PEABODY — Anyone familiar with Peabody TV knows that the media organization is unlike any other public access channel in the area and is constantly redefining what it means to be a community’s creative hub.
The workshops and instructional classes organized and taught by Associate Director of Education Randyll Collum are a testament to Peabody TV’s role in the city as a space dedicated to the art of storytelling.
“Our mission is just to be a positive, inclusive space for those who don’t have access to the type of equipment that we have,” she said. “It’s really high-end equipment for audio and visual, and we’re just trying to find ways to amplify their voices.”
Before Peabody, Collum, who is from Salem, worked for three other community access stations, where she helped with the production of media like radio shows or sports games, working her way up from intern to full-time positions.
But working with Peabody TV is different.
“If you know anything about Peabody TV in the access world, it’s a very well-accredited, well-respected station,” Collum said. “Peabody TV definitely takes a lot on and strives to be the most active as we can be so we can keep giving and keep that relationship going. With a population as big as Peabody, there are so many different little bubbles of people that you can tap into who just have something great going on.”
She also had high praise for her colleagues, like Stefan Jandrisevits, who started at 15 in the Peabody Youth TV (PYTV) program and eventually transitioned to a work-study with the station. Now, he’s taking the current work-study students out into the field to help record local events and sports games.
Getting real experience with the equipment is a core part of what Collum’s classes offer. There is likely nowhere else but PYTV where an elementary school student could get the chance to use an in-studio camera or editing software.
For the high school work-study kids, the station has brought in media experts like the Traffic Reporter at WBZ NewsRadio, Lori Grande, and the COO of the North Shore Music Theater, Karen Nascembeni, to talk with the students.
“These kids got to have that hands-on experience and learn from these industry experts and ask questions to help figure out where their career path will be in media,” Collum said. “We’re also trying to get a bunch of industry experts from all different fields. Poets, musicians, comedians, actors, stage managers, makeup artists, and we want to do workshops for adults in the community so they can develop a skill set around something that they’re interested in.
Another successful program recently wrapped up was the Adult Podcast Workshop Series, where locals from all walks of life who wanted to create a platform, from a flower shop owner to a poet, learned the technical skills needed to broadcast their voices.
“We’re getting bigger themes, and it’s more business-oriented as well, so someone can market and brand themselves better, too,” Collum said. “It’s all very technical, logical branding and all that is very important in our day and age right now.”
It’s all contributing towards the overall goal of Peabody TV being a hub for creative engagement in the community. Collum emphasized how the organization, led by Executive Director Camille Bartlett, is passionate about opening up their doors to everyone who is interested in learning about the media field.
To that end, Collum has collaborated with LGBTQ+ groups in Salem to help amplify the stories of a population that has historically been silenced. This past June, her documentary The Drag Queens, Kings, and Things of Salem premiered at the Peabody Essex Museum. It can now be viewed in its entirety on the Peabody TV YouTube channel.
“It’s amazing that we can shed light on these maybe less known areas of our community,” she said. “A community access job is meant to help provide a narrative for all types of people and amplify those voices, and I do think we’re doing that. It makes me really proud to say that we’re doing that.”
