MANCHESTER – Move over CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, etc., KLVW is on the air. It has actually been broadcasting local shows for quite a while and those involved aren’t worried about ratings, they are too busy being involved with providing unique programs to viewers of Leisure Village West.
Residents of Leisure Village West can tune in to channel 975 for some hyper local programming and some classic films that have fallen into public domain use.
The senior community is unique in having a studio that allows for some very specialized programs tailored to the demographics of their development.
Bill Johnson is the cinematographer and senior editor at the station. Michael Blank and Michael Morizio are also key members of the station’s staff.
Morizio said the station “actually started in the 70s when the Village started. Originally, they did one show a week as the old cable service only provided one closed circuit channel which we had to share with the announcements of slides that tell you when the meetings are and so forth. The TV station was actually like a television club that produced one half hour show a week that aired six times during the week on that one channel.”
He said that in 2018, “we got Fios as our cable provider and they provided us with six channels. KLVW got its own channel and since then we’ve been broadcasting 24 hours, seven days a week, and we’ve never been dark. Our programming consists of about half public domain – meaning old movies and TV shows – and our original shows – half of which are done in the studio and half of which are done on location. These two guys are very prolific in producing shows on location.”
Among the shows are a sports program “Walk the Talk,” “Heart of the Jersey Shore,” and “The Italian Sisters Food and Review” where they go to restaurants and interview owners and chefs, Blank said.
Blank added, “what we do with ‘The Heart of the Jersey Shore’ is that we try to get anything that is interesting or geared toward the older generation.” For example, there could be interviews with doctors who explain certain medical issues.
“We interview businesses that offer senior discounts, helping people renovate their homes and we go to museums. We go to everywhere in Ocean County and around,” Blank said noting they go far beyond Leisure Village West.
“We just did a show on the Lakehurst Historical Museum and I’m in the process of editing it now and we’ll be doing a show on the Lakewood Strand,” Blank said.
“You also did one on the library,” Morizio reminded Blank.
Blank noted this was the Manchester Library. Morizio followed up that he had a meeting with Manchester Mayor Robert Arace. “I want to start another series on the Manchester government which would start with him and interviewing all the heads of all the township departments so that people get to know what our government does. Who they can contact if they need help.”
“Most but not all of our shows are interview style shows that have one or two guests and a host. We do everything in front of a green screen which means we can have any kind of background or any kind of set we want,” Morizio added.
On the technical side the trio talked about the integrating of new equipment such as tricaster. “We got that about 10 years ago,” Morizio said.
“That is the broadcasting system that all stations use,” Blank said.
Morizio said, “prior to that it was very old equipment, standard definition and there were three cameras and each one had to have a person behind them and it required – I’m told – 13 people to do a show as it used all old school equipment.”
With tricaster however, KLVW “we only really need a few people to do it and everything is done from the control room behind the cameras and is all done from here in the studio,” Morizio added.
Johnson always enjoyed photography and videotaping things and he said a neighbor got him to tape a Bar mitzvah for $250 “and after that people asked me to do a video of this or to take some photos and I worked with some people who started a small video company part-time.”
The station is a public access system and is not part of the ratings system. While the station doesn’t have its own Facebook page it does have a strong social media presence.
