"The Song" Wins Third at ACM-NE

Well, congratulations go to FCAT Producer Mary Wheelan, as "The Song" was selected third in the Music and Performance category at the Alliance for Community Media - Northeast Regional 15th Annual video festival.

Mary has been producing the show for just about a year, she's had 49 guests, ranging from local favorites like Ray Mason and Jeff Martell, to national and international recording artists such as Michael Behm and Johnny DeMarco. Mary welcomes singer / songwriters to her show and, as a songwriter herself, Mary knows firsthand both the rewards and the challenges that come with the territory. This gives her a quiet but intuitive perspective on the art of songwriting, and helps to highlight her guests through informative and entertaining interviews.

You can watch "The Song" on FCAT-23 at 7:30 PM, both Tuesday and Friday evenings, or anytime through our Video On Demand Service.

Watch Live ANYWHERE

The web is an amazing thing.  For an old timer like me, who's still pretty amazed at the capability of e-mail, HTML 5 and web 2.0 is like sci-fi turned into science fact.

So, when it comes to cable-access TV, something I still feel has relevance in the modern day (in spite of its roots still planted in the 1970s), I'm totally knocked right out of my Chuck Taylors as I say this:

FCAT is now global.

That's right -- FCAT-23, our Public-Access channel, can be seen anywhere that you can find internet, and on any device.  It's easy!

iOS users: In order to view our live video stream, you'll need to use a flash-capable web-browser. Unfortunately, this rules out Safari, or Chrome. However, you might try Puffin, or SkyFire. Puffin has a demo version, good for a month of use. The full versions are $2.99, and are available through the App store.

New Series: Science Nation

Science is never out of style--and there's never a "final frontier". At least that's the position of the National Science Foundation, and is espoused in this great series of shorts, called "Science Nation".

The National Science Foundation produces this series, which examines the breakthroughs, and the possibilities for new discoveries about our planet, our universe and ourselves:

- An artificial retina that can help the blind to see;

- new materials to build things bigger, better, lighter, and stronger;

 - new ways to make our lives better without making the environment worse;

 - what we can learn from organisms that can live and thrive in frozen deserts or steaming-hot volcanic vents.

Science Nation wiill present a dynamic, entertaining look at the research - - and the researchers - - that will change our lives.

You can catch Science Nation on FCAT-12, on Wednesday at 6:55 PM (right before "In The Garage"), and Saturday at 4:55 PM (just before TED Talks). And to find out more about this series, check out this website, the homepage for the series.

New User Registration

So, we're slowly adding functionality to the FCAT.tv website. Newly installed: Community Builder, which provides greater ease and options for new user registration. I've noticed a few folks that tried to register with us, and also a few, obviously bogus registrations as well. We're working to increase verification and security for our new user registration so as to weed out the 'bots and spam crawlers that seem to infest every corner of the web these days.

And, since we're focused on adding to the website's functionality for creating new users, it seems like the perfect time to put out the call: If you have an interest in becoming a contributing author to this site, and want to promote your particular insight, an educational opportunity, or a volunteer potential to other readers, get in touch with me as soon as possible. I'd love to hear from you!