Public Access Television - Where It’s Always Been All Happening

Nice to see my vocational home of community access media getting some more attention here with this 10 Best Public Access Shows of All Time, Ranked. And big congrats to a former access colleague, DeeDee Halleck and Paper Tiger Television, on getting deserved recognition here as one of the very best.

Big Beef has it’s own long and storied history in the medium, including with what was the relatively groundbreaking Andy & Pat’s Groovy Cosmic Love Hour, a program pre-dating (and by some reports actually playing a role in inspiring) ‘Wayne’s World.’ A form of social media for the pre-internet world.

But gotta say compiling a truly meaningful list of recognition for some of the great standouts of public access media is going to take a LOT more than a list like this. You could fill volumes of classic works from this world of media.

That said, one highly notable absence from this list is my friend and Alliance For Community Media colleague Tony Riddle, who played an instrumental role in helping turn Democracy Now! into a public access television program, something that really should have been mentioned in this piece.