Encouraging the City to Study the Feasibility of Implementing a Local Public Polling System

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September 13, 2013 Hon. Henry Davis Jr. Councilman, 2nd District City of South Bend, 4th Floor 227 W. Jefferson Blvd South Bend, IN 46601 Dear Councilman Davis: Michiana Public Broadcasting Corporation (MPBC), which operates Michiana Access Television (MATV) on behalf of the Cities of South Bend/Mishawaka and St. Joseph County, is formally responding to a series of discussions we have held with Mr. David Frank regarding his vision to create a new opportunity for community discourse in the greater South Bend area. Mr. Frank has asked me to respond directly to you. In our conversations. an urgent community need was described to create a means for ordinary citizens to have a larger, more impactful, voice on the media. This new"voice"should include"live"commentators discussing a topic, and allow citizens to interact with the program by telephone, e-mail, and social media. There is also a goal to develop an electronic voting/polling system to measure viewers'thoughts on an issue. Out of our dialogue, MPBC is encouraged by the potential of this concept to expand the role of public media, and within our role with MATV is willing to facilitate the project. To assist the advocacy of this concept, MPBC has developed a framework for the structure of this concept and has researched the start- up costs. For the sake of these discussions, we will use the working title"Talk of the Town" (TT) to describe the general concept of the program. Background Michiana Public Broadcasting Corporation was fortunate to inherit the former WSBT Television and Radio Studios. They are primarily used for the operations of Michiana's PBS station, WNIT. More recently MPBC was contracted to provide services for Michiana Access Television. Our facility includes the unused, former studio of popular morning radio host, Jon Thompson, "JT in the Morning." While most of the building has been extensively remodeled, the Jon Thompson studio remains basically intact. Designed for its radio host to have conversations with guests, it can accommodate four additional persons around a large console. We believe this studio can be redesigned for television, using simple technology, and become a means to regularly feature multiple guests for discussions of community interest on MATV.