While driving around the bottom edge of Lake Michigan a few years ago, headed for Michigan, my radio drifted from station signal to station signal until it settled on the voice a preacher (of unknown denomination) who had a simple message to his sermon: "To make friends, you need to be friendly." His edict was simple, but too often unheeded. How often do we wait for someone else to share a good word or perform a good deed, before we're compelled to react and do the same?
Kenosha Community Media has its hand extended to the Kenosha area, welcoming everyone to become a part of the community conversation. KCM exists to provide a public service. This service includes the training and tools that allow citizens to express themselves through the magic and medium of community television. Our staff and many citizen/producers have also worked to create video programming for local organizations, including programming to raise awareness of our area animal shelters and children's programs at the Kenosha Public Library. Several local talk shows--Kenosha Today with Scott Barter; Shakin' Up Kenosha with Dennis Shook; and Just Talkin' with Jason Rimkus--welcome local guests from our business, organizational, and political communities. KCM has worked to become good friends with the community it serves and will continue to develop new ways to broaden and enrich community conversation on issues that are important to Kenosha and to showcase our community's talent, activities, and events.
As a part of this effort, in 2009, KCM will launch its KCM Friends campaign, inviting citizens to become Friends of KCM not only as producers of video/TV programming, but as PBS-style sponsors of local programming, and also as volunteers to help KCM provide better outreach to local organizations (and to the general population) and to assist KCM in its day-to-day operations. More details on this effort will be available in November/December and at KCM's upcoming annual meeting on November 14th.