Two years later, Hamtramck TV is thriving and growing

Greg Kirchner, left, has been the driving force behind Hamtramck TV Channel 19 for the past two years. He recently reflected on what the media outlet has accomplished during this time.

By Alan Madlane
Hamtramck’s very own cable channel, 19 on your local Comcast network, has been active for just about two years now, having gone live around late June of 2022.
We caught up with station head Greg Kirchner with an armful of questions, and here’s what he had to say.

The Review: When the last time The Review checked in with you, it was March of last year, 2023. Sounds like things have changed a bit with Channel 19 since then. Can you lay out some of the ways that things have changed since this all began?

Kirchner: We are not a multi-million-dollar venture that has the potential to develop quickly, hire lots of people, finance costly productions and spend loads of money on all kinds of advertising.
We started out with a grant that allowed us to purchase the bare minimum of required equipment, pay for a fiber-optic connection from Comcast’s Roseville office to the library, and secure a few volunteers, who helped (on Hamtramck’s 100-year anniversary) to set up the First Public TV Broadcast Station in our city.
The equipment we purchased, and broadcasting system we installed, is High Definition, with quality that rivals that of local networks.
Originally, we negotiated with the city to take over government Channel 12, and the city manager at the time, Kathy Angerer, was going along with the idea. However, when the project was about to come to fruition, Ms. Angered changed her mind, and decided to keep Channel 12 at city hall.
For a moment, it seemed that the whole idea was going to fail, but negotiations with Comcast worked out and a solution was found: Comcast agreed to give us a separate channel, independent of the city’s, if we (met) certain conditions during a three-month trial period.
Originally, the plan was to broadcast library and city events from time to time, mostly during the day. This was not acceptable to Comcast. Their requirement was to broadcast at least eight hours a day, and we had to guarantee at least three full months of broadcast time in order to retain the channel.
That was the first change that we had to make. We had to come up with more content that would fulfill the requirements. We decided to broadcast 24 hours per day, seven days per week, and we have accomplished that for the last two years.

The Review: Back in March of 2023, the station was making its hay, in particular, with those in the 25-34 age group, and on up; not as much with those younger. Has that stayed about the same? Would you say it has to do with the programming, and, on that note, is there any particular attempt to tailor programming to certain age groups?

Kirchner: Those statistics are always fluid; however, the age group 25-34 makes up 28.2% of our viewers, followed by 35-44 (22.6%) and 18-24 (21.2%). All other age groups are below 10%.
Most of the programs we broadcast do not target any particular age group, except for the summer reading programs, which are designed for children ages 5 to 16.

The Review: Similarly, there was quite a pastiche of countries that were tuning in, many from the Middle East, which, given the population shifts of the city in recent years, makes some sense.
But you were also getting people tuning in from odd spots like the U.K., Austria and Morocco. Has that shifted any? How do you account for your relative popularity in some of these places?

Kirchner: As the number of viewers grows, these statistics keep changing. Currently, the great majority of our viewers are, of course, in United States (64.9%); followed by India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Indonesia, the Philippines, France, Yemen, Russia, Australia, Germany, South Africa, Israel, Malayasia, Japan, Bangladesh, and more.
It is also important to look at the cities where we have an audience. These rank as follows: Detroit, Hamtramck, New York, Dearborn, Roseville, Warren, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Sterling Heights, Sana’a in Yemen, Placentia (CA), Toronto, London and more.

The Review: Is it possible to consider advertising as a potential source of revenue, or are you way ahead of me here? Without getting into personal finances, how is the station managing to keep moving forward?
What monies (grants, etc.) were there before that are not now, or, conversely, weren’t there at the beginning, but have since materialized?

Kirchner: We have been considering potential sources of revenue, but so far, producing the content has been our main thrust.
Most of us are familiar with Channel 56, the Detroit Public Broadcasting company that began its operations in 1956. It took many years for them to develop an efficient way to finance their operation. They do not carry traditional advertising, but rely on public support, innovative membership programs, and foundations that provide funding for production of content.
We are still at the stage where our audience is not large enough that it would allow us to follow the example of Channel 56, but viewer numbers are growing every day. It might take some time before our channel (and YouTube simulcast) will reach the kind of numbers that would allow paid advertising.

The Review: Given that some changes have probably happened since the station’s inception, how has your programming evolved since those earliest days?

Kirchner: At the very start, we had to rely on programs recorded earlier — years earlier. As we developed, we inserted a lot more current programing, and, on some days, only current programs.
We are looking for individuals who could moderate opinion shows on local issues, do cooking shows, and, eventually, daily news broadcasts. It takes lots of time to prepare them, and it is hard to organize such without sponsors. Eventually, when we are known well enough to attract sponsors, those programs and more will happen.

The Review: Let’s say someone from the community wants to start up a cable channel from scratch. What does it take, from the beginning, to do so?

Kirchner: It is not difficult to start a broadcast company, but on the other hand it is very difficult to make it succeed. All you must do is raise an amount of money that would finance the setup; secure a broadcast channel from a cable company, or apply for a frequency assignment from the FCC; erect an antenna; hire staff to run the station; create content; sell advertising; and find the audience that will tune in.
It is as simple as that. We started out with a $94,000 grant to cover the bare minimum cost of equipment, but we would have developed much faster if we would have started out with ten million dollars (a much more realistic amount if you want to succeed).

The Review: What is your hope and vision for the station for the rest of this year, and beyond?

Kirchner: The station, operating at the current level, can sustain itself indefinitely with the support of the library. We do need individuals (volunteers) who can take the station to the next level.
Having laid the foundation, it is now much more probable that the development of this resource will occur. Right now, volunteers like Kamal Rachman, Bill Meyer, Aaron Guay, and a few others who contribute from time to time, create the content.
We have organizations like the Piast Institute and Passenger Recovery House, relying on PSA’s broadcasted on TV-19. We have a complete set of city council meeting recordings (since July 2022). We recorded one the Board of Education meeting, and had twice as many viewers as their own YouTube channel.
We also recorded one of the Housing Commission meetings, and have been invited to continue that practice. We have recorded programs sponsored by city organizations and city-wide events. We broadcast interviews, entertainment programs, children’s programs, evenings with authors, city announcements, high school graduations, some sport games, opinions on issues, English as a Second Language classes and much, more.
Our current archive contains over 550 videos, some of which have over 5,000 views. We also have recordings of programs filmed in the last millennium (1998) that will eventually be available for viewing anywhere in the world.
Eventually, when additional funding becomes available, TV-19 will hire a staff to expand and improve on the coverage of Hamtramck Public TV-19.

The Review: Anything else to add?

Kirchner: Hamtramck Public TV-19 would like to thank The Review newspaper for providing support for the station from its very inception. Printed contact information is very important, and much appreciated.
We hope that the mayor and city council will recognize the value of the establishment of a mass media outlet that can disseminate information immediately, and will also find it appropriate to support the broadcast station financially.
It is also interesting to know that 70% of our viewers tune in on someone’s recommendation, 25% search for our channel, and the remaining 5% find us by chance. Our audience has been growing, on average, 2% per month.
And, lastly, we invite the public to participate. Send in photos or videos; come down and express your opinion on issues that you feel strongly about; and, if you are able to, come volunteer in the production of programs, discussion groups, or artistic performances — stop by, and make it happen.
Posted July 19, 2024