that are needed as well. Even fine furniture, backdrops and a stage should have been purchased previously from the tens of thousands of dollars collected over the years. I called your show many times, Jean, and even defended you on other shows where some nasty callers made remarks because of their own inadequacies. The channel seems to attract that kind of mentality which matches perhaps some of the other producers where the negativity factor seems to magnetize itself for the misery loves company crowd.
Public access shouldn’t just be political nastiness where the hosts say they are not going to attack and detract and then go ahead and do just those two things. I regularly called in many shows to inject humor, facts, nostalgia and local information and not to ‘correct people’ like the most negative home viewer always claimed I did. He always called the Democrats liberal, socialist, communists and turned off tons of viewers with his venom but he managed to make one producer repeat that anathema against Congressman Hinchey being a communist for Maurice suggesting we nationalize the gas refineries in our country.
The end of channel 23 came too suddenly but now I could care less if it ever returns if the same old self-important egomaniacs are going to return with their agenda-driven scripts that are usually self-serving and limited to the space between their own ears. You are not included in that category, Jean, but the latest infighting within the local Republican party is certainly not a sign of solidarity and singularity of purpose. I doubt any progress will be made in that regard for years even though the current municipal administration isn’t looked upon with pleasing grace for its performance and plans. When the opportunity for the voice of the people to be heard is literally squelched into silence and suppressed without any recourse or redress of grievances in a public forum like the abrupt demise of that avenue of expression before the plug was pulled that Friday night, it almost smacks of fascism and government takeovers of the media. I know that is not the case but it sure feels pretty close. Signed: PW

Anonymous said...

What is included for your $40.00? $80.00 a couple seems rather steep in these economic times. I do enjoy Public Access and would very much like to attend and show my support.

Jacobs Live People for People said...

In response to Anonoymous 8:49 PM
I offer my response regarding the cost of the $40.00 ticket for the KAPA Fundraiser on Saturday February 21, 2009. We can work together on a reduced cost. Please call me at 845-338-1366. I am pleased to hear that you are a regular viewer and willing to show your support for KPA Channel 23.
Sincerely,
Jean Jacobs

Anonymous said...

Ms. Jacobs,

I dont think at this late date, I'm betraying any confidences anymore by posting this. By the time your readers see this post, the fact that the Poughkeepsie owned and (make no mistake,) "managed" UPAC will be asking the City of Kingston for $100,000 in entitlement funds will be public knowledge. They probably will be offered, and will accept, something less. There will be nothing for KPA, as usual.

I dont mean to start a fight between KPA and UPAC. But it seems UPAC goes to the well every year and gets funding while Public Access TV sits dark since last November. And all because one public official cant stand criticism... and I dont even have to mention his name, do I?

Imagine what UPAC could do if they cooperated with KPA. For those who dont remember, the entire second floor at UPAC is (or was) wired for, and was for decades, a broadcast radio station. With facilities upstairs and a few remote cameras mounted in the theater, that would make one heck of a studio!

PS: Although I never met him, I'm sure I know who the poster "PW" @ 6:52am is. Every time he used to call in, I'd stop whatever I was doing to listen to him. He's smart, funny and often wise in his comments. I hope he was just having a 'bad day', and I look forward to hearing his observations again on KPA. From his calls, I believe he lives in either ward 1 or 2. He'd make a fine Alderman in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Like I said, you are a "class act" JJ!

NS

Anonymous said...

To: Little Jeanie and 8:43PM

I'm just being wise by calling you that, Jean, but 8:43PM busted me and I was talking tongue-in-cheek as far as the grand pseudo-disillusionment with local Channel 23. By phrasing it that way, I was trying to pretend I wasn’t offended, put off and stunned by what happened in the abrupt manner our constitutional tongues were cut out of our collective heads by taking away the community’s opportunity to exercise freedom of speech on the public access airways. I dislike hiding behind a shield of anonymity when responding to a blog spot, but that’s the way the culture surrounding them has developed and perhaps it allows a more creative side of some posters to emerge while others develop a false bravado or a cantankerous side when trying to push the buttons of certain holier-than-thou-ists who believe their opinion is so sacrosanct that no one can question it especially in a critical manner. They also might have time slots on public access and again I am not putting you in that category, Jean. I know where you were educated because we had the very same exposure in the same schools at the time when we were teetering on the edge of this electronic age where Marshall McLuhan laid out the framework for what each medium could do way before the wonders of the Internet in his very prophetic book, Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man.

Perhaps 8:43 should have mentioned the facts about UPAC on KAPA before it ended because that might have been all that would have been needed to pressure the “powers that be” into making it happen there at UPAC in a perfectly smooth transition instead of creating this homeless stepchild/foster child channel that we are presently left with. Hey, I stayed with Time Warner Cable purposely to be able to watch Channel 23, especially to interact with it the way Marshall McLuhan suggested we do with our televisions. I am truly flattered by 8:43's compliments and must admit that I didn’t remember how the former Broadway Theater was so hooked up if I knew about it at all. If the studio could move there, it should certainly give a lot more class to the broadcasts instead of some of the views we saw of the previous studios that looked like the unfinished basements they were.

The fact that we even need a fundraiser is still absurd in my book because it could be like KCR’s audience where many people supposedly pledge 10 bucks a month or more for 10 weekly hours of radio air time while KAPA offers so much more and really should have the franchise fee given over to run the studio. One of the ways I suggested to help the station was to hold the fee in an escrow account and sign petitions about it until we got what the public wanted and deserved and was legally entitled to having, but that never happened. That might have forced TWC to step in to both litigate and mitigate the situation if they wanted to clear their billing process, since that money didn’t go directly into their coffers. The majority of Kingstonians never wanted the plug pulled on public access and four or more producers asked me to appear as a guest on their programs, but I graciously declined because I preferred being a “caller” but I might change my mind depending on what happens in the future.

To reiterate I honestly thought we were paying the franchise fee to finance the local public access channel and 8:43, if I were the alderman in my ward which is ward one, I certainly would not have allowed this to transpire. Again I appreciate the compliments, but I have no political aspirations even though I was named after my uncle, Paul Black, who was killed in WWII who just happened to be an alderman when he enlisted and didn’t have to go into the service at the time, but didn’t want anyone fighting his battles for him. I believe I inherited his spirit and nature when it comes to standing up for our fellow citizens which is the exact thing the still beautiful Jean does here with the name of this blog and the TV show, “People for People.” The concept defines you perfectly, so keep up the good fight; you make the KHS class of ’62 proud. Signed: still PW

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with "PW" in that a) the franchise fee should be covering these costs and b)the same old people with their nasty agendas will essentially control the station again. One of these people caused more stress in my life recently--that never seems to end either because the person he dragged into it is unhappy about the entire situation-- because I was "stupid" enough to take his phone call at church one day. I mean it is just shameful what some of these people will do to sell their souls for the privilege of gaining political points. I for one am sick of this nastiness.
I'm all in favor of having a public access station that is run in a decent manner. Unfortunately we do not have enough people in Kingston who desire to do this; we have too much partisan politics and blarney, or both. We do things HABITUALLY inappropriately in this city, for example the community radio program in which the community is asked to donate while the biggest beneficiaries who get the most airtime there are people who are already elected or who aspire to be elected. How much do THEY donate? Hanh!! "Stats NOT forthcoming!!"
Listen, there is nothing wrong with being elected or wanting to be elected per se' but there is no BALANCE in how things are run. This is one of the reasons--if not the MAIN reason- this community has gone steadily downhill through the years. Folks are bickering so much about basically nothing just to get face time and photo ops and edge out opponents that the serious issues are regularly ignored:crime, relatively petty ones but crime nonetheless, is being underreported and covered up;the thugs are not only out on the streets but sitting behind desks at city hall;and the rest of the people just live in la-la land while it all goes on unabated.
While the public access station was on the air these things were addressed by the late Gordon Webb. As he has passed on no one has emerged to take on the role that he took on, sadly, so that the entire thing deteriorates into simply nasty partisan bickering that can make for better entertainment than what may be on some other channels at that moment; but if one wishes to get entertainment that is free, one can always attend a meeting of the Ulster County Legislature too.
Come on, people, wake up and smell the smoldering cable wires!!

Anonymous said...

Jean:


This topic and the comments have certainly struck a nerve with the free-thinking segment of our city and it goes to your credit for allowing the focus to happen without the concomitant negative baggage that is on other blogs. I used to keep notes about subjects that were covered on Channel 23 especially when the phone lines were too busy to get through or if the show host’s arrogance or position was overly politicized to the point where it didn’t deserve a response to dignify them by disagreeing. I would even spontaneously research things like I did to call in about the Montessori school proposal when you, Jean, talked about it. Once I ran into a ‘caller’ who thought I was a channel 23 producer then even better realized she recognized my voice and it was on our mutual birthday last December when we met which had a pleasant side to it since we had never met before and knew each other only because we did say our names on the air which weren’t changed to protect the innocent. I wish each caller’s name would automatically appear on the screen the way TWC’s HD TV box does when one receives an incoming message if your TV is on. It can also be blocked to foster anonymity, but why should that be necessary in a free and open society? Or it could be an option if initiated where the producer could say that’s how their show will be run if you want to call in your name and number will appear on the bottom of the screen. That might make some people think twice before calling and perhaps it might even bring the quality of their remarks to a higher level intellectually, emotionally, politically, etc.

This woman and I lamented the death of Gordon Webb who was an incredibly enthusiastic advocate for the residents of Kingston. I didn’t agree with his extreme stance on all issues but his method of expression and communication skills were topnotch. I take a more “live and let live” approach since one board I’m on requires that in order to avoid stereotypical prejudice which he did have in his very parochial view on one particular subject. This woman made an offhanded remark to me that I could be Gordon’s replacement which was a high compliment if I were to try to carry on his agenda. I am looking forward to seeing the return of the local programming and it would be nice to be able to participate once again from either side of the screen. Signed:PW