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MCA-TV Broadcasts 25th Season of Moon Area Varsity Football
When Executive Director Jim Koepfinger taped Moon Community Access Television’s first Moon Area High School football season in 1985, he was following plays with one camera, stowing equipment under the bleachers between games and sticking to home turf.
Twenty-five years later, the production – which started only eight months after the station opened its doors – has evolved from a one-camera shoot to a full-scale sports broadcast.
This year, MCA-TV kicks off its 25th consecutive Tiger football season beginning with the September 3, home opener against the Mars Planets.
MCA-TV Tiger football games are shot with six cameras and feature slow-motion instant replay and high-quality graphics, including scoreboard, countdown clock and downs and yardage displays. This upgraded equipment is housed in MCA-TV’s mobile production trailer, which has enabled the station to take coverage on the road since 1995.
Since then, MCA-TV has covered every home and away Tiger football game, including the team’s 1998 playoff run that took them all the way to the PIAA Championship game in Hershey, Pa.
“MCA-TV is proud to have been there for 25 seasons of Tiger Football, and it has been rewarding to hear from the players and parents who use MCA-TV to revisit season highlights over the years,” Koepfinger said. “Friday night football brings the community together in many ways, and our goal is to help fans follow the season and support their team and school district even when they can’t make the games.”
A crew of about 10 MCA-TV volunteers produces football games under the direction of Koepfinger and Assistant Director Ryan McAfee. Moon resident Dave Merison and volunteer Pete Cepulis provide play-by-play reporting and analysis while other volunteers man the cameras and work on instant replay and graphics.
In 2007, MCA-TV expanded its local football coverage to the collegiate level through a collaboration with Robert Morris University. Along with a production crew of RMU students, MCA-TV will cover its fourth consecutive season of RMU home games beginning on Sept. 18, against Liberty University.
As kick-off approaches, Merison and Cepulis will pump up viewers for 2010 Tiger football with a season preview special that will air on MCA-TV, Comcast channel 14 and Verizon channel 35, on Aug. 23, 26 and 28.
During the season, Tiger football games air at 11 a.m. Saturdays and on Tuesdays at 10 a.m., 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on MCA-TV Comcast channel 14 and Verizon channel 35. Games also will be available for online viewing at www.mca-tv.com the week following the game.
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MCA-TV’s Film Fest 10' Winners |
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An artistic interpretation of photographer Diane Arbus’ suicide earned a McKees Rock filmmaker first place in Moon Community Access Television’s third annual Film Festival.
The Film Festival, which aired live on MCA-TV on July 17 and 18, featured 22 films that varied greatly in style, genre and length. The top three films, including Laurie A. Smith’s “Diane Arbus,” accentuated this variety during the final hour of the two-day event, which featured the best of more than 30 submitted films.
The following filmmakers took home a share of $1,800 in prize money made possible through the support of Michael Baker Corporation, Falconi’s Moon Township Automotive, Clearview Federal Credit Union and the Senior Men’s Club.
• First Place ($1,000): Laurie A. Smith of McKees Rocks won first prize with her experimental film “Diane Arbus,” which presented an artistic interpretation of the suicide of the 20th century American photographer known for her controversial depictions of people living on the margins of mainstream society.
• Second Place ($500): Jesse Pattison of Vanport, Pa, won second place with his animated documentary, “Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water,” which focused on water use and treatment issues.
• Third Place ($300): Point Park University graduates Mike Marsh and Todd Kappelt took third place with their film “Convergence,” an artistic montage of time-lapse photography of the Pittsburgh area.
Select films from the 2010 Film Festival will replay periodically on MCA-TV. For the program schedule, or more information about MCA-TV, visit www.mca-tv.com.
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MCA-TV’s “Spotlight on Gardening” Program Wins Multiple
State and National Garden Club Awards
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The Moon Township Garden Club recently won four awards from state and national garden club associations for “Spotlight on Gardening,” a weekly how-to program that the club produces for Moon Community Access Television during the summer months.
Both The Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania and National Garden Clubs, Inc. recognized the program with first-place awards in the Radio and/or TV category of annual awards presentations.
The garden club received two state awards and one national award, and Suzan Vandertie, Moon Township Garden Club president and “Spotlight on Gardening” producer, received an award from National Garden Clubs, Inc. for producing and spearheading the program.
The “Spotlight on Gardening” award evaluations described the show as a “bright and informative” program that is interesting to both novice and experienced gardeners. This ambitious local garden club project serves as a creative educational tool for the community, the evaluation stated.
Now in its second season on MCA-TV, “Spotlight on Gardening” features planting and growing topics geared toward gardeners who are just beginning to cultivate their green thumbs.
The “Spotlight on Gardening” crew shoots episodes both in-studio and in-garden, but even the on-set programs feature hands-on content, such as a compost heap that crew members built on the set.
In addition to developing content and appearing on-camera, garden club members fulfill the technical aspects of production, including camera angles, audio levels and graphics.
Among last season’s 12 episodes were topics ranging from gardening tools and catalogue shopping to seed planting and the difference between annuals and perennials.
“I think it’s important for people to know that you can beautify your surroundings on the outside and you don’t have to be an expert,” Vandertie said. “We wanted to focus on the most basic topics.”
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MCA-TV Film Fest screened at Zelienople’s Strand Theater
More than 30 miles away in Zelienople, top films from the 2009 MCA-TV Film Festival hit the big screen at the historic Strand Theater for the first-ever public viewing of MCA-TV Film Fest entries.
In a two-day showing on Friday, April 30, and Sunday, May 2, the non-profit theater screened nine films, including 2009 Film Fest prize winners “The Korean,” “Piano Story” and “The Miracle of Danny.”
The cross-community collaboration expanded exposure opportunities for the local filmmakers who submitted their work for the 2009 MCA-TV Film Fest. A few of the filmmakers were even able to attend the event to experience their films on the Theater’s 20-inch screen, HD digital projection and 45-speaker surround sound systems.
The Strand Theater and MCA-TV first joined forces when MCA-TV Assistant Director Ryan McAfee interviewed Ron Carter of the Strand Theater on his MCA-TV program “On the Town Live.” McAfee and Carter, president and executive director of the Strand Theater Initiative, discovered a mutual interest to showcase the talent of local filmmakers.
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MCA-TV announces 2009 Film Fest winners
The second annual MCA-TV Film Festival aired live on MCA-TV in October and once again exposed viewers to an eclectic mix of styles and genres produced by more than 30 local filmmakers.
MCA-TV received more than 45 submissions from shorts to feature films, which explored a range of genres from horror and suspense to comedy and animation. The following 2009 MCA-TV Film Fest winners impressed judges with their originality, cinematography and technical execution:
First Prize
Thomas Dixon with his action film “The Korean”
A mob boss calls in his deadliest “cleaner” on the eastern starboard to track down his four criminal associates.
Second Prize
Andrew Batista with “The Piano Story”
This drama tells the story of a man searching for love and a way to finish his music.
Third Prize
Tanya Allum and Justin Seaman with “The Miracle of Danny”
In this drama, two siblings search for a safe haven from their abusive father.
MCA-TV Assistant Director Ryan McAfee launched the first MCA-TV Film Festival in 2008 in an effort to showcase the work of local filmmakers. In turn, the Film Fest offers MCA-TV viewers the opportunity to see independent films that often fall outside the mainstream. |
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2008 Film Festival Winners Chosen
For its first year, MCA-TV’s Film Festival was a successful event. With more than 70 entries from nearly 50 different applicants, MCA-TV was able to show a variety of films throughout the two-day festival. Filmmakers from all corners of the Pittsburgh region sent in submissions encompassing nearly every film genre. A four-member panel judged each of the films on a 100-point scale. Here is who they determined to be the winners:
- First Place: Justin Seaman, producer of “The Heroes of Post 639,” a war documentary that told the story of nine World War II veterans from Claysville, Pa.
- Second Place: Adam Taylor, producer of “Taps,” a drama/comedy/period film.
- Third Place: Scott Golmic, producer of “Breath of Fussball,” a sports documentary.
Due to time constraints, not every film submitted was able to be replayed. Additionally, some of the lengthier films were cut short so MCA-TV could show as many films as possible. In case you weren’t able to tune into MCA-TV for the Film Festival, be sure to keep watching as many of the films will be aired during our regular broadcasts. You can always check the schedule by visiting our link.
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“The Doctor is In” Wins Bronze Telly Award |
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MCA-TV would like to congratulate Dr. Marc Schneiderman, producer of “The Doctor is In” for winning a bronze Telly Award during the 29th annual awards competition. The show that won was entitled “When Medicine Fails” and was the first episode in a three-part series that focuses on medical and surgical therapies used to treat the same illnesses. The show also featured Dr. Robert Skovira, an ethicist and professor at Robert Morris University, who talked about the benefits and consequences of using electronic medical records. Dr. Skovira appears on each episode of “The Doctor is In.”
“It is an honor to be recognized with this national award, which further highlights the importance of community access television and the ability of individuals to produce shows that are important to them and their viewers,” said Dr. Marc Schneiderman. “Over the course of the eight years that I have been a community producer at MCA-TV, I have produced more than 30 medical shows that have been highly informative and featured some of Pittsburgh’s top physicians, surgeons and medical specialists. It has been a pleasure to take the knowledge of these doctors and share it with others.”
The Telly Awards is a prestigious national and international competition that receives more than 14,000 entries annually from all 50 states and several foreign countries. Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is recognized as the premier award honoring outstanding local, region, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions. Submissions are divided into categories and are judged by a panel of talented and creative individuals, all of whom have been honored with Silver Telly Awards – the organization’s highest honor.
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