The head of the Southern Berkshires’ public access television station announced his retirement this month. He’s leaving the job with grave concerns about its future.
Leo Mahoney says that after 16 years at Community Television of the Southern Berkshires, he wants a change of pace.
“I’ve gotten into doing production sound for – as a freelancer – for independent movies and TV things that take place here in the Berkshires, so I want to be able to focus on that while I’m able to,” he told WAMC.
He’ll be leaving as station manager at the end of 2019.
A Berkshire native from Lenox, Massachusetts, Mahoney spent 26 years at Cable Vision Systems in Long Island before returning home in 2003. What drew him back was the opportunity to work initially as the production manager at CTSB.
“They’re called PEG stations," explained Mahoney. "It stands for public, education, and government. We have three channels that are dedicated to those three subjects.”
He says it was a big jump from cutting-edge corporate technology to a dilapidated local station.
“The plant was in just terrible shape," said Mahoney. "They had no money to maintain the plant. So for us to get pictures and sound on the air was just a major, major challenge.”
CTSB covers five towns: Lenox, Lee, Sheffield, Stockbridge, and Great Barrington. Back in 2003, Mahoney says its shortcomings defined it.
“It just had the worst press. People heard public access and it kind of became a joke in South County because it just wasn’t working.”
Mahoney says working with Adelphia, the cable provider at the time, was a nightmare. It took a new provider for things to really change.
“Time Warner invested into the system," he said. "They upgraded it from what it was. They started putting in fiber optic lines. It was just a huge undertaking.”
Those advancements gave Mahoney the boost he needed to request more funding from the station’s board to continue technological advancements. He says another major step forward for CTSB during his tenure was focusing on how it used that technology – specifically, embracing its role as a teaching agent in the county. CTSB offers trainings, editing bays, and opportunities for South County residents to produce their own content.
“Once the company made more of a commitment to upgrade its equipment, and what we have to teach members, then our membership started to increase," said Mahoney.
A change of scenery also helped the institution – which relies in part on membership to pay its bills.
“Since we opened up the new building four and a half years ago, our membership pretty much tripled, I’d say," the station manger told WAMC. "We’re up to about 150 members, as opposed to the 40 members when we left the old location.”
CTSB is located in Lee’s industrial park on Quarry Hill Road.
Over the years, Mahoney climbed the ranks at the station and saw its reputation improve within the community it serves. Initially, he intended to leave in 2018 – but a major threat to the station’s primary funding source forced him to stay on and prepare CTSB for the worst. Private donations and membership fees contribute to the station’s yearly budget of around $380,000. But, the lion’s share of that money comes from a yearly check for around $400,000 from the county’s cable customers as per an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission.
“We’re allowed five percent of cable sales from Spectrum," said Mahoney. "Not high speed data – this is strictly cable television.”
But now, cable companies like Spectrum are petitioning the FCC to change that agreement.
“They could say to us, it costs us as a cable company $30,000 a year just to get your pictures on the air a year – and that’s $30,000 that we’re going to remove from your five percent,” said Mahoney.
Mahoney estimates that as many as 80 percent of public access stations nationwide could fold if the five-person FCC panel approves the change. Berkshire County alone has five public access stations, and Massachusetts has the most of any state.
“If there’s any good thing about the government shutdown, it’s that the FCC is shut down," said Mahoney. "So any movement on this proposed change has been frozen – and hopefully it will stay frozen for a long time.”
The FCC’s decision could come as early as this spring.
Mahoney thinks that between savings and the next round of funding from Spectrum under the existent arrangement, CTSB could stay solvent for up to two years.
Despite his impending exit and the storm clouds brewing over the station, Mahoney hasn’t forgotten the importance of the role CTSB plays in the culture of the Southern Berkshires.
“Here in Lee, we have a number of members who perform," he told WAMC. "Olga May Milligan, out of Great Barrington, she’s been with the company for as long as I’ve been around – and that’s going on 16 years – and Olga still comes in just to do her piano show. It may sound hokey to some – a local piano show – but it’s important. Olga has a following, it’s good for Olga to get out and do her show, it’s something that she really enjoys. She wouldn’t be able to do that without an access center like us to help her out.”
