Behind The Scenes at MMTV

Inside the doors of MMTV ( Melrose Massachusetts TV) lies much more than than just cameras and a barren studio waiting for camera operators, hosts and guests to fill its empty spaces for upcoming programs.

Its Executive Director, Patrick Doyle, talked at length about its history and MMTVs future operations in a recent interview.

Doyle said about MMTV "It's a gift to the city of Melrose." He added, "a lot of kids and adults have utilized it. Doyle, who was born and raised in Melrose, first began working as an intern in the station when the doors of MMTV, the city's local public access television station, opened. His arrival came following the realization, when in college, that he could no longer afford to attend. Instead he needed a job and headed to Warner Cable TV in Lynn where he spent time learning his craft.

" I had to leave (college) and go a different avenue to find out how I could get involved in television production. Someone recommended local public access television." That experience gave him the edge he needed and where he learned all he could about each aspect of television production."

Team Work

Doyle and co-Executive Director Michael Miner have worked as a team for many years at MMTV now.

Doyle remembers meeting Miner when Miner walked into the station as a child to learn about the various aspects of the studio.

Doyle's interest in Television he says started at a young age and reflects back on those days. "i always had a fascination with television production. When I was 16 years old I got a job." The money Doyle saved allowed him "to go out and buy a camcorder." His reasoning behind the purchase was "I wanted to re-create programs I watched as a child." His favorite show, he says, "of all things was The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I loved the talk show format and the multiple camera usage and I wanted to learn every aspect of how they did a Television production like this. "

According to Doyle, his experience at Warner Cable opened the door to a lifetime career, " I was over there for two years. I learned every aspect from studio production to editing to lighting to sound. It was amazing because it's what I wanted to do in college, I couldn't do because they weren't letting people touch the equipment until you were a Junior or Senior. Fortunately, maybe it was a gift of God." He says " that I couldn't afford college and I found this different avenue."

On to MMTV

When MMTVs doors opened in 1992,Doyle found himself in the right place at the right time. "I was 21 years old when I went down (to the new Melrose local public access station) and volunteered." His experiences at Warner Cable led him quickly from volunteer intern to employee.

According to Doyle, he explained to them (at MMTV) that ,"I had two (2) years experience under my belt and they instantaneously made me an intern. I was responsible for helping out on studio production teaching people how to run the equipment and covering the local city government meetings."

After about a year of interning, Doyle's was promoted. That internship turned into a part time job in the Spring of 1993. I held that part time position until 1997 when I became a full time employee and in the year 2000, I was given the rank of Executive Director and since then we have had a grand old time down here at MMTV."

Staff and Volunteers

Throughout his interview, Doyle proudly credited all members who work and/.or volunteers in front of the cameras or behind the scenes,"It's not just the inner working of MMTV's local public access channel but the ideas and creativity of the people as everyone works together as a team to produce local programming. "We have had so many multiple talented people come through our doors" Doyle said of his nearly 30 years with MMTV.

(MMTV collage-courtesy of its creator, Patrick Doyle)

Accomplishments

Although Doyle talks about one of his own accomplishments he is most proud of, he doesn't fail to continually credit other staff and volunteers throughout the interview. For himself, he says, the accomplishment I am most proud of is that when we first opened our doors in 1993 to the public we had an influx of young members come in. The kids were 13 years old and they had a fascination with television production and I taught them all the skills that I learned and they excelled at it so much that about 1/2 dozen kids, over a course of a 5 year period learned the craft so much that when it was time for them to go to college, some of them bypassed college and went into the workforce working in local Boston TV stations such as channels 4, 7 and 5. the other kids that went to college eventually and after they graduated went to work in television stations around the country, Las Vegas, Florida, North Carolina and every single one of these kids, when they went to their respective jobs or schools were asked how they got such an advanced knowledge of television production and they credited having learned everything down at their local public access television station - MMTV.

****Co-Executive Director Michael Miner, was once one of those kids in the second shift of those who walked through the studio doors to learn all about television production and MMTV. Miner tells the story of his start this way, " I wanted to work with nice cameras. As a humble third or fourth grader of modest means , I did not have a significant budget. I knew my friend's father was involved in that local public access TV station. so I asked if I could come along. The rest, as they say, is history."

Misconceptions about local public access television stations

Doyle further explains that people think that local public access television is just city government meetings or high school sports or cooking shows . MMTVs Executive Director Doyle continued, It is all that but it's also a great training center. if you want to get involved in television production as a career and want to have a jump start in front of everybody you should come down here and join as a member and learn how to use the equipment."

The history of Cable TV and its future

Doyle has been employed by MMTV nearly three (3) decades and has seen many programming changes and equipment changes as well as add ins in which television has joined with computer technology to broadcast information as quickly as possible.

The future of television and technology

Television and technology have now found several ways to sync together. Doyle explains, when asked what the future of local public access cable TV holds, he replied "In reality that future is now. Everything is streaming which is a great thing. We are television production. MMTV is funded by cable company grants from Comcast and Verizon." The funding, Doyle added, helps "to get productions on television because that is what we are here for. We are a public access television station and we produce programming that goes on our local channel, which are public, educational and governmental."

Looking back at when the station doors opened in 1992, Doyle said, "No one would have thought about social media." Today, he says, "it's the way you can get information out instantaneously."

He refers to podcasting as one source that moves information quickly along the airwaves. MMTV has that capability and many locals, especially during the pandemic used podcasting as a resources in getting their messages to the public quickly. "Basically", Doyle says, "podcasting is internet radio and we have multiple stations down here at our own station (MMTV) that you can produce podcasting and it's a great avenue to get things out."

One example Doyle cites is that of Mayor Paul Brodeur, "Our own Mayor does a podcast down here to get information out to the public as quickly as possible. If the Mayor or anyone else were doing a television production, they would have to worry about time to set up the equipment, the lighting and editing. "That's great and that's what we do down here," Doyle says, but the world has changed so much that not everybody can sit down in front of their television sets like they could years ago and watch a 30 minute program. Now everybody is so busy in their lives doing 100 things at one time, with podcasting you can multi-task and listen at the same time."

Miner, in looking to the future, sees television and radio as, "Diversification of platforms, but a continuing interest in local media as this is where we all live and that has a greater direct impact on our lives more than anything/anywhere else."

Since getting his start at the studio, Miner currently teaches a few days a week at Harvard University . He went on from his earlier days at MMTV, he says," to graduate with dual undergraduate degrees, one in Communications Media, and one in Political Science. Interestingly I also work and teach in both, but I would not label my career path atypical. More of a circus at times, but always interesting and never boring."

Miner has seen a lot of advancement, much the same as Doyle, in learning about television in its early stages to what it has become today. Miner explains,"Technologies have evolved and empowered individuals in new ways. But equally revealing, it is still all about people. The more individual voices heard by many, the stronger the community. We reach more people now and in new ways than ever before."

Zoom

Zooming is also another source MMTV will teach its students. According to Doyle, "it's basically podcasting with a face where you speak on the camera."

Once again, the pandemic led to Doyle's first experience with Zoom, "We had members down here doing video conference calls with different people around the country who wanted to incorporate that into their production and zoom quality, let's be honest, isn't broadcast standard. It's great for what it is and especially during the pandemic as a lot of producers could not come down here due to the pandemic and were doing their shows on Zoom. It was great, they were getting their product out there as much as they could and distributing it on social media and television. Zoom is a great thing. Hopefully down the line, they will increase the quality of the Zoom recording capabilities. I think it's going to be a major, major addition to any television station, not just public access television stations but TV in general. "

Many of the television shows, he says, "are already incorporating both podcasting and Zoom into their programs. Still, there are those people who do not have the internet and call MMTV to ask what time certain programming will be on air as they want to watch various programs on MMTV. Others prefer listening to the podcasting."

Doyle still says he has that yearning to produce a show. "Currently, I'm not producing or hosting any type of programming down here at MMTV. We're busy doing stuff behind the scenes helping other people learn how to do productions be it Zoom or podcasting or importing programming from other stations. "

If he did find the time, he says "I would love to go back and produce programming that I did many, many years ago. When we first opened our doors here, we did a movie review show. I also did a show with friends. We were talking about professional wrestling back in the day and Doyle also helped to produce a late night talk show. "Producing is something I would very, very much like to get back to and get those creative juices flowing "

Once again, Doyle credits current staff and studio volunteers and working with the local High School students in broadcasting sporting events." All members are seen as being a part of the MMTV team. He adds, " we have a lot of people down here show have a lot of creative ideas and we bounce ideas off of each other whether we are staff members or volunteers."

When the pandemic ends, Doyle invites interested persons to "come down here and join MMTV. It's a great facility for the city."

Membership

All you have to do is prove that you are a resident of the city of Melrose, pay a nominal fee , which Doyle says have not changed in 30 years and says there are no plans to change those fees." Once you become a member of the facility, staff, myself and volunteer members will teach you how to use the equipment. We don't just let anyone walk in off the street and say " OK, here's a camcorder, you know what to do with it." Instead, according to Doyle, new members are shown by all those mentioned above, as to how a television production is put together and more. " "We show them all aspects of television production, portable production, podcasting and my favorite - editing because that is where you get all the pieces of the puzzle together and create something awesome and that's what MMTV is all about."

There is also the satisfaction of watching volunteers who entered into the studio without any experience, learn. Doyle enjoys seeing the satisfaction on the faces of those he and others have taught as they realize they are able to put their own programs together. " It's gratifying when you see someone with no experience whatsoever (learning) and a few hours later they are saying they just produced a show and can't believe how easy it is- and it is easy."

Dreaming

"One of the things," Doyle says, "we love about MMTV is teaching people how to achieve their dreams because people have dreams of wanting to work in television production and we are the first step in helping them to achieve that dream."

Doyle and Miner work as a team to provide staff and volunteers the best possible training at MMTV in learning not only television production but combining it with the newest technology today as it emerges.

Miner, as Co-Executive Director, talked about one of the reasons he has been with MMTV for such a long period of time,"I always wanted to help others and make a positive impact. Still do and hopeful I am."

Both Executive Directors extend an invitation to interested residents in connecting with the studio, whether to see what it's all about or to take part in learning television production, programming and/or podcasts

MMTV can be contacted through their website at MMTV3.org or by reaching out to them by telephone at 781-665-6688

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