About the CMC

The Community Media Center is a 501c-3 non-profit organization serving the residents and nonprofits of Carroll County, Maryland. We operate the county’s Public, Education, and Government (PEG) Access Center.  The Community Media Center programs three local cable channels: Channel 19 - the Public Access Channel, Channel 23 - the Municipal Channel as well as channel HD-1072. This channel  is shared with Carroll County Government, Carroll County Public Schools and Carroll Community College.

CMS's state of the art facility is a result of local governments dedicating a portion of their cable franchise fees to support public access to local government and educational content. Individuals and organizations can use facility resources to produce and distribute their own content to the broader community. The facility and the non-profit organization represents a partnership of PEG channels, the Carroll County Career and Technology Center and local non-profit organizations serving local needs. The CMC facility houses a 2,000 square foot production studio with virtual set capabilities, county and municipal robotic equipment to cover remote meetings, mobile field production and editing equipment. It is linked via fiber optic cable to Carroll’s eight municipalities, the County, the Board of Education, and the Community College.

The CMC helps citizens and organizations document, inform, educate, and celebrate the life of their local community. Our goal is to create and distribute content that bolsters community involvement, educates and informs the citizens of Carroll County. The CMC provides organizations and institutions the means to engage the public. It also provides affordable, easy access to equipment and expertise that gives the average citizen a voice and a presence on local cable channels and online.

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Giving local individuals a voice has been the vision of Carroll County’s Channel 19 public access channel since it first went on the air in March 1989 as Channel 55. In 2000, a new franchise agreement was negotiated and a new 501C-3 non-profit Board was put in place. The Board set about the task of creating a PEG facility. It was envisioned as a permanent home for a studio that local channels and the public could share. Career and Technology students would also have the resources to learn real life career skills producing projects in new media for non-profit organizations serving the community.

In 2003 the new media center was completed. Since then, the CMC Board has worked diligently to realize its commitment to the community with programs and Municipal meeting coverage including the addition of Channel 23, the Town and Community Channel, and channel HD-1072.

In 2007 the CMC Board conducted an independent study of constituent interest and global technological change to determine the impact on the future of PEG. This study culminated in a new Strategic Plan that was instituted in 08-09. While not abandoning the core mission, the Board will position the CMC to play a relevant role in the education of youth and to promote local production of content relevant to the local community. The CMC will affirm its original mission to provide a means for citizens to access the tools of communication in order to engage their fellow citizens. Providing the means and the platforms to distribute content does not necessarily promote dialogue or engagement. New media tools will allow us to broaden our reach and serve in ways never before imagined. This means local resources for local people to encourage an engaged local voice.

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