By Khalida Sarwari
Changes are afoot at the KSAR studio. Saratoga’s community access TV station recently underwent $40,000 worth of upgrades to bring the studio up to modern standards.
KSAR announced that the station will have an updated look, complete with new lighting, sound system, screens, flooring, portable video camera equipment, high-definition cameras and editing equipment, much of which has been upgraded from analog to digital. One new piece of equipment is a TriCaster video switcher, which has a green screen feature to place the on-air talent in a virtual environment.
The updated control room will now allow staff members to do “lots of fancy things,” said Tom Moran, chairman of the KSAR board. The only remaining task, Moran said, is to upgrade KSAR’s transmission via Comcast and AT&T from analog to digital.
According to Moran, the upgrades were made over the course of this past year, using “franchise fee” funds from Comcast and AT&T. The cable companies provide money solely for studio upgrades, he said.
KSAR has been around for 30 years and shares a studio with West Valley College. With a staff of just a few people, the station broadcasts city council and planning commission meetings as well as local community events, such as the annual Fourth of July and Heritage Day events. KSAR has one channel (15 on Comcast and 99 on AT&T); West Valley uses the second channel for its educational programs. Programs are also streamed on the KSAR website.
The studio is also open to anyone interested in video editing and production or those who want to produce shows of local interest. One example of such an existing show is a weekly half-hour program that a Croatian company puts on for the Croatian residents of Saratoga.
“About 20 years ago there was a fairly large group of people who were doing stuff, but they sort of melted away and I’d really like to bring that back again,” said Moran.
To inquire about volunteer opportunities at KSAR, email station manager David Lee atstationmanager@ksar15.org.
“We’d be delighted to help them out and to get them to help us out,” said Moran.
For more information about KSAR, visit ksar15.org.
Link: $40K upgrades bring studios at KSAR up to modern standards
