By Andrew C. Martel

Saturday morning cartoons now have competition with Spanish language instruction. On their lunch break, people can learn about the “World of Chemistry.” At night, they can settle in to watch “Art of the Western World.”

If this program lineup reads like a college course catalog, well, it is.

Fayetteville Technical Community College is showing educational programs on a new cable channel, the Fayetteville/Cumberland County Educational Channel. FCE-TV, as it is known, is airing programs on all those subjects.

FCE-TV is on Channel 5 on Time Warner Cable systems. Some cable viewers might have to program the channel on their remote controls to keep their cable box from automatically skipping over the previously unused channel.

FTCC President Larry Norris was joined by other educators and government officials Tuesday to officially announce the channel’s arrival, even though it has been on since May 22.

Norris said he hoped the channel would educate children, in addition to college students and working professionals.

“For a community college, this is a dream come true (because) we are all about access,” he said, standing next to a bank of televisions tuned to FCE, which were carrying his remarks live.

The channel shows a range of mass-produced programs that have been used in classrooms and other colleges across the country. Most of them are provided for free, or the college already owns the license to air them.

But FTCC has a broadcast studio ready for FCE to use for locally produced programming, said Bob Ervin, the college’s vice president of learning technologies.

College and school officials have been talking about creating an educational channel for more than a decade. The city and county governments finally worked out agreements with Time Warner in the past two years. Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base and Fayetteville State University also have contributed to the channel’s development.

FTCC will soon start using channel to air “telecourses,” which students can watch to earn credit.

The channel also helps Cumberland County schools provide more options for students to learn subjects. Students who have trouble attending school could still take classes through the television, Superintendent Bill Harrison said.

“Many children who might have been dropping out for some reason, we can hold onto,” he said. The school system has plans to use the programs as part of instruction, said Associate Superintendent Kathy Dickson.

The channel, which has one full-time staffer, is being supported by the city and county governments, as well as the school system. Time Warner provided a $100,000 grant to purchase camera equipment, Ervin said. The sole employee’s salary is paid for by the Cumberland County government and the school system.

The programming can help people who are out of high school and college. Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne said he thinks the channel could air professional training videos, which might save the city money that it would spend sending employees to out-of-town training seminars.

Standing in FCE-TV’s control room after the ceremony, Ervin said he is excited to see what local programs people can come up with. He has had a lot of time to think up ideas.

“I’ve been daydreaming for 15 years,” he said. “We’re seeing the fruits of our labor here today.”

A sampling of the programs on the new Fayetteville/Cumberland County Educational Television, aired on channel 5 on Time Warner Cable systems.

Source: www.fcetv.org