In 1963, Robert Allan Monroe and his company Monroe Industries, Inc.
moved into cable television,
forming the Jefferson Cable
Corporation. They were central Virginia's first cable company,
building
cable television systems in
Charlottesville and
Waynesboro, Virginia. In presumably the early
1970's, Jefferson Cable began a local community access
channel in Charlottesville. Among the
earliest cable access programs, the
late Bernard Peyton Chamberlain produced a series of
half-hour "Community History"
television programs, from January 1973 through April 1978. He
interviewed dozens of local citizens,
covering numerous topics and occasionally touring local
historical landmarks. Also
introduced during this time was the telecast of First Baptist Church on
Park Street. Still airing today, this program is the
longest-running original show in Charlottesville
Public Access Television history.
In 1993, Adelphia Communications bought Jefferson Cable.
After more than twenty years with
just one community access channel, the City of
Charlottesville and Adelphia entered into a new
franchise agreement, providing for the addition of
government and educational access stations.
Originally housed on West Main Street in one of the former
Adelphia buildings, the stations quickly
spawned several familiar faces and
numerous notable programs like "The Trevor Moore Show,"
"Community Focus," "Piedmont Virginia Fiddle & Banjo
Association" and "Caught in the Act."
In April 1998, Adelphia, the City of
Charlottesville and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical
Education Center reached an agreement to
house the access facilities at CATEC as part of a five
year lease, in exchange for educational
use of all production equipment to the school and its
video production students. Because of
this, all three stations made the move from Downtown to
CATEC in the spring of 1999, and was
fully functional effective that August. Originally a day care
facility and part of the CATEC
curriculum that had become vacant the year before, renovations
included conversion of an office, laundry
facility and a large "play room" into a working television
studio. After years of station
management changing hands among cable access producers,
long-time producer Cal Tate took over
as General Manager in the fall of 2000. He introduced a
new name for the station group,
Charlottesville Public Access Television (CPA-TV), and a new logo
designed by long-time producer Marlene
Hopkins.
Following an upgrade of equipment just months before, CPA-TV
held its first ever two-hour live
broadcast in the summer of 2001, an Open
House event hosted by Ryal Thomas & Dana Hatcher.
Directed by David Dillehunt, this
exciting television event marked the beginning of a new era at
CPA-TV. Over the next five years, more
than 700 hours of original programming would be
produced in our studio, the
accomplishment of more than 200 hard-working individuals.
In 2006, Comcast Cable took over Adelphia's cable operations in
Charlottesville. With a new
franchise agreement extending through 2010,
Charlottesville Public Access Television will always
provide state-of-the-art facilities for the production of
high-quality local programs that express
the diverse nature of our community. We are YOUR
community access station.