Columbia Channel director wants to inject entertainment into programming
A former drummer for a local band wants to deliver upbeat tempos to lure more viewers to the city’s government access cable channel.
That drummer is Don Cizek, who is the new director of the Columbia Channel.
Cizek’s professional career is closely tied to Columbia’s musical history. For the past 20 years, he has been both a musical and technical contributor to the town’s rock ’n’ roll scene. Now, he wants to bring that style of entertainment to city television programming.
The Columbia Channel, found on Mediacom Channel 13 and Charter Communications Channel 2, is the city’s direct public information link to residents, providing information on upcoming events. The channel also airs public meetings and interviews with public officials to provide Columbians with an inside look at the city’s workings.
Over the next six to eight months, the channel will make a transition toward energy and entertainment. The goal will be to get more people watching the station, and thereby, more involved in their community.
“Our mission is still to try to help explain why some decisions are made or how processes work,” Cizek said.
Cizek parlayed his musical past and friendships from 20 years ago into a career in technical production.
He came to Columbia from St. Louis and began playing music with three friends, Bob Brass, Robert Durando and Jeff Rogers. The four formed a band named East Ash in 1985. The band, which featured a Midwestern sound influenced by ambient Euro-pop music, was later labeled “Columbia music royalty” by Vox magazine.
“It was a chance gathering of four extremely talented and very aware individuals in terms of what was happening in music,” Cizek said.
Cizek and the rest of the band recorded with Dave Bartlett, now director of operations at the Hearnes Center, who Cizek described as a “tech god.” Cizek said Bartlett taught him sound production.
The band signed a record deal and began national tours under the management of Blue Note owner Richard King. It had an agreement with a Chicago-based producer at one point, but its members decided they didn’t want to make the move and start again at the bottom of the heap. Cizek also noted that musical tastes were shifting toward grunge bands at the time. East Ash eventually faded.
Cizek, however, continued to do sound production in larger, more traditional venues such as Jesse Hall and the Hearnes Center, and then produced “commando-style” videos for local clients.
Cizek was hired as a graphic artist at the Columbia Channel seven years ago.
“When I started, it was very modest,” Cizek said. “It resembled Channel 20: information slates, fairly dry, information-based outlet for events that were occurring.”
The Columbia Channel as Cizek arrived was just starting to do small studio-based video productions, and Cizek was able to add a new skill to his growing résumé.
“I hadn’t done video at that point, and didn’t have a lot of graphic artist experience either,” Cizek said. “Because we were at such a modest state, you could hire on someone who had an interest and a reputation for learning quickly.”
“Now requirements are stiff,” he said. “Our programming has to be at a certain level, and our minimum level has to be fairly high.”
Cizek credits those high standards to his predecessor, Connie Kacprowicz, who was promoted to public information officer for the Water and Light Department.
Kacprowicz’s work included creating shorter shows shown more frequently so that viewers could stop on the channel, see the program and hear the city’s message in full before moving back to other shows.
“It was like a magazine sent out several times a month,” Kacprowicz said.
Under Kacprowicz, the station won several awards for production excellence and moved from a simple information source to a channel that Cizek thinks can compete with other stops on the dial.
“We would like people to stop on us and be entertained by the information that they find,” Cizek said. “We still are based on trying to get the city’s message across, and we try to do that as clear and entertaining as we can.”
Cizek thinks the station can learn a lot about entertaining information from some of its more successful competition from other cable channels. That’s why when Cizek isn’t in meetings or becoming better acquainted with his new job, he says he is scouting the competition for ideas.
“Take parts of Comedy Central,” Cizek said. “It’s way out there, but there are things that we can observe when we try to make the new dish that is the Columbia Channel. We can use that spice. We may try to use humor more than we do, when you have the opportunity.”
Cizek, however, knows you can have too much of a good thing.
“We will try to get a little more youthful, a little more effervescent,” Cizek said. “There’s a fine line though; there’s only so much energy you can give to governmental issues before its overkill.”
The city’s communications director, Toni Messina, and Kacprowicz agreed Cizek is the right person to move the channel forward. Messina said Cizek’s experience and knowledge of the station’s staff eases the transition and provides a strong vision for the future.
“He’s incredibly dedicated and talented, which is something a station like this needs,” Kacprowicz said.
During the change in leadership, the Columbia Channel completed an organizational shake-up. The city’s Public Communications Department will oversee the channel instead of Water and Light. The station will play a vital role in providing residents with important information such as updates and help on the city’s visioning project.
Cizek hopes pacing, creative cuts and other stylistic changes will help keep people entertained and tuned in so they can stay in the loop about city business, Cizek said.
“There’s a bit of a challenge when you are dealing with government issues and trying to make them compelling,” Cizek said. “If people don’t want to stay on the channel then they move on, and the information stops right there.”