On November 29, 2017, Leicester’s Troop 123 took a visit to the center of town’s Leicester Cable Access Corporation, or LCAC for short. I had an away math meet, so I was unfortunately unable to make the meet, so I sat down with fellow Troop 123 scout Brendan Johnson to find out about the outing. Having previously visited LCAC myself due to my interest in video production, I was curious as to what the Troop was shown.

Upon arrival, they were greeted by Art Paquette, one of the long time members of the corporation. He talked about the history of LCAC and what it does today, usually involving the recording of numerous activities around the town, such as town meetings, basketball and baseball games, and sometimes school graduations, for the local cable channel in Leicester. He also mentioned the live coverage they did when officer Ronald Tarentino was shot and killed.

After describing the coverage that LCAC does, Art went on to showcase some of the major equipment that they use. He showed them the cameras on wheels, which were connected to live video feeds. He used this opportunity to have some fun, and starting zooming in on objects and parts of people’s faces and cracking jokes about the way the shape of the lens warped their shapes. He showed the Troop their large systems of computers, fitted with recording and editing softwares, primarily QuickTime Player and Final Cut Pro. He mentioned that the company used to have drones, but they have since given them to the police department.

The Troop learned the rudimentary principles of LCAC’s operations at their meeting. Brendan enjoyed his time there, although he told me that standing up for virtually the entirety of the meeting took somewhat of a toll by the end. He said that his takeaway was that LCAC left him with the feeling that they are there to help the community, as Art additionally mentioned the jobs they do for people who just call up and ask in terms of video production. From my personal experience with LCAC, this sums up the corporation quite accurately. This is Historian Joe, signing off!