SUNSHINE COAST, BC – Eastlink’s Coast Community TV is celebrating 40 years showcasing the best of the Sunshine Coast.
The volunteer driven channel got its start by students and teachers at Elphinstone Secondary School who hosted a Community Television Forum in June, 1979 to determine the community support for a volunteer run community television station.
"We were actually an after school group; we called ourselves ESRP, Elphinstone Student Research Productions,” said filmmaker Velcrow Ripper, a student of the original television production class, in a statement. “Our mentor and teacher, Marta MacKown, came up with this idea of creating a broadcasting community station. We actually went to the CRTC on a school field trip, presented our short video and said, we as students want to run the local cable station, we can do it! And they said, okay, you can. They accepted our motion and this was born."
This special partnership between the community channel and the school continues to this day.
“Coast TV's unique beginning and success over 40 years is quite remarkable and a story in and of itself worth sharing and celebrating,” added Eastlink CEO Deborah Shaffner. “I've had the pleasure of seeing first-hand the quality, passion and enthusiasm of the Film and TV Production students at Elphinstone. They, along with Coast TV staff and volunteers, deliver beautifully-produced programming that showcases the people, places and events that make the Sunshine Coast the truly special place that it is."
