STORY BY BENJAMIN LERNER • PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK BURCHARD
Community Content
GNAT-TV strengthens the community through local independent media
B ased in the heart of Southern Vermont, GNAT-TV is more than just a local cable access television network. It’ s a community institution and a multi-platform media hub that amplifies local voices, preserves regional history, and provides a vital platform for civic engagement. Since its founding in 1995, GNAT-TV has adapted to the everevolving media landscape, remaining steadfast in its mission to bring people together throughout the community and empower them.
GNAT began as a grassroots effort, which was spearheaded by a group of dedicated citizens who understood the necessity of public access television. It has since grown into an innovative multimedia organization that offers a vast range of programming, training, and content creation opportunities – both on television and online – through its substantial streaming content offerings. In an era where digital platforms have changed the media landscape, GNAT-TV continues to evolve by staying true to its original vision: to be an accessible and inclusive media resource for the people of Southern Vermont. Anyone living or working in its service area can utilize the studio facilities and production equipment free of charge to produce noncommercial content.
The origins of GNAT-TV are deeply rooted in the free speech movement that shaped public access television in the 1980s. When the 1984 Cable Act mandated that cable operators provide access to local communities, Vermont took a unique approach. Rather than allowing municipal governments to control funding for public access channels, the state’ s regulatory framework allowed independent nonprofit organizations to oversee community media.“ Vermont did it in a way that’ s really for the people. We’ re all independent, not-forprofit organizations that were born up in the communities,” explains GNAT Executive Director, Tammie Reilly.
In 1995, a group of local volunteers filed the paperwork to establish GNAT-TV as the designated Public, Educational, and Government access( PEG) station for the Northshire region in Southern Vermont.
By 1997, GNAT-TV was fully operational, providing the community with unfiltered access to government meetings, cultural programming, and public discourse.“ It was ordinary citizens who saw the value in having a community access TV station, and they put it together,” says Reilly.
Through the years, GNAT-TV has expanded its offerings significantly. With the rise of digital platforms, the organization has had to adapt in order to stay relevant in the age of social media and on-demand streaming. The answer has been a multipronged approach: Increasing high-quality local coverage, expanding educational programming, offering mentorship opportunities for young content creators, and building strong collaborations with other community-minded institutions.“ We’ ve had to change. We’ ve started creating con-
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