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Time Warner's system no longer will transmit Wadsworth-based show
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Friday, Oct 10, 2008
Polka music will ring on the TV airwaves again this weekend. But it won't be heard in as many places.
Polka Time Again, produced for cable telecast by Wadsworth Community TV, will have its customary Saturday night airing in Wadsworth and then be seen in Macedonia, Brunswick, Wooster, Hudson, Austintown and Euclid.
But not in Akron and other areas served by Time Warner.
Two other Wadsworth-produced shows, What Catholics Really Believe and The Health and Happiness Show, have also found the TV door closed in Akron. And they are part of a larger body of programs once carried on public-access cable by Time Warner.
Time Warner Cable's new franchise agreement no longer requires it to air public-access shows in Akron, said spokesman Chris Thomas. It has some programs for airing next week but as of today is not accepting any more shows.
Time Warner will continue to carry local government and Akron Public Schools programming on its access channel. But those programs are being administered by other people. Time Warner no longer has to schedule programming in the hours when schools and city programs are not on the air.
''It's the city's channel,'' said Thomas.
This continues a movement away from public-access programming, which customarily involved the cable company putting on anything that it was offered, regardless of the content. That was both its advantage and its drawback. People could air their thoughts, their bowling parties and car shows on the channel. But sleazy late-night fare from other providers also had to be accepted — and generated regular complaints.
The shift from open access began several years ago, when Time Warner imposed a $25-per-show fee on all public-access programmers, a move that drove out some program providers and forced others to get inventive. The makers of Polka Time Again, which has been on the air since 1994, found four sponsors to cover their costs.
Thomas said interest in public access was a big thing in the 1980s but that interest has fallen off. Some programmers have gone to the Internet instead.
''YouTube is a worldwide version of public access,'' he said. And when the company dropped its public-access programming in Cleveland in February, Thomas saw little reaction.
On the other hand, while Time Warner had access programming for only about half the available hours in Akron, that still amounted to 41 hours of shows one week in September. And the people behind Polka Time Again believe they have an audience.
Hosted by Gene Kovack and Joe Gabrosek, the program offers polka videos and music talk every week — Saturday's show will be its 741st — to a devoted audience.
No one knows how many people actually watch. But Gabrosek said he gets recognized in public because of his participation in the show. Johanna Perrino, operations and community relations coordinator for Wadsworth Community TV, said the organization receives about 100 phone calls any time the show does not air.
The show will continue, though not with an Akron window for now. It could return if the city finds someone other than Time Warner to administer its programming; Thomas said that in Canton, for example, another group has stepped forward to run the public-access operation.
Some programs shut out of public access could also end up on Time Warner's NEON, or Northeast Ohio Network, which airs on Channel 23 in Akron.
''If someone came to us with a high-quality program of interest to people throughout Northeast Ohio, we would look at it,'' Thomas said. But unlike with public access, Time Warner gets to pick and choose which programs to air on NEON.
Gabrosek said he had not asked about Polka Time Again landing on NEON, nor had he talked to city officials about having someone run public access so the show could get back to its home there.
But, at 84, he and his 74-year-old colleague Kovack plan to keep doing the show. There are still those viewers in Wadsworth, Hudson and other communities. And Kovack keeps adding to their collection of videos.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://www.ohio.com. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Polka music will ring on the TV airwaves again this weekend. But it won't be heard in as many places.
Get the full article here.
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