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, originally on channel 10. Among the earliest 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 visited a few 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 "Community Focus," "Piedmont Virginia Fiddle & Banjo Association,"
"Caught in the Act" and "The Trevor Moore Show."
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 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 2-hour
live broadcast in the summer of 2001, an Open House event hosted by Ryal Thomas and
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.