The city of Asbury Park is on the way to having its own cable station thanks to city resident and volunteer John Kaplow.
“In a town like this that has a wide degree of residents in terms of background, income and education, something like this is a great leveler,” Kaplow said of his motivation to get the channel off the ground. “It’s a great communication tool.”
The new cable station could be up and running as soon as next spring, Kaplow has said. The five-year Asbury resident has worked in video production for 35 to 40 years. Part of his time was spent working in public access cable with popular vaudevillian Uncle Floyd.
Based on FCC [Federal Communications Commission] guidelines, every municipality is entitled to one or two television channels from each cable provider, free of charge, Kaplow said at a recent council meeting. When he moved to town five years ago, he started to ask local officials if they’d be in favor of creating an Asbury Park cable channel.
“Everybody was kind of in favor of it but nobody wanted to get the ball rolling,” he said. “And there was no money available.”
After a few years of, in his own words, “pestering people” and showing up at council meetings with his equipment, he was given the opportunity to present a plan to the city council last year. The council unanimously gave him the go-ahead, and he’s been working with city manager Terence Reidy on the plan ever since.
Technicians from the city’s two cable networks, Cablevision and Verizon, have installed cable boxes in Kaplow’s makeshift studio on the second floor of City Hall [pictured above]. Kaplow has joined JAG — Jersey Access Group, the trade group for public access channels — at a cost of $100, which was the city’s only financial obligation for the project thus far.
Kaplow is currently trying to put together a cable advisory committee to start planning programming for the station. At first, the channel will likely feature text-only bulletins most of the time.
“We’ll have certain bulletins keeping [citizens] up to date on happenings around town and municipal meetings,” he said. “It has beneficial implications for first responders and EMS.”
In the future, Kaplow would like to broadcast public meetings and more. They may also be able to broadcast other groups’ videos if they meet FCC guidelines, Kaplow said. He hopes to incorporate local nonprofits and the school district in programming as well.
Anyone who is interested in joining the cable advisory committee can fill out a form from city clerk Steve Kay in City Hall on Main Street.
