Our Story
A Brief Background
Back in 1995, I was surfing my local cable stations when I came across a public access channel called MATA which broadcasted on two cable channels in my local area. Today, it goes by a new name along with a new location: MCM. While watching the channel, I saw an ad: "Make Your Own TV" — the ad description went on to invite anyone with an idea for a TV program to come down to the station and find out how you could accomplish such a task!
I thought about it, and came up with an idea for a show. So me, and a female friend of mine with her kids went down to the station to find out more information as it sounded too good to be true at first. While venturing into the room where the meeting was going to take place, I noticed the room was packed full of future producers — more so than I expected. Orientation was impressive, so the Lord led me to sign up for classes. First, I attended producers class, which was a mere introduction on how to be a producer and going through the first step of a systematic process of bringing your TV program to cable.
We practiced as a class by taking some video on various subjects, mostly unrelated to our actual show ideas — mainly for the purpose of learning how to produce. I was paired with a Muslim couple to accomplish the assignment. I picked a subject of being critical of gambling, which delighted my classmates. My presentation was against gambling, and those in sports like Pete Rose who used to gamble while playing — I even quoted the Bible a few times.
The Muslims I was working with picked a morality subject that eventually led towards their idea for a program about Islam. When these two projects were completed, editing class followed — navigating a maze of digital and analog editing which is now very primitive by the advance of computers. But it still has technical value even today. We took our projects and learned how to cue them up for the cable channel, including digital effects, sound fades, picture fades, and the title generator for proper credits.
Eight months had come and gone since I seen the ad for producing one's own TV program on a public access channel. I was nervous but relied on the Lord to lead me through the process. My very first show was witnessing to Roman Catholics, the doctrine of grace which cannot be earned or merited, and I covered a few news items.
My first airing was on a Friday night, around 8:30 PM — right in the heart of primetime TV. My family sat around the TV waiting for the program to start. Then all of a sudden, the intro started and there was my first appearance on TV. This was actually the second time my family waited; the first time the station had a technical issue and it never aired. It was the only major flaw — for the next four years the rest of the programs always started on time.
Unlike regular TV, public access offers a variety of options. My show was taped once and shown four times a month, once a week. It took me about three weeks to complete one program — going through preparation, camera work, editing, and then submission for broadcasting. Since there are no commercials on public access TV, you had to promote the program yourself.
I wasn't sure how many people actually watched my shows, but I did get noticed. When my shows ran every week on a regular basis, I would go into a mall and someone I had never seen before would say "hi" to me by name. People I worked with also mentioned they had seen me on TV. It wasn't star status, but it was great to know people were watching!
I did many more programs after that up until around 2000, where there were lots of time slot changes after each year. The channel worked out a new deal with the city that mainly favored those who worked first shift. I worked nights, and there was no way I could check out, go to work, do the show the next morning, and then check back in. Sadly, my show had to end on cable — though it's not to say I will never go back. If my work hours change or if the station hours change, I will go right back into producing once again and take more classes, Lord willing.
This brings me to the website, which began in 1998 at another web address. It has been at this current address since 2005. The Other Side was originally my show's title. My church — Bible Believers Church, which is an independent Baptist congregation — had no clue at the time on how to build a website, so I combined the two.
What started as a mere 8 pages is now over 166 pages, which is amazing, and it continues to grow while trying to adapt to the ever-changing world of internet surfing.