abezilla.com

Did I read that right? Say it ain’t so! According to the Illinois Times piece on Access 4, The State of Illinois has given Comcast the freedom to bail on past requirements to maintain public access television. It seems Comcast allows Access 4 to continue out of the goodness of its cold, shriveled heart. According to the Illinois Times piece from January 29, “States, including Illinois, are allowing cable companies to override local municipal contracts. Comcast has closed studios in other locations.”

Unquote.

We can’t fool ourselves here. Comcast is likely already sharpening its axe in preparation to chop the head off this 24-year Springfield television fixture. It would be a shame to see Access 4 go away, but this is Comcast we’re talking about here, and from where I sit it seems like it’s only a matter of  time.

Access 4 is an important part of the Springfield media landscape–at least it was for me.  I –and most of the staff of Abezilla–was once upon a time notorious for bringing angry, fun mayhem to the Springfield’s public access airwaves in the form of something called The Punk Hour.

Yes, it’s true. As the creator, co-writer and whip-cracking tyrant of one of the goofiest programs to hit Access 4, (back when it was still called SCAN-17) I will hate to see Access 4 go the way of the dodo and the T-rex. The Punk Hour was an incredible opportunity for me to learn about TV and inflict a semi-regular dose of youthful idiocy on Springfield at the same time.

The Punk Hour was fun, it was ridiculous and it involved most of my friends, siblings, girlfriends, lovers, you name it–the people who made the show as fun as it was. They provided the laughs. We were about as polished as an episode of Wayne’s World–indeed, some speculated that Wayne’s World was inspired by our goofy antics (I don’t believe it). But it was a hell of a lot of fun—probably more fun to make than it was for unsuspecting viewers to watch, at least when it came to my bad William Shatner impressions and Monty Python ripoff sketches.

It would be a shame if a new generation were deprived of the same chance I had to get my feet wet in television–to see what it’s like to torment a crew of media students, volunteers and a few actual employees. In my case, Access 4 turned out to be the gateway drug to a 14 year career in television. Didn’t I mention that earlier?

I went from Access 4 to being a globe-hopping reporter for Air Force Television News. I’ve interviewed Jesse Jackson, Bob Hope, Dick Gephardt, Ty Pennington, I’ve covered natural disasters, Keiko the Killer Whale being set free in Iceland, the war on terror,  military medicine, you name it. I’ve had my camera and microphone in top secret facilities, flood plains, underground nuclear missile silos, operating rooms, and once I got to sit in the pilot’s seat and fly the B-1 Bomber. It’s been a hell of career.

I won’t go so far as to say that none of that would have been possible without Access 4–but I WILL say that Access 4 fostered an interest in television that led me to embrace the career path that led to all those things.

Comcast, don’t kill off Access 4. There are plenty of other people out there who could take the same opportunity and get addicted to putting stories and moving pictures together. I know you probably don’t care about any of that, but looking back it means a lot to me that the resources were available. Maybe they’ll continue to be available a while longer?

Joe Wallace

AKA Abe