post yer hometown cable access weirdos

[Necrometer]

"A franchising authority [...] may require as part of a cable operator's proposal for a franchise renewal [...] that channel capacity be designated for public, educational, or governmental use." – 47 USC § 531(a)

this is the truest proto-youtube I'm aware of

kindly post the maniacs you grew up with (parasocially)

[Necrometer]

DAMON ZEX was the icon to end all icons in columbus

his shit was mind-blowing in a world with scarce access to alternative media



so there it is - drugs, sexual perversion, and opposing The Man, all through a goth/industrial filter

his preacher character was kinda good

some gross-out stuff here

I feel like columbus had a slightly outsized goth scene, and sometimes I wonder if he contributed to that

in the 2000s we'd just see him out & about, always wearing combat boots, shorts, and a tank top (all black ofc)

[cxwx]

I don't remember any specific shows but when u lived in the CA Bay Area they played the same public service announcement made by a mother about a kidnapping over and over for years after it happened. It was fucking grim. "My daughter was kidnapped and thrown screaming into a car." With a low budget recreation of the event. "The suspect is white with a pock marked faced" I'll remember that forever.

[the awesome Assassin]

[Brutus Frank]

Uncle Bunky: the local cop, and police sketch artist, who had a kids show that was also the only place you could watch She-Ra in the late 80s.

They stopped letting him do the drug presentation for the local school system after he managed to lose some weed in an elementary school classroom during a DARE presentation teaching kids how to narc on their parents drug use.

[featherboa]

i didn't really have cable when i was a kid. there was sex advice granny later. but that probably wasn't local?

[pooptastik]

Robin Byrd.

Channel 35, Wednesdays.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Byrd

[featherboa]

I think it was sex with sue now

[Brutus Frank]

I think it was sex with sue now

Now I wanna know how many cut-rate Dr. Ruth's there were out there

[Geeheeb]

[Toilet Fleet]

I've definitely given this crouton a lift around town once or twice

Core memory is him interviewing one of the Napalm Death guys and nervously buttoning and unbuttoning his shirt the entire time

[Eight Bit Alien]

Core memory is him interviewing one of the Napalm Death guys and nervously buttoning and unbuttoning his shirt the entire time

[Eight Bit Alien]

What is it about cable access that attracted fucking CRAZY people?
Every single fucker who made the weekly trip down to the studio was eccentric at least.

Early Youtube wasn't like that - they were dorks but the ratio of crazy to normal didn't seem all that odd to me.

[Toilet Fleet]

Cable access had non-negligible barriers to entry (time, inconvenience, some technical knowhow) that weeded out passive interests

But: most interests are themselves avenues of expression. Musicians, artists, cooks, crafters, hobbyists, etc., are all generally more keen to do the interest than to do amateur media about the interest (see: the barriers to entry)

There is a component underpinning the YouTube era, which is the asymmetry: such a person does not perform for people as such (requiring social skills, marketing, etc.), but (effectively) performs for and to the medium

Also pre-nowadays medicine autistic people were regularly shunted into A/V stuff so there you go

[Necrometer]

all good points

cable probably felt a bit more ephemeral while youtube seemed kinda permanent - sure someone could VHS your slapdash hour of insanity, but that's kind of the end of the line

- - -

that Thrashold video is so spot on

[pooptastik]

used to work in QPTV and this guy is something special


JEWISH TASK FORCE

Guy was a dick. Rude dude with a bad attitude . I remember him giving grief over any little thing over the phone but would be super cordial when he was around me and the other guys manning the monitors.