| The Tigers Television Network |
| The Tigers Television Network is a non-profit, community organization, based out of Tiverton High School in Tiverton, RI, covering school, local, and state events. The Crew consists of mostly THS students, using the equipment and resources of the former "Video Club" at Tiverton HS. In addition to the student production crew, dozens of community volunteers have aided the Crew in producing public access programming at the highest quality possible with the equipment available. The Tigers Television Network is the forum in which all TV Crew productions air. Tigers TV (3TV = Tiverton Tigers Television) airs the majority of its programs on Newport County Television NCTV-18 Cox Public Access, based on Chase Rd. in Portsmouth, RI. In addition, top rated programs are aired on the Cox Statewide Interconnects, A, B, and C, Bristol County, MA Public Access, and other forums all over New England. All 3TV shows on all forums combine to yield the Tigers Television Network, TTN, which operates, directly, TTV (Tigers TV).. Within the Network are suborganizations, the most prominent being the Tigers Baseball Network, TBN, and the Newport Gulls Baseball Network, NGBN, which operates the NGTN (Newport Gulls Television Network), the TFN (Football), and TSN (all other Sports broadcasts).. Founded in January of 2003, the Tigers TV Crew was officially recognized as a sanctioned Tiverton HS Club in late spring of the same year. There had long been a Video Club at THS, however, its productions were rare and membership activity was almost nonexistent. The Tigers TV Crew absorbed what little the Video Club had in February of 2003, along with equipment from the Tiverton HS Library Media Center, Audio Visual Department, and other sources. The resultant acquisition of equipment, in addition to donations from the Crew's new members, allowed for the creation of a multi camera, high quality production crew. After much trial and error doing those first few shaky months, the Tigers TV Crew had worked out a system of organization and planning like no other in the public access community. In May of 2002, club founder Nicholas J. Lima had a crazy idea- the radio or television broadcast of Tigers Varsity Baseball games. While friends were supportive and willing to help, no one knew exactly how to go about forming a production crew, how to work equipment, and how to create a broadcast worthy of airing. The idea came too late for the 2002 season, so, at the end of his junior year of high school, Nick Lima spent the summer watching and listening to Red Sox games, improving his knowledge of baseball and commentating, and hoping for a chance to do play-by-play next season. In December of 2002, Nick Lima's senior year, he approaced Tigers manager and head coach, Matt Mcguire. The ball club and coach showed great enthusiasm for the possibility of publicity, and showed their support. Mcguire, also a physical education teacher at THS, met a freshmen in one of his health classes that was always talking about public access programing, and who had experience as a volunteer for the NCTV Access Group, working with Coordinator Brian Medeiros. Nick Lima and freshmen Steve Rys met and discussed production options in January of 2003, and, with the help of Nick's friends Dan Staskiewicz, Steve Andrade, Steve Iwanski, Andrew Dion, Chris Stenning, Jacky Prouity, Scott Jamieson, and Ryan Pratt, the unnamed production crew held its first meeting in the Health Room at THS in late January of 2003. Officers were elected, and Nick Lima was unanimously elected President. However, the road ahead for the crew would be long and arduous, as many obstacles lay in the way of being recognized as a viable high school club... Through another one of his teachers, Steve Rys was able to locate Ms. Kathleen Almy, advisor to the Video Club. A meeting in early February provided the merger that the TV Crew desperately needed- to include a great deal of the equipment still used today. Many meetings with principals, librarians, school board members, and other school leaders later, Ms. Almy and Nick Lima were able to secure a school club account, recognition, and new life for the THS Video Club, which changed names from the Baseball Broadcasting Club to the Tigers Broadcasting Club to THS Access Programming, finally settling on the Club's permanent name, the Tiverton Tigers TV Crew. Thanks to the technical know-how and ingenuity of Steve Rys and Steve Andrade, the Crew was able to use its old, 1970's era equipment to produce over 30 programs from March through July of 2003. Pushing the equipment far beyond its design specifications proved tricky, and technical difficulties occaisonaly cut short productions. The duct tape, video tapes, supplementary equipment, and adapters required for multi camera productions was extensive, and crew members often dug into their own pockets to purchase the equipment needed. However, as the Class of 2003 closed in on graduation, the Tigers TV Crew had become an instant success. Over 100 orders were received for copies of past shows, and NCTV's Brian Medeiros recognized the crew for their oustanding efforts in the Sakonnet Times, after a very successful live broadcast of the 2003 Tiverton Financial Town Meeting using mostly NCTV studio equipment. The Crew's original inspiration, baseball, expanded to many other events, again due to the ingenuity of Steve Rys, including coverage of nearly every school committee, town council, and full town meeting, band concerts, drama club productions, class productions, and much more. In June of 2003, Nick Lima stepped down as President, and a new set of 5 officers was elected. After eight months in the Army, however, Nick returned in March of 2004, and, at the request of Ms. Almy, took a position as an assisstant advisor to the Crew. After another season of Tigers Baseball, Town Meetings, and School Events in the auditorium, the Tigers TV Crew again began to think about expanding. Today, the Tigers TV Crew continues to produce several programs per week, and welcomes the support and production requests of anyone in the community. Presently, the Crew is working on sponsorship and advertising, in order to provide funds for the purchase of new equipment, replacing the 1970's and 1980's mixers, editors, monitors, microphones, and other equipment plagued with poor quality, frequent problems, and an utter lack of modernization. Slowly but surely, the Tigers TV Crew is meetings its goals, and things are looking better and better as we head into the summer and the 2004-2005 school year. 2004 UPDATE: The Tigers TV Crew has exceeded all expectations yet again, producing over 10 Newport Gulls games in front of a combined crowd of over 20,000 people. The productions included all of TTV's trademarks, from stellar play-by-play to instant replay, multiple cameras, great audio, pre and post game shows, graphics, and much more. The Crew consisted of over 30 students and volunteers throughout the two month summer season, leading right up to the final Championship Game 3 at Cardines Field in front of a record crowd of 3,000+. Despite having the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th with nobody out, the Newport Gulls season would end in one of the most dramatic innings of baseball ever recorded as they lost, 6-4, after a 1-2-3 double play and fly out. The Gulls will be back again with TTV in 2005 for the second season of the NGTN, the Newport Gulls Television Network, a new subdivision of the Crew headed up by Nick Lima. Aside from the Gulls, TTV continued to produce high quality school committee meetings, football games, concerts, and other programs, now with the help of a new audio mixer, new graphics generator, and several new, hard working Freshmen crew members. More updates to follow as the history of the Tigers TV Crew and its subsidiary TTN organizations, TTV, 3TV, TBN, TFN, NGBN/NGTN, and the TSN. |