A small-screen maverick brings user-generated TV to Philly.
Democracy in action: Howard Blumenthal wants you to tell your story on TV. (photo by christopher gabello)
In 1977 Warner Bros. introduced a media innovation in Columbus, Ohio, that would quietly change the face of American television. It was called Qube TV, and it allowed viewers to watch programs on demand. The system included 10 pay-per-view channels (unheard of at the time), 10 broadcast channels and 10 community channels. Among these community offerings were Pinwheel (which would later become Nickelodeon) and Sight on Sound, a visual radio show offering concert footage and music-oriented programming. The channel was based on a business plan hatched by a young, inexperienced stringer for Warner Bros. Records named Howard Blumenthal. It's known today as MTV.
Thirty-one years later and Blumenthal has been around the TV universe and back. He created shows like Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? and wrote This Business of Television, now considered the bible of the industry. He's worked on every network on the dial. Throughout the years he's watched as the MTV generation has been replaced by the YouTube generation, television has become a wash of instant nostalgia and on-demand content, and the Internet has become the new cutting edge. But the ideas his Qube envisioned--television on demand, for people with short attention spans, tied into the local community--are still relevant.
So he's created MiND TV, a short-form public access station. Anyone can produce MiND's shows--they run in five-minute blocks and are broadcast on Channel 35 and as clips on the Internet. It's television by the people, for the people. In short, it's a supercharged YouTube with a brain.
"When you go to YouTube, you don't know what you're going to see," Blumenthal says. "But it's not a brand, it's not a channel. It's just a lot of stuff."
Blumenthal has had a dream life in television. Everything he touches turns to gold. Last year at this time he was jet-setting between coasts working on shows for Cartoon Network and the History Channel.
And this illustrious career led him to ... Roxborough? The squat, unassuming WYBE building at 8200 Ridge Ave. hardly reflects the glamorous lifestyle many associate with high-powered TV executives. The bushes are overgrown, the building could use a coat of paint and Center City is several miles down the road. But according to Blumenthal, it's not what you have, but what you do with it. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
"When we did MTV, we were working on a very small budget," he says. "We were in Rockefeller Center overlooking Central Park, but our set was made of paper and the decoration was Avery fluorescent labels. So we had a choice between the big building in Center City that we could barely afford, or start in Roxborough, keep it quiet and funky, and wear shorts to work every day."
Since its formal launch in May, MiND has held regular open houses to discuss the direction of the station and give community members a tour of the facilities. Like a good bar or neighborhood restaurant, the atmosphere at MiND is warm and friendly--it's a place where you just want to hang out. Community meetings and open houses have created MiND regulars.
Sandy Fulton used to be a naval officer, but since Vietnam she's been an advocate for causes like veteran treatment and alternative energy. She says she loves the atmosphere and openness of MiND.
"Try going to one of the big TV station affiliates in Philadelphia and ask to speak to a producer," she says. "They'd laugh you out of the place."
Indeed, the most fascinating thing about MiND is the way its grab-bag of viewers rallies together, for no reason other than to have a say in what's on their TV.
Jasneet Kaur is in Roxborough visiting her sister at the apartment across the street from the MiND studios. She saw a sign for an open house and just wandered in. At first she sat silently, but by the end of the meeting she was pitching program ideas.
Skip Ehrig drove from Central Jersey to attend the open house. His reason? He went to watch The X-Files on the Sci Fi Channel only to find his cable company had replaced Sci Fi with MiND TV. When he found out he could be a part of it, he jumped at the chance.
With so many differing viewpoints, the programming on MiND runs the gamut from tattooed musicians slamming punk anthems to elderly sewing instructors teaching you to turn an ordinary sweatshirt into a cardigan.
In order to teach members to tell their stories in five-minute packages, Blumenthal and his team have developed MiND Boot Camp, a media-making workshop designed to take a large-scale idea and edit it, light it, shoot it and bring it to the screen. More important, they teach members how to make it break through the clutter of today's crowded reality TV landscape.
"If it's colorful and interesting and the action keeps moving and the people are engaging, you'll stop," Blumenthal says of his newly minted TV stars. "And you'll tell your friends."
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1. publictvwatcher said... on Sep 30, 2008 at 03:21PM
“It's bad enough they took off some really great programs, but what they're replacing it with is just terrible. It feels like a bunch of infomercials. Most of the singers I've seen It feels like I'm watching a high school talent contest. Bring back heavy sedation!”
2. MediaJunkie said... on Aug 14, 2008 at 07:43AM
“Its a shame that they had to take away something that already was different and actually worked.”
3. Mogue said... on Aug 13, 2008 at 12:01PM
“Awesome. It is about time someone in public media tried something new.”
4. MediaJunkie said... on Aug 13, 2008 at 08:13AM
“Interesting, this article says "But the ideas his Qube envisioned--television on demand, for people with short attention spans, tied into the local community--are still relevant. ", as if Qube TV was his idea. But, actually QUBE was envisioned by Warner Communications chairman Steve Ross; Blumenthal was only the producer of one series that ran on one of the 30 QUBE stations.”
5. MediaJunkie said... on Aug 13, 2008 at 07:55AM
“Blumenthal says. "But it's not a brand, it's not a channel. It's just a lot of" CRAP!!!”
6. Whiplash said... on Aug 7, 2008 at 04:52PM
“Take anything coming from that management with a grain of salt. nuff said!”
7. Youtubefan said... on Aug 7, 2008 at 12:44PM
“There's nothing wrong with a station trying to function based wholly on the financial support of its viewership. Where it does fail is thinking its audience will want to pay to create their own content, when they can go on youtube, or Current and post their content for free and also open it up to a much wider audience than a small public TV station in philadelphia. What the other commenter above said is such a sad truth. WYBE was one of the last truly independent TV stations in not only this area, but in country. It had some truly great content, like Asian programming, alternative news sources, and a lot of british TV that isn't really broadcast anymore. Now its being run into the dirt with a concept whose sell by date has long since past.”
8. Ryanrit said... on Aug 7, 2008 at 07:28AM
“I think the above commenters are missing the point... If you don't like what's on Mind when you flip through, most stations say change the channel. Mind is saying make something more compelling. As for paying for access, I think the integrity of the station would be lost if it was commercially funded, like Current. If there aren't ads, how can the station function? This is the same way pbs works, but rather than just making a donation, you're getting access to put what you want on the channel.”
9. LostTransmission said... on Aug 7, 2008 at 06:40AM
“Howard Blumenthal the founder of MTV? Where did you get this information, from Howard Blumenthal? No where in the annals of MTV history can any mention of this be found, maybe you should fact check a little before you write an article like this. Mr. Blumenthal has done nothing more than use his corporate sway to take what was one of the last great independent TV stations in the country that was not a PBS affiliate and run it completely into the ground and then replace it with something that will become nothing more than cheap advertising for his high society friends. There is nothing revolutionary here, and this is NOT the voice of any community in or around the greater Philadelphia region. This whole thing reads like a propaganda piece. Shame on you Philadelphia Weekly for doing such a shoddy cut and paste job on a story that really should be told: The death of local, public television.”
10. this is not public access said... on Aug 7, 2008 at 05:28AM
“Funny how there is no mention in this article that you have to PAY to get your program on Mind. Whereas Current will pay YOU for your content, or you can manage to distribute for FREE via youtube or another source. WYBE was interesting and was a voice for the community BEFORE this happened. Now it's just a voice for those willing and able to pay. I wouldn't exactly call that free speech, would you? Plus what is on there now is not interesting or engaging at all. Everytime I flip by there is either a bad folk singer or a bellydancer, both of which are self-promoting more than educating. Mind is a joke.”
11. Youtubefan said... on Aug 6, 2008 at 03:53PM
“In an age of Youtube, and Current and other formats of similar nature, MiND is a product delivered five years too late and delivered poorly. Whenever I flip past it, I seem to catch the same four or five pieces over and over. Whoever thinks this is going to be the voice of a community is delusional. Don't waste your time on it.”
12. Ryanrit said... on Aug 7, 2008 at 08:28AM
“I think the above commenters are missing the point... If you don't like what's on Mind when you flip through, most stations say change the channel. Mind is saying make something more compelling. As for paying for access, I think the integrity of the station would be lost if it was commercially funded, like Current. If there aren't ads, how can the station function? This is the same way pbs works, but rather than just making a donation, you're getting access to put what you want on the channel. ”