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CAT: The local TV outlet

Public Access Television

David Kennedy

Co-Station Manager of Columbia Access Television Andy Neitzert, poses for a portrait on Nov. 1, 2009. CAT recently received new funding to update the studio and equipment.

By Cassandra Belek

November 12, 2009 | 12:00 a.m. CST

Five years in Columbia

Columbia lamented the loss of a landmark television program when Pepper & Friends went off the air in September, but local television is anything but dead. From the basement of Stephens College, Columbia Access Television, or CAT, has been working to keep locally produced television alive in the community.
“It’s obviously been a necessary thing for all communities to have a local media of some kind,” says Co-Station Manager Andy Neitzert.
CAT offers everything from cooking and religious programs to short films and documentaries. The station has only three paid employees. The rest are volunteers, trained in field and studio production, editing and other post-production techniques — an education in film making without the expense of tuition.
A new contract and recent $20,000 grant gave CAT the funding needed to update studio space and equipment. The station’s new capabilities have even attracted Mayor Darwin Hindman: The mayor will premiere a series on Nov. 18 called Ask Darwin, where he will take questions from the viewing audience. Hindman can produce his own show, and so can others such as the ghost hunters of the Kindred Moon Paranormal Society. In just one year, the station’s membership rose from a little more than 100 people to 321 active members. Neitzert attributes the growth not only to upgraded equipment and facilities, but also to community outreach and actions of new CAT board members. “We are definitely becoming more recognizable and noticed,” Neitzert says.
The station is also working with other nonprofits, such as Columbia Public Schools. The biggest roadblock now is that CAT is only available through Mediacom. But even with that hurdle, Neizert has hope for the station’s future. CAT is truly a product for the community by the community. It proves that public access television is still relevant in a commercial broadcast world.

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