BRATTLEBORO — Johnny Gifford is getting ready to lead Brattleboro Community Television into the station’s next era. 

In an interview, Gifford said it feels “very surreal” to leave Springfield Area Public Access Television “but I’m also super excited.” 

BCTV recently announced Gifford will be the station’s full-time executive director in mid-January. Gifford is anticipated to be “running the show” in time for the Harris Hill Ski Jump in February, according to a news release. 

“We could not be more excited to have found Johnny, and for the new perspectives and opportunities he’ll bring to the BCTV community. He has the experience, he has the vision, and he has the community media values to bring BCTV to the next level,” stated Alex Beck, BCTV board president. “While we had an incredible slate of candidates, Johnny has a passion for community media that was hard to match.”

In the news release, Gifford said he’s “incredibly excited to be joining the active, dynamic team at BCTV. ” He’s worked at SAPA TV for three years, calling it his “first big boy job after college.” 

Graduating from Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gifford struggled to find a job that would be the right fit. He earned a bachelor’s degree in film and video production.

As part of his last semester, he held an internship at Harvard University’s Media Production Center, where he worked full time as a paid intern from January 2020 to May 2020. He collaborated with students, faculty and even the president for different productions.

“It was like public access but in a much faster paced environment, with a lot of very different people who have a wide variety of backgrounds and skill sets,” he said.

About six months into searching for a job, SAPA TV hired Gifford as production coordinator. From November 2020 to March 2023, he headed production at the station. He coordinated the recording and broadcasting of government meetings, worked with community members to help them create shows in the studio and taught them how to edit videos. Then the position of executive director at SAPA TV opened up and he was tapped for the job. 

Gifford grew up in Maynard, Mass., about 20 miles away from Boston. Starting in middle school, he began volunteering at the public access TV station in town and eventually ran the station when he was a senior in high school. He said he always felt passionate about public access and wanted to return to it after graduation. 

“In some ways, it’s a niche and the type of people who regularly come to utilize public access are very unique, creative individuals,” he said. “And so I love just getting to work with people who are all over the map and who are looking to do something creative or interesting.”

Gifford called public access TV “super important.”  

“It’s oftentimes an understated part of the transparency of the civic process,” he said. 

He sees how public access TV has and will continue to evolve through mutual aid, technology and creativity. In Springfield, he used the station as a concert venue, inviting community members to help record musicians performing. 

When first hired by SAPA TV, Gifford still lived in Fitchburg, Mass. Due to pandemic limitation, he wasn’t going into the station in person at all. He worked remotely, coordinating remote recordings and editing productions. 

As restrictions eased, Gifford helped with decision making related to relocating the station. He would began trekking often from Fitchburg.

“I was shopping around different places to move to and I didn’t really find a lot in Springfield honestly,” he said. “But I did randomly land in Brattleboro one day around that time … and I fell in love with it immediately. I was just looking at people walking around on the streets and I was just like, Man, all these people are so cool, and the whole energy of the downtown was just so alluring to me.”

After several months of refreshing rental housing listings, Gifford eventually found a place in Brattleboro. He has been living there since July 2022.  

Through the Vermont Access Network, Gifford and SAPA TV had connected with BCTV staff. At a conference in Montpelier, they suggested Gifford attend Gallery Walk that night. On his way home to Fitchburg, he stopped at the monthly event. He said he got home “super late, super tired” but “feeling so full of life. The whole day moved me.”

On a Slack thread with other executive directors at public access TV stations, Gifford learned BCTV Executive Director Cor Trowbridge would be retiring. Immediately, he applied for the job.

While transitioning from SAPA TV, Gifford helped BCTV cover the Landmark College graduation ceremony last month. He said he had “a lot of fun” being part of the team and running a camera. 

With the organization’s structure in good shape, Gifford said he’s expected to try new things and bring more community members into the station.

“I want to host more,” he said. “I like being a host. I like showing people what we’re about. I like showing people and teaching people, the things that I’m really passionate about.”

Gifford is a musician himself. He can play several instruments and produces recordings. 

His hope is get more people involved with the station. 

“If you’re even a little bit curious about your role in the community and how you can use your talents to contribute to your community, I think community media is a really good place to start,” he said, “because it’s an environment where you can contribute to your community and record different events or what have you. It’s a way for you to take a backseat but still be creative and still contribute something.”

BCTV staff were “very much” involved in the hiring and interviewing process, Beck said. 

“Cor and BCTV have this legacy of keeping people for an unusually long amount of time,” Beck said. “Part of what we were thinking about is who wants to be at BCTV for the next 10 years? Of course, we can’t control where anyone goes or what they want to do but that’s really what we were thinking about as part of the hiring process.”

Beck said Gifford “represented a really good balance of someone who knows Vermont, knows Brattleboro, knows community.” 

“Those are all important things,” Beck said. “He is deeply engaged in the music scene in Brattleboro and other places. It cannot go without saying, he’s younger than Cor was; she acknowledges that it is true.”

Beck said Gifford’s creativity comes from wanting to be more inclusive and having ideas to build, grow and better support BCTV. Trowbridge will stay on to wrap up some special projects including an update to the station’s website. 

“With his background, Johnny represents the best of public access and community media; his excitement about video production and dedication to keeping the door open to all voices in the community makes him a perfect fit for the job,” Trowbridge said in an email. “I’m excited to see him bring new faces to BCTV in the years to come.”