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BF’s FACT-TV is Expanding

By Joe Milliken
THE SHOPPER
BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Falls Area Community Television, or FACT-TV, will soon be expanding its coverage by launching a new station in Keene, N.H., with the new radio space being located at Heberton Hall on Winters Street. Keene has not had a public-access television station since the shutdown of “Cheshire TV” in 2020.

Under the direction of Executive Director Alex Stradling, FACT-TV will provide community-access television on the spectrum-provided channel 1301. Additionally, according to a recent press release, FACT-TV is also willing and able to help train local residents and coordinate the scheduling content.

Stradling and company are excited to be expanding their operations and public access and servicing the Keene area. Public access television is an ideal way to create local ties with nearby communities.

On Friday, Feb. 24, from 1-6 p.m., FACT-TV celebrated the grand opening of the new location inside the Keene Public Library at 60 Winters Street. It was an opportunity to enjoy a behind-the scenes tour of the station and observe all the services the operation has to offer.

It also gives the experienced team of technicians an opportunity to show people the ins and outs of operating a public access television station and to answer any technical questions visitors may have.

This event also created a platform for like-minded individuals to share ideas and the possibilities that come with supporting access to the television operation. There was also a question and answer session and refreshments were served at the event.

Managing Director, Josh Morelli, will run the Keene location.

“I got involved with FACT-TV a couple years ago when Alex Stradling was doing a community film project,” Morelli said in a recent interview. “We worked together to bring this project to life and then just kept working together from there.

“I started shooting videographer gigs for him and started working at the studio, and our working relationship just took off from there. Eventually, I saw an article about how Keene was looking for someone to take over the old Cheshire TV studio. I brought the article to Alex and we got to work on making it happen. Now, it’s our first official branch in another town for FACT-TV.”

Morelli will oversee the new location, which will again broadcast on Spectrum channel 1301, which will coincide with the stations current broadcasts across channels 1082-1083 on Comcast and 172-173 on VTel, where they will continue to serve Saxtons River, Grafton, and the Greater Rockingham region. All media will also continue to be streamed across YouTube, Facebook, and the FACT-TV website.

Falls Area Community Television is a nonprofit, Access Management Organization (AMO) dedicated to serving the public, educational, and government sectors of our local communities. FACT-TV’s humble beginnings started in 1978 at Bellows Falls Union High School, and has evolved (since 1998) under the direction of the previously mentioned Executive Director Alex Straddling, Technical and Programming Manager Collin Kimball, and Technical Assistant Amon Bingham.

If you are interested in learning more about FACT-TV or becoming a sponsor please call the Bellows Falls station at 802-463-1613, the Keene station at 603-903-0036, or by email at [email protected] or [email protected].

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