Canton City Schools Television: Making a Positive Impact

Tom Delamater and staff describe the explosive growth and popularity of Canton City Schools TV - Channel 11 since 2000

CANTON, Ohio (May 14, 2004)—For most of its first 25 years, Canton City Schools Television (CCSTV) was a part-time operation that struggled to find its niche. For the past four, the station has risen to exciting new heights.

Today, CCSTV produces and airs seven original weekly shows, and carries educational programs, local sports, regular specials, and even vintage movies.

Tom Delamater hosts "Canton City Schools In Focus"

"We're the local television voice of Canton and most of Stark County," said Tom Delamater, the district's director of communications and marketing, who is general manager of the station.

Delamater was hired in April 2000 to direct the district's communications office. Since then, the office has, among other things, created two district newsletters, streamlined the media relations program, jump-started new family relations initiatives, overhauled the district web site (including two dozen school sites), and revitalized the district's cable television channel.

The most visible of those is the TV station. Four years ago, the station broadcast from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight, Monday through Friday. That changed in the fall of 2002, when CCSTV began broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The station airs on cable channel 11 in the Greater Canton area, and is usually referred to as simply "Channel 11."

The station's original programming began in earnest with "Canton City Schools In Focus," which debuted in April 2000. The first host was Scott Davis, a broadcast presentation specialist with the district, who was formerly the news director and anchor on WOAC-TV, once Canton's only commercial station. (WOAC switched formats several years ago and is now a shopping channel.)

Davis had produced a pilot for the show, and when Delamater was hired he viewed the pilot. "It was ready to go, and we had it on the air that week," said Delamater. "In Focus" has aired weekly ever since, with breaks during each summer.

Delamater began producing his own show, "Coaches' Corner," in August of that year. A weekly look at the district's athletic programs, the show featured interviews with the head boys and girls coaches as sports were in season at both McKinley and Timken high schools in Canton. Delamater was host of the show for three years, before trading hosting duties with Davis in August 2003.

Lois DiGiacomo (R) with actor Kate Mulgrew
on "State of the Arts"

"Stark Sports Central" is the latest version of a show that goes back several years on CCSTV. The host is Tim Haverstock, a Canton City alum who is program manager at the J. Babe Stearn Community Center in Canton. The previous version of the show had been taken off the air by the former station manager, but was returned to the CCSTV lineup in the summer of 2000. The show has an enthusiastic following and discusses school, amateur and professional sports in Canton and Stark County.

The station continued to add more programs at a rapid pace. "Chalk Talk," billed as a glimpse into the classrooms of the Canton City Schools, began in January 2001. Host Elena Monahan, a teacher at Lehman Middle School, promises in the open of each program that viewers will learn how teachers teach, and how students learn.

"State of the Arts" debuted in December 2000. The show informs viewers of various happenings on the Stark County arts scene. Lois DiGiacomo, director of the Rainbow Repertory Company in North Canton and an adviser to the Timken High School Arts Academy, is host.

"On Track with Betty Mac" is hosted by Betty M. Smith, executive director of Multi-Development Services of Stark County. Betty and her guests discuss programs and developments of a positive nature in Canton and Canton's neighborhoods. Betty had previously produced her program in Wadsworth, Ohio. CCSTV began producing the show in May 2001.

"Read Me a Story" is popular with children and parents

"Read Me a Story" is a reading program in which adults read children's stories to students from Canton's elementary schools. Launched in April 2002, it was a direct tie to district's emphasis on literacy education, begun under former Superintendent Fred Blosser and continued under current Superintendent Dianne Talarico. Andrea Summerlot introduces the readers and students from the various schools each week.

In all, the station now produces seven original half-hour programs every week. "Each of those shows has a purpose, and we crafted a mission statement for each," said Delamater. "Our primary goal was to serve the district not only by sharing information with the community, but by drawing viewers to the station and raising the viewership. It follows that with more viewers, the station would have a greater impact and help get the district's message out in a more effective way."

Perhaps most significant is that all of it was accomplished with fewer staff, and no more money, than the station had prior to 2000. "What surprises most people is the fact that our annual operating budget, apart from salaries, is about $30,000," he said. "Some departments in our district have hundreds of thousands of dollars to work with. We don't. We once built a set with old materials and a five dollar can of spray paint. We've tried to give the district real value without being a drain on the general operating fund."

Enhancing the station's growth was a move into a remodeled portion of Timken High School in August 2001. The 5,000-square-foot facility includes a control room, a head end, offices, studio space and a classroom for the broadcast media classes taught by Davis and Bill Weidner, production supervisor for the station.

Broadcast students from the Canton City Schoo District
serve as production crew and host some shows

Students from the classes, which are taught at the sophomore, junior and senior levels, serve as production crews for all of the station's shows. In addition, two student-produced shows, "Issues and Answers" and "Odyssey Presents," are periodically aired on CCSTV.

"We operate with a very high standard, and that's what the students are learning," said Weidner. "It's amazing how the kids have stepped up to the plate to do this kind of thing."

"It's an opportunity we all wish we'd had when we were in school," said Davis, whose broadcasting resume dates back 25 years.

Weidner and Davis are assisted with the daily operations of the station by Timken alumnus Trent Comer, a production assistant who is on board as part of a city-county working agreement.

Delamater said that the special synergy that exists at the station has made it a success. "Bill, Scott and I all have broadcasting backgrounds, and when we came together in 2000 we just hit the ground running," he said. "They were here before me, but hadn't been given the freedom to do what they do best. We changed that. And adding Trent to the mix made a good thing even better."

"Our philosophy has been to do what's necessary to get the job done, whether that includes early mornings, late nights, or weekends."

In addition to the regular weekly shows, CCSTV has produced hundreds of special programs in recent years. Most prominent of these has been the station's teaming with the sports department of WHBC radio, the top rated station in the region, to broadcast high school football games to the Stark County community.

CCSTV also televises its own broadcasts of boys and girls basketball games each winter, featuring the city's McKinley and Timken high school teams.

The station broadcasts local election returns live

In November 2000 the station began broadcasting live election returns and has continued with every election season since. "It's been one of our most well-received efforts," said Delamater, who anchors the coverage along with Davis and expert commentators from the region. "People have come to rely on CCSTV for immediate information about key races every fall and spring."

In November 2003, the station made history by producing the first live television broadcast of a Canton mayoral debate. Republican Janet Creighton and Democrat Bill Smuckler squared off on the stage of the Timken High School auditorium, and CCSTV was on the air live with the debate as it happened. 

"It was vital for potential voters to see the mayoral debate," said Dennis Saunier, president of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce. "Channel 11 is an extremely important asset to the community."

CCSTV's "Video Post-Its," a community bulletin board, is updated daily and carries news of area events. The screens run in rotation between shows (CCSTV is a non-commercial station) and at regular times each morning, afternoon and evening. The Post-Its have become one of CCSTV's most popular airings, and items are submitted from all over the county, sometimes several times a day.

Tom Delamater (L) interviews Dennis Saunier on
CCSTV's annual "Light Up Downtown" special

Community celebrations such as the Chamber's annual "Light Up Downtown," the holiday tree lighting ceremony in early December each year, are a regular staple on CCSTV. The station has aired numerous other specials, including panel discussions, award ceremonies, chamber and civic events and ceremonies, swim meets, track and field events, spelling bees, proficiency preparation shows, homework help shows and other programs designed to educate, inform and entertain viewers in the community.

"It's a tremendous instrument that is used for numerous things," said Sam Dorto, president of the Canton Professional Educators Association, the teachers' union in the district. "It's a great informational tool, the expansion of which has just been a tremendous asset to the school system."

Dignitaries who have been featured on CCSTV include Canton mayors Richard Watkins and Janet Creighton, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, Ohio Superintendent of Instruction Susan Tave Zelman, former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, U.S. Congressman Ralph Regula, and even President George W. Bush, when he was campaigning in 2000 and paid a visit to one of Canton's schools.

Educators and others in the community are generous in their praise for the station.

"I've been in this community now for nearly 20 years, and I think I know a lot of people and I hear a lot of their stories, but often I'll stop on Channel 11 and watch an interview and find something out about someone that I did not know," said Don Detore, sports editor for The Repository, the daily paper in Canton. "I think that's really valuable to the Stark County community and to Canton overall."

"It allows us to showcase the work that our students do in the classroom," said Brenda Neel, principal of the Freshman Academy, Canton City's half-day school facility attended by all freshmen in the district. "What a great opportunity for parents and the community to have a birds-eye view of the learning process. I find it really exciting -- and it excites the kids, too -- to know that somebody besides their teacher is going to see the product of their labor."

New branding in 2001 raised community awareness
about Canton City Schools TV

State Senator Kirk Schuring has been a frequent guest on shows produced by CCSTV. "I watch Channel 11 regularly, and I've had the good fortune of also participating in some of the programming. I think it's a valuable community asset," he said. "I think it's good for the public as a whole to watch Channel 11 and see the good things that are happening within the Canton City school system. At the same time I think it's good for the community to be informed about the general happenings in the Greater Canton area.

State Representative Scott Oelslager agreed. "I believe very strongly that the comprehensive approach that the channel takes to educating our community about what the district is doing and how it benefits Stark County -- the community as well as the students -- is very important, and I've been very impressed," he said.

In all, Canton City Schools TV has produced and aired more than 1,500 shows since 2000. Once an overlooked, underutilized cable outlet, CCSTV is now known throughout Canton and Stark County as the region's primary source for televised information about local events and happenings.

-- May 2004