The good, the bad, and the barely audible

Recordings of local boards can be spotty, but always serve a purpose

Some municipal boards have been doing it for decades, some are just beginning to get their hands dirty with it, and others are trying to decide if the time is right for them to start. But for any of the local municipalities who broadcast their meetings on Lakes Region Public Access (LRPA) television, all of them know Denise Beauchaine, executive director of LRPA.

Local MetroCast cable customers know LRPA as cable channels 24, 25 and 26. There are twelve communities affiliated with LRPA through MetroCast, including Laconia, Gilford, Gilmanton, Meredith, Tilton, Belmont and Alton. Some communities, such as Alton, broadcast many of their meetings, while others tape only one board. Meredith's Selectboard and Laconia's City Council are the only two boards that broadcast their meetings live.

Beauchaine said other boards would like to go live on the air, but LRPA is currently limited due to infrastructure: to run live, the towns have to have a dedicated fiber-optic feed directly to the station. With its location in the Huot Technical Center, the infrastructure can presently only accept two fiber optic "drops."

It is frustrating that the infrastructure limits the growth of LRPA, said Beauchaine, because interest in the station is gaining. LRPA's budget comes primarily from franchise fees that towns charge cable provider MetroCast to do business in their boundaries. When the towns negotiate a contract with the company, they have the leverage to charge a fee, usually somewhere in the range of 2-percent to 5-percent. In theory, that fee is intended to be used to benefit the customers by funding local public access, educational and government stations like LRPA, however, the money is sometimes diverted for other uses, such as offsetting property taxes.

The Huot location offers some advantages, primarily free rent through a partnership with the school's multimedia program. It also gets young people involved, which translates into summer internships and adult volunteers down the road. As the interest in LRPA develops, Beauchaine says it is beginning to "define itself as the local television station." What people see on LRPA, she said, "they can't get anywhere else." Residents can watch their local governing boards, watch topical programs put on by their neighbors, or if they want to produce their own show, "this provides that outlet for them."

Ideally, Beauchaine and the station's board of directors would like to see the station relocate to a place where they could offer live feeds to anyone who wants one. And if they've got a live feed to each town, they could facilitate a local live evening news program that would treat each town like it's own bureau, offering the happenings of the day.

Of course, all of this would take money, which is the difference between many dreams and the current reality. Beauchaine and the LRPA board of directors hope that viewers who appreciate LRPA's service will let their selectmen know, and will follow through to see that there's a line in their town's annual budget with LRPA's name on it. "If they want us to be able to provide the services, they need to convey that to the selectmen... We're asking for enough to survive, and right now I'm holding it together by my teeth."

Although the amount that each town gives LRPA differs widely, Beauchaine gives each board equal weighting when organizing the schedule. She practices a rotating schedule: your local board's meeting might be on at 2 a.m. one night, but it will replay later at a reasonable hour. That way, everyone can eventually see the meeting at a convenient hour. If that fails, Beauchaine will make a DVD copy for individuals to watch at their leisure.

For every town that records its meetings, it seems there is a new combination of equipment and technical expertise. The range includes many towns that employ just a single VHS video recorder to Meredith's setup, which uses multiple digital cameras angles and microphones for each speaker. A review of a selection of recordings shows that the variety of techniques results in equally varied production quality.

Meredith's system was state-of-the-art when it was installed, said Beauchaine. It features multiple digital camera angles, with high visual quality in a well-lit room. Each speaker has his or her own microphone, and voice is clear and well-balanced.

Close behind Meredith in quality is Laconia, which features a similar multi-camera, multiple microphone approach. For the live broadcasts, the quality is on par with Meredith's, but Laconia captures its recorded meetings on VHS cassette instead of a digital format. As a result, the recorded visual quality is a step below a digital recording, and the audio playback can be somewhat garbled at times where the tape has stretched or become otherwise compromised.

One of the most recent to begin televising their meetings, Gilford's selectmen use a three-camera system combined with individual microphones for each speaker. The audio is very clear, however, the digital cameras are of mediocre quality, which results in a "noisy" picture –— there are small dots that manifest about the screen, obscuring the visual details. The cameras are fixed, meaning they can't zoom or pan, and the transitions between the camera angles are often rough and jarring.

Franklin's City Council recordings are made using microphones for each speaker and a single, tripod-mounted digital video camera. The sound quality is good, and the camera operator makes the most of the single-camera approach, panning and zooming on the speakers. Where Franklin's recordings suffer is with the lighting in the large, old building where the meetings are held. Overhead lighting might be adequate for most purposes, but results in shaded faces in the recordings.

Alton uses a similar approach to Franklin's. The lighting is more favorable in the Alton Town Hall, but in the Budget Committee clip viewed, the camera operator was also a member of the committee. As a result, the single camera was positioned for an unchanging "static shot" for the duration of the meeting.

Tilton's selectmen's meetings are recorded with a static shot VHS camera angle that is not wide enough to include all of the speakers. A pair of directional microphones offers fair sound quality.

Northwood's selectmen's meeting is a mix of production quality. The introduction screen features a digitally-generated title with music in the background, where others just show a printed piece of paper with the meeting title and date. The visual quality is good, but the recording relies on the camera's microphone to pick up sound. As a result, it is difficult to hear what the speaker furthest from the camera is saying.

The recording of the Deerfield selectmen's meeting shows a board that is beginning to learn how to best record meetings. That town uses a single static VHS camera mounted on a tripod. The tripod is not level, so the meeting is recorded from a vantage point that is leaning to the right. The camera is positioned so that it views much of the ceiling's bright florescent lights, which makes the people below it seem dark in comparison. Because the only microphone used is on the camera, and because the camera is positioned behind the audience, the sound of audience members crinkling their agendas is much easier to hear than the voices of the selectmen.

Beauchaine applauds all of the boards and townspeople who make the effort to broadcast their meetings, no matter the resulting quality. Those that produce the best recordings have been at it for a while, and the boards that could do a better job will most likely improve as they gain experience. LRPA will gladly send a technician to any of its participating boards to help maximize the quality of their recordings.

Beauchaine said it isn't necessary to spend $15,000 to get a decent recording. For starters, she recommends a single digital camera in the range of $2,000 to $3,000, and microphones for each speaker. "Get one good camera and get everyone mic'd." Even with the poorest of recordings, Beauchaine said they're already providing a service to the community, and that service can only be enhanced as the skills and equipment are improved. "This is what it's all about: openness in government," she said.