Starting next week, for the first time, WCTV will be joining other public access television centers across the nation for live and tape-delayed coverage of the Republican, Democratic, and Green Party Conventions.

Here are the updated Channel 20 listings for the week of Sunday August 24th to Saturday August 30th:

Democratic National Convention Coverage 2008: Monday at 10 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday at 3 a.m., 6 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m., and 9 p.m.; Thursday at 3 a.m., 6 a.m., and 2 p.m.; Friday at 5 a.m. and 4 p.m.  continue reading »

Friday, August 1st at 5:30 p.m. is WCTV's 4th Annual Summer Picnic, to be held at Hayes Hall on the IU East campus. Again this year they will draw the Channel 21 Program Lottery at 5 p.m. in the studio, just prior to the picnic.

For more information, visit wctv.info.

WCTV’s 20th Anniversary celebration will be held Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the WCTV studio in Hayes Hall on the IU East campus. We will have a brief business meeting, then share recognitions and awards before offering a facilities tour. Refreshments will be served. Also, on Sunday April 6 Channel 20 will be offering a slate of special programming to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Richmond explosion. Please check the local listings, or the WCTV website (www.wctv.info), for the full schedule. Thank you for your interest in Whitewater Community Television.

In today's Palladium-Item, Bob Hansen of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County has a column on how requesting locally grown food can benefit the local economy:

If only 1 percent more of Wayne County's food was purchased from local sources, it would be $1.54 million more staying in the local economy...We should be making more efforts to help connect local growers with local customers. In my work at the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County, we are trying to connect local food producers with regional processors.

You can read the full article.

In today's Palladium-Item, Michelle Manchir has a letter about TV star Danica McKellar's efforts to teach girls that pursuing a strong education can be just as worthwhile as other goals typically set out for women. But as Manchir writes, "McKellar's emphasis on girls' appearance trivializes her promotion of academic ambitions and contributing to society in a meaningful way. In fact, she underwrites culture's obsession with female beauty, which is ultimately limiting and unfortunate for women." Further highlight:

I think it's foolish to hope for the day that women's hard work is not trivialized, even just a little, with their ever- sexualized role in popular culture. I do hope, however, that more women, and especially girls, learn to be more media literate and understand that what they see and hear about their appearance everyday on TV and on Web sites is not something they have to achieve to be worthwhile.

You can read the full editorial.

On today's Weekend Edition Sunday, host (and Earlham graduate) Andrea Seabrook interviewed Richmond resident Paul Lacey about what "peace on earth" might really look like, the meanings of the word peace, and his hopefulness about achieving real peace in the world. Lacey is the Board Chair of the American Friends Service Committee and is Professor Emeritus at Earlham College. Beyond the interesting content of the interview itself, Seabrook and Lacey are recognized by Earlham as outstanding contributors to and representatives of the College.

This presentation by Dr. Conrad Lane of Muncie, Indiana will chronicle the rise and fall of Frances Farmer, as well as her attempted career comeback and eventual move to Indianapolis. Clips from Ms. Farmer’s films will also be featured. Free to the public. Richmond Art Museum, 350 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond. (765) 966-0256

Veteran broadcast journalist and Earlham College alum Howell Gatchell offers an instructional session on broadcast news this Thursday, October 12, 5 p.m. at WECI 91.5 FM, Richmond's Public Radio Station. The session is focused toward a broadcast journalism class but includes some nuggets of broadcast wisdom for all. For more information, call WECI at (765) 983-1246.

As of today, it looks like Al Gore's climate crisis movie "An Inconvenient Truth" is playing at the Kerasotes 10 movie theatre in Richmond. We believe that the film was not ever shown on the "first run" screens at Kerasotes 11, and so many who wanted to see it when it came out needed to travel to surrounding cities. If you haven't had a chance to see the film yet, now you can without going too far.

Richmond Art Museum’s new film screening series, fade-IN (Focusing on Art, Diversity, and Education - Indiana) will showcase a variety of films that fall outside the box of mainstream cinema and were most likely not shown in our area. The series will include independent, foreign, and experimental films, and even a scattering of older studio works that deserve another look. Opening dialogue by local filmmakers and film aficionados along with discussion following the films will offer a unique experience to film lovers. Screenings will be held the last Friday of each month, September through June.  continue reading »