Community members keep TV station up and running
By Laura Hipshire
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
When Henry Ford Village’s internal cable TV station, Channel 11, was threatened with a blackout due to the absence of staff leader and technical expert Anne Diaz-Perry, for a considerable amount of time community members sprung into action by pitching in.
Volunteers Terry Hess, Tom Radtke, Warren Rivera, and John Backoff jumped at the chance to ensure everything ran smoothly at the station.
Terry Hess, who moved to the Dearborn community from Canton, says she was immediately interested in learning more about the cable TV station when she first heard about it. “If I were starting over, I would do this for my full-time career,” she says.
Volunteers sign up for ‘bootcamp’
Neither Hess nor Backoff had any prior television experience.
John Backoff, who moved with his wife Dorothy from Royal Oak, attended a twoweek video journalism class, affectionately known as Journalism Boot Camp, two years ago, along with Hess, Radtke, Rivera, and others. The Erickson-sponsored classes included topics such as how to use a camcorder and how to do editing. Erickson also sent 15 state-of-the-art camcorders to Henry Ford Village so that community members could film current events happening on campus.
Anne Diaz-Perry followed up with more training for those especially interested in learning and mastering TV production skills. “You have to learn how to direct, produce, and work the camera,” Hess says. “Anne taught all of it to us.”
In the beginning, Hess was a bit hesitant to break out on her own in the studio. “I was scared to death, but you do it and then you’re not afraid anymore,” she says.
Novices turn pro
Today, Hess is a pro; she helps produce Meet Your Neighbor segments, as well as broadcasts of live Catholic mass services every Sunday. She also helps out with the Live with Larry show each Wednesday, featuring Henry Ford Village Executive Director Larry Vidovic. “I love every aspect of it. It gets the adrenaline going,” she says.