Bloomfield Community TV adds podcast studio

By Lisa Brody

Bloomfield Community TV (BCTV), which has an award-winning studio producing public, educational and government (PEG) programming for nearly 40 years, is branching out, adding a new podcast studio.

The current production studio is a video studio which limits viewership to the screen. As Cable and Community Relations Director Carrie LeZotte points out, with the new podcast studio, “the conversation is no longer limited to a screen.”

A podcast is a program made in digital form for download over the internet. Podcasts are primarily an audio medium, with some programs offering a supplemental video component.

The new BCTV podcast studio will still allow producers to create video content which is distributed on Comcast, AT&T and YouTube, LeZotte said. It just offers more, as podcasts are easy to consume while commuting, exercising or performing chores around the house.

The last few years have seen an explosion of new podcast content and programs. “Creating the podcast studio has allowed us to double the production space available to the community and give us room to host larger productions in the main studio,” LeZotte said. “The pod/vodcast are an evolution of what we’ve been doing here in Bloomfield Township for years – conversational shows with interesting residents and community members about local issues. Adding the distribution platforms now available will help extend our reach.”

LeZotte said she is really excited about a podcast called, “Community Readiness” with Bloomfield Police Chief James Gallagher, “as I don’t think there’s a police podcast out there that looks at education and community partnership quite the way our chief does in his program.”

Cable Operations Manager Steve Rota said he is looking forward to having residents take part in production to drive the studio forward. “Residents are the reason we have all the programs that we do. They bring their programming ideas and we provide the technical expertise; they give us the guest and the host and we put the show together.”

Once created and uploaded, all podcasts can be streamed via Podbean.

Residents of Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms and Franklin are eligible to produce programs at the BCTV station by first attending a volunteer workshop. Interested parties should visit the township website for more information at bloomfieldtwp.org/services.