FATV GIVES AWARDS
Honors its contributors
FITCHBURG » Longtime former Fitchburg Access Television staff member Mark Rocheleau was presented with the 24th annual Boulder Award at a celebratory dinner on May 5 at Oak Hill Country Club.
“It was truly an enjoyable experience to once again return to Oak Hill Country Club to gather with our members and the community,” FATV Executive Director Nathan Glenny said of the dinner that has not been held the past two years. “Being able to recognize our award winners who contribute their time and passion for the greater good of community media was a celebration long overdue.”
Glenny said the FATV Board of Directors selects the Boulder Award, which is given to someone “for outstanding contributions to civic life through the use of public communications.” According to a press release, Rocheleau was selected to recognize his exceptional contributions and efforts during his tenure with FATV.
He became a volunteer in 1997 and was hired as a parttime employee soon after. He quickly demonstrated his value within a year and was offered a full-time position. In 2002, Rocheleau was appointed to the role of executive director, succeeding Paul Wieland who hired him only five years prior.
At a time when FATV was growing with both community membership and programming, additional operating space was needed. In 2005, Rocheleau was pivotal in making a very successful and smooth transition to FATV’S current facilities on Kimball Street. His thorough planning and execution of this major relocation was of great success and the space has served as FATV’S phenomenal home for nearly two decades.
In addition, Rocheleau was a part of many other successes while at FATV, including taking the lead on designing and procuring one of FATV’S biggest assets, the mobile production truck, which has given the community station the ability
to cover many local events over the years, all with industry-standard broadcast equipment and professional production values.
“It’s nice to be recognized for all the hard work I put in during the 13 years I worked for FATV,” Rocheleau said. “It’s even nicer, though, seeing the station continue to grow and evolve with the technology and to see many of the same faces I remember from 12 years ago. Fitchburg is lucky to have a resource like FATV.”
In 2010, Rocheleau decided to take a similar path to Wieland, who was the guest speaker at the dinner and the one responsible for starting the longstanding Boulder Award dinner tradition, transitioning into a teaching career. He accepted a teaching position in 2013 with Groton-dunstable Regional High School and is currently nine years in that role, teaching subjects such as technology and engineering, VEX robotics, architecture and physics. He also leads the school’s FIRST Robotics Team, serving as its faculty adviser since his arrival at the school.
Previous winners of the Boulder Award include former mayors Dan Mylott and Lisa Wong, Mayor Stephen Dinatale, who was a state representative at the time, Ellen Digeronimo, Robert Antonucci and Barbara Foster, host of the popular longrunning FATV show “Barbara & You,” to name a few.
The winner of the 2022 Robert Wilson Scholarship, Alyssa Fields, was recognized at the dinner and, along with the Boulder Award member, awards were presented to several FATV staff by Dinatale, state Sen. John Cronin, DLunenburg, and state Rep. Michael Kushmerek, DFitchburg.
Susan Navarre received the Producer of the Year Award “for her wonderful work on the ‘I Remember When’ series, a widely popular show on FATV that relives and discusses Fitchburg’s history as well as other historical topics,” Glenny said.
Through many hours of volunteering during FATV Sports broadcasts while finishing up his senior year at Fitchburg State University, Timothy Foley received the On-air Personality Award for his commentary work and North Central Journal producer Scott “May” Nussey was bestowed with the Excellence Award “as he continues his dedication in hosting the chronicle style show which highlights the people and their stories from North Central Massachusetts,” Glenny said.
The Romolo Testarmata Award was presented to Todd Gauvin, a volunteer “who helped immensely on FATV remote productions during the pandemic,” Glenny said. “His efforts helped to provide family, friends and fans live game coverage of their student athletes when sports venues were closed to the public.”
Robyn Comeau, whom Glenny called “a dedicated member of FATV” as the show director for “Barbara & You” and “Fitchburg Leominster All- Politics,” was surprised with the inaugural Rocksteady Award presented to her by Foster.
“It is a great honor for me to be chosen to present Robyn with the award,” Foster said. “This award, and the clever name of it, was created for Robyn in appreciation of her unfailing dedication. To Robyn, ‘ the show must go on’ no matter what. The pandemic caused Robyn to encounter many learning challenges, but she is the type of woman who accepts challenges and conquers them. She never says ‘ No, I can’t do that.’”
“Personally, Robyn is one of the very best directors I’ve ever had and so much more,” Foster said. “Robyn is not only intelligent and capable, she is also one of the most generous, caring, kind, and helpful people I have ever known. We are so blessed to have Robyn in the FATV family and her talents and abilities also reach beyond FATV. Robyn is totally dedicated to her family and a multitude of friends and I am thankful to be one of them. She is most worthy of the very first Rocksteady Award.”
Comeau said she was pleasantly surprised by the award and that “it’s pretty cool that they appreciate me as much as I appreciate them.”
“I found FATV six years ago and immediately fell in love with television production,” she said. “The staff has changed some over the years, but everyone is always willing to share their knowledge with me, and I’m so grateful for them. The work they do is so important to the community, and I’m thrilled to have a role in it, especially during the pandemic when our productions were the only way families and the public were able to see graduations and sporting events. This award means so much to me, and I’m humbled to have my efforts acknowledged in such a public way. The staff at FATV deserve to be recognized as well for all they do in service to our community, well done everyone.”
When asked about the value of community programming that FATV provides and how the staff is instrumental in making that happen, Glenny said “having robust and inclusive programming on Fitchburg Access Television is our mission and the team we have at FATV looks to do just that. Now more than ever, being able to turn to a reliable source of local content to keep connected and informed is vital to an engaging and growing community.”
FATV is open to anyone who lives, works or is a part of a Fitchburg-based organization. Becoming a member is easy and classes are available to learn the equipment needed to produce your own show. FATV recently debuted its podcast suite, which Glenny said, “is a great tool for just about anyone looking to start at an easy entry point in creating content.”
If you are interested in finding out more about what FATV has to offer and would like to take a tour of the facilities, email contact@fatv.org or call 978343- 0834.