Fair TV no more

Grant County Fair coverage goes with fiber cuts

GRANT COUNTY — Fair TV, which provided live coverage of the Grant County Fair and was a showcase for the Grant County Public Utility District's Zipp Network, is not completely dead.

However, "It's wounded," said Bob Schroder, a Moses Lake High School teacher who worked with about 25 students to produce Fair TV.

"I really miss it," Schroder said.

As a production crew known a BNC TV, Schroder's students were able to learn more than the basics while they made Fair TV.

They were getting hands-on experience. They moved from equipment setup and camera use, to capturing video and camera movement, and on to editing like a bunch of professionals.

Five days of experience covering the fair and doing the legwork of real videographers will be tough to replace, he said.

"You could not teach this to students in six months in the classroom," Schroder said.

The PUD provided important technical assistance and video production equipment required to keep Fair TV on the air.

So, when the PUD implemented a discontinuation of the fiber optic network build-out this year, it cut nine related staff positions. The very PUD staff positions cut were those that provided the technical assistance to keep Fair TV on the air.

Now, after three years of providing live coverage of the rodeo, demolition derby, event schedules and other programing, Fair TV is gone.

"The board of commissioners had taken a different path than what had been done in the past as far as progressive thinking about fiber," said Grant County Fair and Facility Manager Al Holman. "I noticed that those people being laid off, as a result of that decision, were those that were integral to making Fair TV happen."

"It's very disappointing. This was a chance for the PUD to show the versatility of fiber and for students to work on something absolutely fabulous and innovative," Holman said.

The PUD does contribute to the fair with a High Voltage Demonstration, the Wanapum Mobile Interpretive Center and a commercial booth, Holman added.

"But, Fair TV made our fair unique. You could go to Puyallup and they don't have Fair TV. They have the largest fair in the state, but we had something they didn't," he said.

According to Schroder, his crew of students from BNC TV will continue on. He said they still plan to cover the fair this year and produce a video recording of the event for the Grant County Tourism Commission. The video will be sold later this year.

To replace the live TV coverage experience, Schroder and crew plan on producing MLHS football games to be broadcast on Northland Cable channel 3.

He hasn't given up hope on Fair TV though and says that the necessary infrastructure remains in place to bring it back.

"The PUD fiber people are gone," Schroder said. "It is too bad for the students."