Rotary log: January 26, 2012 (Portsmouth's Public TV)

(Editor's note: this log is late because your editor was running around looking for someone who would say something nice about last week's speaker) 

It was a crisp winter day as our fellow Rotarians filed into the Portsmouth Country Club, greeted by the friendly face of former president Diane Foley.  Upon seeing that Dave Underhill was one of our guest speakers, a few Rotarians registered slight fear that he was going to try to have us sell more Christmas garland.  But alas, he was actually there to educate us on one of Portsmouth’s latest assets: a new Community Television Station (more on that later).

Rotarians greeted friends, some not seen since before the holidays, as we all lined up for our lunch of Roast Turkey with Cranberry Stuffing (prompting the age old question of why many of us only have this scrumptious meal once a year at Thanksgiving).  While catching up with each on recent Seacoast happenings, all Rotarians of course remembered to drop their meal tickets into the basket on the buffet table (or were there more tables like mine, where many of us remembered about our tickets only as we leaned into dessert).

The week’s meeting came to a formal opening with an inspired blessing from Rev. Allen and a patriotic rendition of God Bless America (does anyone know the New England Patriot’s fight song for this week?).  Guests were announced and then came some happy bucks from our members:  John Rice celebrating his son’s newly found employment and Dick Seery announcing he would be travelling down a zip line at the Super Bowl’s halftime show (at least that’s what I heard).

Next came ‘unhappy’ bucks or what some refer to as weekly fines doled out by Neal Ouellett.  Not to go into too many specifics, but suffice it to say, a bevy of horrible acts were fined this week, including giving hugs to fellow Rotarians and Bill Hurley having a nice business piece in the Portsmouth Herald (Congrats Bill!). 

The program this week was presented by our very own Dave Underhill, along with fellow speakers Susan Gold and Bill Humphreys.  Together they educated us about Portsmouth’s latest resource, PPMTV.  PPMTV (short for Portsmouth’s Public Meeting House TV) is the area’s new non-profit community television station.  Rotarians were treated to a video tour of the new tv studio on Marcy Street (site of the former Children’s Museum), and also shown clips of some of the upcoming programming. 

Content for the tv station will be provided by members, giving us all a chance to tell our stories and show off our talents. Want to host a cooking show?  No problem.  Want to produce a documentary about the Strawbery Banke?  You can now do that with PPMTV.  Meant to be an inclusive community endeavor, PPMTV encourages us all to become involved either as potential viewers, underwriters, producers, or budding film makers.  And with extremely reasonable membership rates for individuals, families, and businesses, PPMTV is sure to evolve into one the Seacoast’s greatest resources.  PPMTV can be found on channel 98 in Portsmouth, with programming currently from 7-9 PM daily (and repeated again from 9-11 PM). 

This coming week’s program is sure to be equally compelling as Dave Allen helps us learn more about Portsmouth’s public drinking water system.  But what else will happen at the meeting?  Will Neal Ouellett fine children for cuddling puppies?  Will Mark Sullivan win the 50/50 for the third week in a row?  Come to the Portsmouth Country Club this Thursday to find out.  (Go Patriots!)