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A Brief History of North Liberty Television The year was 1982. Liberty Communications was about to begin offering cable television for the first time in North Liberty, and the North Liberty Cable Commission was formed. Overseeing the rollout of this new service, the commission also initiated the idea of a local-access cable channel. Video production equipment (color camcorder, VCR, 13" TV and a tripod) were purchased and put into use. In the late 80's and early 90's, NLTV, under the guidance of the Cable Commission, grew to include new equipment, the ability to check out equipment for public use, and welcomed its first employee, a work-study student from Kirkwood College named Michael Smith. 1995: With the proposal of the new Community Center to be built in North Liberty, key players such as Dale Bingham, a commission member, and Bob Hardy, from the Iowa City Government Channel helped ensure that the NLTV office be located in the new facility. Bingham and his wife, Celia, donated $10,000 towards NLTV's new home. 1997-1998: City budget for this year included funds for a part-time NLTV staffer. The City Update Series program was initiated in an early form, and Laura Noth is hired as Telecommunications Production Coordinator, taking over responsibility of NLTV operations. In April of 2000, NLTV "goes digital"- upgrading to Canon XL1 DV image acquisition and begins editing on a non-linear Adobe Premiere computer system. July, 2001: North Liberty's cable system is bought from AT&T by Mediacom and remains a cable provider today. In January of 2002, Noth becomes NLTV's first full-time staff member. Travis Alden is hired part-time in June of 2003, and begins full-time employment in early 2004. That winter, NLTV took "digital" a few steps further: Programs became archived on DVD instead of tape, and public meetings were recorded on DVD as well. The channel's playback system was upgraded to an all-digital system, utilizing MPEG-2 files from a computer hard drive to replace tape-based playback. Fall 2004/Winter 2005: NLTV programs on DVD become available for checkout at the North Liberty Community Library. The department shifts focus and begins more public relations-type projects. January 2005: South Slope Cooperative Communications Company begins offering digital video service as a competitor of Mediacom. The franchise negotiation process leading up to the rollout was very successful. Summer 2005: Laura Bergus and Travis Alden re-assign their departmental duties. Bergus becomes the City's "Media Coordinator", taking on marketing and public relations responsibilities. Alden assumes responsibility and control of NLTV and all of the City's video production responsibilities. July 2005: NLTV undergoes an extensive equipment upgrade, replacing outdated analog equipment in the City Council Chambers with digital switching and character generating capabilities, using Video Toaster 4. The editing capabilities of NLTV are also enhanced with an upgrade to Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 and new PC hardware, including Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme Pro real-time hardware. Click here for a timeline of NLTV's history (PDF document).
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