Akwesasne TV Marks First Anniversary

Akwesasne TV recently celebrated their first anniversary on Friday, October 14, 2016. The local TV station currently has five programs, Ohaha'keshon (on the road) with host, Kevin Lazore as he goes on the road gathering community opinions on different topics in Akwesasne. They also have the Akwesasne Review show, the Review crew includes Ryan King, Benjamin Herne, Amber McDonald and Anthony Tillman in which each segment recaps the week's events, news and happenings. Akwesasne TV is also host to Karihwanakere (news) and ATV Live; covering current events and vital news to the community.

Ohrekwasoa, Saint Regis Tribal Talk show, features the Tribe's news and updates.

Akwesasne TV also features Loran Thompson and Francis Boots in Ionkwaka:raton, a Mohawk immersion and culture program of which four episodes have been recorded and two have aired.

Just added to the Akwesasne TV programing is their new show, ATV Paranormal Investigation featuring locales rumored to be haunted. ATV Paranormal works in collaboration with the Rise Above Paranormal production company.

From their office located at 2915 State Route 95 near the corner of Route 37, all production work takes place in a space no larger than any other traditional office space. Production work is completed through Facebook on several computers, downloaded, then broadcast live on Akwesasne TV. Editing is completed in-house on Mac Computers using Final Cut Pro program. They have three editors at any given time working together on a variety of shows; talk show, news show, or a Mohawk language class. Akwesasne TV has a 24 to 48 hour turnaround to any story they story or event they cover.

Kahentawaks Perkins, Senior Editor at Akwesasne TV does much of the editing. However, all staff wear many hats in one day to bring together one production. From editing, to lighting, audio technician to camera technician to social producing, they stitch roles seamlessly to produce one show. Kahentawaks graduated with a major in this field and when Akwesasne TV advertised for open positions she said, "That's for me!"

Ryan King, editor remarked, "We are still learning and still growing. Something is always changing; events, technology, production. We are always growing, always researching. I could be "Ryan the review host", then editor, then camera tech."

Although Akwesasne TV is live on Facebook, they currently broadcast live shows with a time delay. Akwesasne has the technology to do so and with more time and training, live TV will be streamed in the near future. One goal for Akwesasne TV is to produce a live show by 2017.

Proud of his work, King stated, "We don't outsource to anyone. Together, we have to technical expertise to do everything here. We all went to school for this but there was nothing in my field until Akwesasne TV was created. I majored in marketing, media management, public communication, video/tv production."

Kevin Lazore added, "Even when I was really young I always wanted to do something with the media – radio or TV. It's always been something I've wanted to do. I'm really glad to be in this field and to be working with this crew.

Executive Producer Regan Jacobs, stated from the beginning, production will focus "with the goal of developing content that shows who and where we are today as Native people and as Native nations".

Jacobs started working in the media field at the young age of 18 at K103 in Kahnawake. After graduating from Concordia University, she started Mohawk TV, which was later rebranded First Nations TV.

When asked what stands out after working at Akwesasne TV for three years, she stated, "Seeing community members flourish in an industry that never existed. Media was here in print; Indian Time and CKON radio, so going into that market we knew we had competitors and in a good way. Television is a very specific media. It was taking this medium and implementing a staff that weren't specifically trained in television, but had a background in communication... , so taking everyone and looking at their best assets and building a team from that. I feel that is one of my greatest accomplishments and my tenor is to have local people being able to build this company. It's very fulfilling to see others people's dreams, what they've always wanted to do, to start to come to fruition. To see other people do so well. I care a lot about my staff. I'm really invested in them and for them to keep going. We've given them this base. As far as production – "Ionkwaka:raton", our language based program with culture and storytelling with local people and local talent...it's a big accomplishment for me in our programing.