Eyes of East County

MetroEast looks to future as it celebrates 25 years as community media outlet

By Shannon Wells

The Gresham Outlook, Nov 6, 2009, Updated Nov 6, 2009

Jim Clark / The Outlook

Rob Brading, MetroEast chief executive officer, is shown in the facility's main studio.

Compared to the slickly produced, in-your-face programming on the hundreds of cable TV channels out there, MetroEast Community Media’s do-it-yourself, public affairs-oriented offerings are, by comparison, a murmur.

That doesn’t make its services any less important than 25 years ago, when the Gresham-based nonprofit network started — amid a considerably more modest media field. As the service’s regular contributors will freely admit, community affairs programming is more crucial today than ever.

“It’s the last soapbox we have in America,” Laird P. Ross says. “I get some good calls and some bad calls, but the point is I can do it.”

Since learning the rudiments of broadcasting in the mid-1980s, Ross has helmed a series of homespun MetroEast shows on topics from politics and seniors’ issues to country gospel music.

Like many of his fellow broadcast volunteers, his audience is small yet outspoken.

“They’ll call me up, and yell and scream at me,” he says, “mainly when I deal with Christian topics. I don’t care if Christian families see my shows. It’s for everyone else.”

Community pipeline

It’s that spirit that continues to drive MetroEast — a conduit for everything from East County city council meetings to local travelogues — as it celebrates its silver anniversary this year.

Tickets are sold out for the celebratory Silver Ball to be held from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, at MetroEast’s studio-office complex in downtown Gresham.

He wasn’t there from the get-go, but Rob Brading’s nearly 18 years as chief executive officer gives him more than a little perspective as he reflects on MetroEast’s evolution through a quarter century of operation.

Whether broadcasting government meetings, staff members mentoring amateur broadcasters or teaching the finer points of editing equipment, Brading, 60, likens MetroEast to a community toolbox.

“I’ve spent most of my professional career trying to give people the tools to participate,” he says. “That’s what we’re about. Whether teaching about what’s important to them, (educating) the community, or giving kids a better understanding of what media’s about. All those are important tools.”

Despite the casual comfort he conveys as the organization’s leader, Brading is quick to credit his staff of 18 part- and full-time employees with the smooth running of MetroEast’s broadcast studios and editing labs.

“I have a fabulous staff,” he says. “I see my role as making it possible for other people on the staff to do their jobs. I’m here to remove roadblocks and remove barriers.”

Technical creativity

Contrary to most places of business, it’s evenings and weekends when things really start to hum at MetroEast. The cavernous Studio A is used most of those times, when students and employees are relieved of their school and work obligations.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit