Community Voices: Coronado TV – Year One “Thank You!”

It’s just over a year since an agreement between the City of Coronado, CUSD and the Coronado School of the Arts opened the door for Coronado students to create, produce and distribute TV programming to the community and the world via cable TV and online as www.CoronadoTV.me.

On behalf of the Coronado broadcast production students and staff, we offer a heartfelt THANK YOU to the many City, school and business leaders, who led the way for merging together the school district’s broadcast quality facilities, its talented students and CH. 19 – into a fertile training ground for future TV and film professionals – and along the way, provide video coverage of major school and community events.

Thank you so much Kelly Purvis, for starting it all with your vision of Coronado Middle School’s KCMS TV studio and for all you do for Coronado. Thank you Amy Steward and your great kids – who have made KCMS into a prolific broadcast quality TV operation – producing amazing news shows and packages for our community and schools.

I remember a few years ago when cultural arts visionary, Heidi Wilson brought together Blair King, Kris McClung, Shane Schmeichel, Jeff Felix and myself. Her mission was to bring together the schools and the city – and begin building a cohesive community TV station – with much of the programming produced by KCMS and CHS/CoSA broadcast and film students. On behalf of so many people, thank you Heidi, Blair, Kris, Shane, Jeff, Tom Ritter and Janine Zuniga for getting CTV started and seeing us through this first year.

So, how do you build a local TV station, produce hours and hours of broadcast quality original programming and create live shows for all to see? You do it with dedicated volunteers, passionate students and great equipment…and hopefully, some funds.

Well, we certainly had the volunteers, the passionate and creative students, and thanks to CUSD, we have the broadcast equipment and TV studios – and thanks to an $18,000 equipment donation from the City of Coronado – we have additional production gear to cover community events.

But the first year also required funds for basic operations and programming, at the very least – on a part-time basis. That’s where Shane, Jeff, Jenny Moore, Rich Brady, Patty Cowan, Merridee Book, Ramona Loiselle and the wonderful folks at the Coronado School of the Arts Foundation stepped up to the plate with critical support and $35,000 to get the program started with a new CHS/CoSA enrichment class.

Beginning in January, 2014, several CHS students made the decision to meet at the on-campus TV studio every day after school and work hard for two hours, and many times on weekends – to produce stories, promos, PSA’s and TV specials for many organizations including: Coronado Schools Foundation, Coronado Island Film Festival, Glorietta Bay Inn, Raindrop Marketing, Coronado Tourism Improvement District, the City of Coronado, Coronado Historical Association, Hotel Del Coronado, Avenue of Heroes Committee, Coronado Eagle & Journal, Coronado Cultural Arts Commission, Coronado Island Marriott, Coronado Playhouse, Coronado Library, Coronado Chamber of Commerce, Loew’s Coronado Bay Resort, Blue Bridge Hospitality, Concerts in the Park, Speed Festival, eCoronado, Nicky Rottens, United States NAVY, Lamb’s Players Theater, Fourth of July Parade, Christmas Parade and Village Theaters.

Stepping up to the plate this inaugural year and making the decision to work with student production teams on their professional productions were Patty Cowan, Todd Little, Mary Sikes, Doug St. Denis, Katy Skyrud, Cindy Reitmeyer, Karen Finch, Casey Tanaka, Andre Zotoff, Claudia Ludlow, Dean Eckenroth, Bruce Lindner, Tim Aarons, Jeff Tyler, Lance Alspaugh, Christian Esquevin and Jacques Spitzer. Thank you all so much for taking the plunge with us and trusting us with your stories and TV productions. Thank you to the many more parents, community and business leader who also work regularly with CTV and KCMS on broadcast productions, promotions, PSA’s and stories.

I’ve worked at many large TV stations and major entertainment studios in my career – so I knew we were in for a challenge with building a TV station, part-time, from the ground up with $35,000 and a handful of volunteers. But if you know our kids and the solid dedication of parents, teachers, school staffs and the community-at-large, it’s no surprise that Coronado TV produced and distributed hundreds of live and recorded TV events, performances, community specials and PSA’s throughout 2014 and into 2015. Along with KCMS – we’re building a solid future for Coronado TV.

A future where we continue to teach young people broadcast and film technical and on-camera skills – that can very well provide employment opportunities right out of high school. A future that brings TV and streaming online video coverage of our unique and wonderful community events, inspirational stories and graduation ceremonies to folks that can’t make it out to the venue, live across the country or are serving on the other side of the world.

I am so very proud of our Coronado TV first-year student team: Rachael Taylor, Morgan Wills, Christian Taylor, Austin O’Brien, Andria Olmo, Daniel Nagey, Nick and Nathan Gehlken, Jake Little, Morgan Hulquist and Austin Linthicum.

You may have seen these talented individuals around town – performing like the pros they are. They tell me they hear from you about how much you appreciate their dedication and hard work. Keep that up…I see firsthand what your compliments and confidence can do for the kids…it sends them soaring to new heights. Sends me as well!

With a grateful heart, thank you,

Tony Perri
Executive Producer and Director
Coronado TV Studios at the
Coronado School of the Arts