Transmission Project

QUQ, the nonprofit operator of Channel 27 in Albuquerque, recently signed an agreement with the City of Albuquerque to launch a new cable TV channel, to be called Encantada TV.

Programming will include

• Visual arts
• Dance
• Music
• Sports
• Community events

As well as programming especially conceived for the South Valley including:

• English as a Second Language
• GED Completion
• Achieving Citizenship
• Financial Literacy
• Healthy Cooking
• Diabetes Prevention
• Gardening
• Public Health and Safety
• Consumer Protection
• Science Education
• Local History

The QUQ Board of Directors determined the need for this new channel because

a) Channel 27 has so many producers asking for time slots that programming is always in rotation. There are not enough hours in the week to provide time slots for all who are interested. (At Channel 27, all new producers are given their choice of any timeslot that is not live programming which receives priority.)
b) Other than the “murder and mayhem” news programs, the network TV affiliates in Albuquerque do very little local programming. So there is almost no culturally and locally relevant positive TV programming in this area. This unfortunately mirrors most communities in the country,
c) Deep media and governmental problems impact our community with a lack of representation of, and negative stereotyping toward minorities (in the majority minority population that is Albuquerque) by commercial media. Added to this is inadequate governmental and philanthropic support for NPO’s that deal with these social issues.
d) As founders of a Media Arts Collaborative Charter School in Albuquerque, one of the few public high schools in the country devoted to a fully integrated media arts secondary education and located in a low-income primarily immigrant section of the City, the QUQ Board also wished to provide a TV outlet for student projects. But, as stated above, the channel is full.

Encantada TV will have a tremendous community-building effect. This is what makes it timely. In an economic downturn, we all need to work together to help each other. Otherwise, the community as a whole deteriorates as a percentage of people fall deeper into substance abuse and criminal behavior that desperation breeds.

This station will function as a positive force in the community to entertain with positive, culturally relevant programs devoted to local dance troops, local musicians and local artists and to the education of youth through the many types of programming outlined above. It aims to create individual self-empowerment and community cohesion. We know that poverty and ignorance go hand-in-hand. When children of impoverished parents can get a decent education and stay out of trouble, they have opportunities to end their cycle of poverty. Our channel will offer a great deal of valuable information available free-of-charge to motivated viewers.

As such this programming is an extension of what we already provide in the community as a hub for social activism. It will also have higher production values, and as such, we believe will attract a wider audience. This will make QUQ an even greater accelerator for New Mexico’s state and local agencies and nonprofits devoted to arts, culture and community development.

QUQ is already a 30-year-old 501(c)3 that provides award-winning public access television in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, metropolitan area. As such, we offer a diverse majority-minority population a wide array of local programming and also serve as a community hub, bringing together artists and activists, as well as religious leaders from varying local and state organizations with many different missions. QUQ also provides digital video and sound production training, offering professional accreditation for Final Cut Pro video editing and the only locally available accreditation for ProTools sound editing softwares.

Because it both brings persons of many different perspectives together within its halls, and makes their television programming accessible to all cable subscribers in the area, QUQ serves as a great mixing pot and accelerator of community awareness.

Unfortunately, the City of Albuquerque is not providing QUQ with additional funding with which to operate this worthwhile venture. However, we are all tremendously inspired by the opportunity to deliver the kind of programming described above and we think the community will support this programming, despite the economic downturn, in the form of underwriting by businesses in the area, and marketing dollars from federal, state and county agencies for distribution of informational programming they may be paying to have cablecast on other channels.

Our capacity generating position for our Vista volunteer would be to serve as outreach and development assistant for Quote…Unquote, Inc. to bring new organizations and communities in to work with us.

The first priority of the VISTA member would be to create a systematic plan including methods of tracking the interaction and effectiveness of each aspect of outreach and development of the organization. This work should lead to the creation of a starter kit that can be used in the future by QUQ and serve as a model for other organizations.

Our VISTA member would also be involved in volunteer recruitment and as a fundraising assistant, working directly with the executive director.

The role of the VISTA member would be valuable experience for them in networking, community organizing and learning about the community that she/he would be working and living in.