Residents say BC-TV losing local flavor

Jeffrey Libby

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 10:52 a.m.

Not too long ago one of BC-TV's more tireless volunteers, "the Lady with a Camera," filmed video one-handed, waving until passers-by waved back. Her shows and others aired regularly, featuring potluck suppers supping or local artists talking about their craft, among other eclectic topics.

These days though, Southern Nevada's only community access TV station airs less of that impromptu programming, and residents are grumbling.

Volunteers once numbering close to 30 have dwindled to about 15 and many say that the small downtown recording studio is becoming just another arm of city government. The city is looking at a more professional version of BC-TV, and volunteers say a new request for proposals could stifle what's left of the station's prized diversity.

They say offbeat programs filled with local color would be lost -- leaving only shows like "Ask the Mayor" and "Hi Bob," a talk show hosted by gaming attorney and political power broker Bob Faiss.

"In the last year or so, the council members are getting great coverage. Even if it's called the planting at the state veterans nursing home, it's more interviews with them. You should get some of the (real) people," said Sandra Reuther, a former volunteer who left the station in frustration last August.

But most city officials say BC-TV is at a crossroads. Despite calls by Councilman Bryan Nix for more money to hire new staff, the $130,000 budget for 2003 is the most they want to spend. They want to see if for roughly the same price they can get a better product.

Much of that optimism is based on two proposals made to the City Council more than two months ago by media producer Anna Maria Davis. More recently, Davis has also held informal meetings with at least two council members to discuss her proposal. Davis said initially she could run the station with $82,000, but on May 14, she submitted a new proposal asking for $131,000.

Davis says she and business partner Mike Grimmett can create a professional operation that would train high school students for the growing Las Vegas Valley film industry.

"When I went down there (to the studio), I started asking questions, and every time I asked a question, I could see there really wasn't a vision," Davis said. "People may have been intimidated, but we're just trying to beef up the professionalism of the community."

Others argue that there could be vision at BC-TV if it wasn't continually sabotaged by restrictive rules handed down by City Manager John Sullard.

Nicky Collins helped run the station for more than a year, building up a loyal following of volunteers, but she left the station this spring after the city informed her that funding for her position had run out.

"There's a resolution that governs BC-TV that explicitly states the station is to be used for political forums and should be as accessible to the public as possible," Collins said.

But Sullard began prohibiting her, as a paid city employee, from helping residents produce programs.

Sullard backs this claim up, saying that with limited resources, the city has to draw the line somewhere. To be fair to all residents, he said, only volunteers are now permitted to help on non-governmental shows. They can learn to produce their own shows while working on government shows, he said.

"It's kind of like saying, you can have all the electricity you want," Collins said, "You just have to know how to operate the nuclear power plant."

For now, former city spokesman Roy Theiss is the one paid city employee running the studio. He's doing the best he can to pick up the skills "on the fly," he said.

"For small potatoes, we're doing alright," Theiss said.

But Theiss says he is concerned by the city's request for proposals (RFP) and what that might mean for his position.

"We want to see what's out there," said Sullard said. By next week, the RFP could go out, Sullard said, and by August the city could potentially make a decision.

But some residents, like Collins, say the decision may have already been made, if unofficially, asking how Davis can submit proposals when no RFP has been issued.

Sullard says he and Davis have taken several trips to Hollywood to research strategies for opening a movie studio Davis has proposed on 30 acres of city-owned land.

But when Davis approached Sullard to suggest contracting out management of the community access TV station, Sullard said he directed her to City Council members.

"I told her I don't want to hear anything about it," he said.

Councilman Nix, on the other hand, said, "I'll be watching this very closely."