Los Gatos Weekly-Times

News

Lions Club turns over large donations to KCAT, LGAA

By Judy Peterson

The Los Gatos community television station, KCAT TV15, has received a $10,000 donation toward the purchase of a remote switcher that will allow camera crews to more easily shoot events on location.

The donation came from the Los Gatos Lions Club, which has been supporting a variety of KCAT needs since 1983. Lions Club treasurer John Lochner said the service organization helped build the KCAT studio at Los Gatos High School.

KCAT station manager George Sampson described the switcher as a "cool toy." He plans to use it for events that need more than one camera, such as the Children's Christmas and Holidays Parade, community concerts, graduations and neighborhood meetings.

"It's more than just a switcher," Sampson said. "It comes with five remote-controlled cameras and has character generator capabilities." A character generator has a keyboard that allows the operator to insert locations or people's names on screen during interviews. It is also used to add credits at the end of a show.

Because the unit has multiple cameras, a director can switch between different shots as an event is happening, eliminating the need for off-site editing. "For us, the time needed for post-production is a major bottleneck," Sampson said.

The device is called a flypack. The term goes back to the old days of TV when crews would put together equipment to go on an airplane. "It's a studio on the road," Sampson said.

The Lions Club donation represents one-third of the flypack's cost. Sampson has been soliciting other funding and has some reserve funds that he says will allow him to purchase the unit very soon.

The Lions Club also recently donated $6,300 to the Los Gatos Athletic Association in recognition of its support of the athletic program at Los Gatos High School.

The Lions Club operates the snack shacks at the high school's Helm Field and nets about $25,000 annually. Lochner said most of that money goes right back to the high school. For example, last year the club gave out student scholarships totaling $12,000.