Monticello Live

Chris Garrett, a local producer and director, sees a future Monticello television station, KSEA, as a "must" for Southeast Arkansas and the surrounding viewing areas.

Monticello-based Chris Garrett Teleproductions produces videos of weddings, TV commercials, corporate videos, special events, sales presentations and training tapes. Garrett possesses an extensive background working for CBS in New York and with experience in most departments, including marketing and sales.Other credits include working for KTHV channel 11, KASN channel 38 and KLRT channel 16 in Little Rock.

The Southeast Arkansas entity stretches from Greenville to Pine Bluff, Fordyce to Dumas, McGehee and all the surrounding delta towns.

“All these communities are intertwined, and I believe the development of a TV station is essential to the growth of Southeast Arkansas,” Garrett said.

The idea began about three years ago when Garrett recognized Monticello as the only region of the state without a television station. He felt adamant Monticello needed to apply for a Federal Communications Commission license as soon as possible.

Garrett’s future plans include an early local morning newscast from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., followed by an early morning talk show from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., a newsbreak from noon to 1p.m., and late-night news coverage. Plans also include a 30 or 60 minute hunting and fishing segment, featuring Charles Bredwill, who currently writes for sports columns in the Advance Monticellonian and other area newspapers. Other planned areas will cover current and historical events like the annual festivals. In addition, the station will offer lots of local football coverage and civic coverage such as city and county meetings for example.

“We would definitely want to partner the station with the University of Arkansas at Monticello so students can obtain and provide programs helpful to their curriculums,” Garrett said.

The station hopes to become a CBS and Warner Brothers affiliate. This provides the station with the capabilities of offering network programming and syndicated shows like Oprah.

“We look forward to offering anchored weather reports, sports coverage and news teams,” Garrett said. “Our plans for production in the market will start out small and include a lot of multi-tasking.”

The producer hopes to offer the station to viewers 24 hours a day with infomercials running from midnight to 6 a.m. The station, if high-powered will reach as far as Little Rock. If not, it will reach areas within a 50-mile radius of Monticello.

“Obviously, we are looking for local investors. I’ve already spoken to several civic groups, and as we get more information, we’ll get it out to the public,” Garrett said. “The first step is to get licensing. Currently, the FCC does not offer any high-powered licenses, but the local stations will be happy to carry us in the meantime”.

Garrett provides a very optimistic timeline for the project to become a reality. First, the FCC would need to approve the principleideas for the station as positive. Next, with the help of our state senators, representatives and other local powers this should happen in the next two years.

Previously published in The Voice
Submitted by Nancy Stephan

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