Photo Courtesy of Wallingford Public Access Association
There is a well established facet of the local community that is public, free, and entertaining – the Wallingford Public Access Association (WPAA). WPAA is a volunteer-run, non-profit community media center that facilitates the creation of citizen-produced media for the town of Wallingford. Over the past few years, the organization has been expanded to include an arts and media center. WPAA is largely funded by donations, grants, and subscribers who pay an annual fee of $8 to support shows made by citizens members serving the community via television.
The WPAA non-profit has been around for over 30 years, and in its time, it has produced television shows, provided equipment and technical support to the producers of Wallingford, fostered a sense of community through competitions, and grown to be a community arts hub. According to Volunteer Executive Director, Ms. Susan Huizenga, they “provide the tools and the stage for people to cover what they choose to cover.”
One show featured on WPAA is “The Citizen Mike Show,” where Mr. Michael Brodinsky, a resident of Wallingford, discusses issues that are important to the community: “It’s interviews, it’s news, it’s commentary.” Mr. Brodinsky explained. He often hosts government employees and officials to discuss and debate local politics. This angle of the show originated in the 2010 Connecticut election, where Director Huzienga asked Mr. Brodinsky to interview some of the candidates and “we decided to keep that show going.” Among his guests have been Christopher Shortell and Tom Laffin — current and former town councilors — and Ralph Tomaselli, the Senior Vice-President and Editor of The Record-Journal, a Meriden-based newspaper.
Another program is Mr. Mike Schleif’s kids broadcast, “Space Bears.” The show is a cartoon for children that follows two best friends on their adventures to collect space gems across the galaxy. Mr. Schleif, the show’s producer and creator, said that the goal is to “promote friendship, kindness, and helping others.” WPAA works to expand the reach of the show, by featuring it on their website and their YouTube channel. “They have given the show a platform to be seen by the local community, which I think is fantastic,” he said.
In addition to these shows, the station also runs religious services, public service announcements, and educational programs. One such program is a language literacy show in Spanish and English, for those interested in learning either language. It runs midday Monday through Saturday and works as a collaborative project between WPAA and the Spanish Community of Wallingford (SCOW).
Since WPAA is a Wallingford-based organization, students, including Choaties, have access to the services provided by WPAA. According to Director Huizenga, “every Choate student has the same access to these facilities as any resident would have.” They also provide internships and community service opportunities. One such opportunity is the “Hercules Team” – named for the heroism, kindness, and wisdom that the members display – which creates videos to share how WPAA is working to transform the Wallingford community in a unique way.
One WPAA viewer and occasional contributor is Meriden resident Ms. Nina Terribile. She has participated in two of WPAA’s three-minute movie challenges. WPAA’s social media presence, in particular, stands out to Ms. Terribile because it “gives people a voice and educates them on different topics … It helps people to become inspired and have an understanding of the world that we live in.”
According to the WPAA website, the goal of these challenges is to “facilitate the creation, sharing, and collection of stories from our community in the time of Covid-19, when we experienced ourselves and our spaces differently.” In that spirit, awards given in these challenges are gift cards to local businesses to help them thrive.
For its service to the Wallingford community, WPAA has won the 2019 Overall Excellence Award for Small Community TV Stations from the Alliance for Community Media USA, and the Overall Excellence Award from the Alliance for Community Media North East in 2013 and 2014. WPAA’s programs, shows, and events, can be found on their website, wpaa.tv.
