Archive for the ‘Television’ Category

Many years before I became an ink-stained wretch, I toiled in another branch of local media. It was way back in the last century, the 1980s, to be precise, when I produced and directed Wakefield’s first regularly-scheduled TV comedy/talk show. Cable TV was new and all the rage. Cable companies vied for lucrative contracts in […]


Zoning out

04Oct19

So, now they want Zoning Board of Appeals meetings to be televised. The suggestion was made recently at a televised Town Council meeting. Misery loves company, I suppose. There’s nothing TV viewers would rather watch than deliberations over dimensional variances and nonconforming uses — unless you count the Watching Paint Dry Channel. To help promote […]


Being a panelist on two local candidates’ debates last week got me thinking about the role that local media plays in town. Televised debates for political office in Wakefield go back to the days before WCAT, to what I call the Dark Ages of public access TV. That was my first brush with local media […]


The recent candidates debates at WCAT once again proved to be a valuable tool in informing the voters about the candidates and issues in advance of the April 26 Town Election. I was happy once again to have had the privilege of serving on the press panel that posed questions, in two separate debates, to […]


This month, Wakefield Community Access Television celebrates its 25th anniversary as Wakefield’s public access television operation. It’s hard to believe that WCAT has been around for a quarter century. What’s even harder to believe is that public access television has been around in Wakefield, MA for even longer than that. WCAT was formed in December […]


Both candidates running for the 32nd Middlesex District seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives want to keep casino gambling in Massachusetts, but incumbent Rep. Paul Brodeur and his Republican challenger John Lock disagreed on most other issues as they debated last week at Wakefield’s WCAT studios. The 32nd Middlesex District includes all of Melrose […]


[Wakefield Daily Item, April 3, 2014] With the exception of the town’s handling of the Quinn Bill, there was little disagreement during Tuesday night’s debate between the three candidates vying for two seats on the Board of Selectmen in the April 22 Town Election. The forum was moderated by William Carroll with questions posed to […]


[Wakefield Daily Item, March 17, 2014] The two candidates vying for the Massachusetts State Senate seat formerly held by now Congressman Katherine Clark squared off last week in an 80 minute debate at Wakefield’s WCAT studios. Clear differences emerged between the Democrat, State Rep. Jason Lewis of Winchester, and Republican Monica Medeiros, an Alderman and […]


Today, Saturday, Feb. 9, marks a significant anniversary for Baby Boomers. On that date in 1964, a British band known at The Beatles made its US debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. For the benefit of those under 50, the Ed Sullivan Show was a TV staple. It was a variety show that families could […]


Everyone in the Northeast, not to mention the entire nation, will be impacted by Sunday’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. Everybody has a role to play, whether they realize it or not. You may not need a scorecard to identify the players, but you’ll need one to categorize […]