Discover Janesville on Facebook

Discover Janesville now has a Facebook fan page. Check it out right here

Introducing our newest sponsor: Alliant Energy!

MADISON, WI – September 18, 2009 – Alliant Energy is providing a $4,000 sponsorship for two episodes of the Discover Janesville TV show during the program’s upcoming second season. The dollars will be used to underwrite the show’s episodes themed as “Future Leaders” and “Continuing to Discover Janesville’s Attractions.” Discover Janesville is a TV program broadcast on JATV, the City of Janesville public access television station.

“We are pleased to support Discover Janesville and its efforts to promote Janesville and its people, culture and history,” said Julie Bauer, Alliant Energy Community Affairs Manager. “Alliant Energy and Discover Janesville share a common goal of encouraging community involvement and leadership and we look forward to viewing the upcoming episodes.”

Discover Janesville is broadcast on the Charter Communication system at Cable Channel 98 and Digital Cable Channel 994 and it is also posted on YouTube. While no specific time slot is dedicated to the program, each episode of Discover Janesville airs at least six times over the season for community viewers.

“Discover Janesville appreciates the sponsorship from Alliant Energy for its second season,” said Yuri Rashkin, the show’s creator and host. “To successfully air a show on public access, it is critical that we receive sponsorship support from the community and businesses. This support allows us to further promote Janesville and instill a greater sense of pride and interest in our city.”

Discover Janesville is a winner of a 2009 Award of Merit from the Wisconsin Association of Public, Education and Government Access Channels. Ongoing sponsorship of the program is provided by the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board. For more information on Discover Janesville, visit http://www.discoverjanesville.com/

Alliant Energy is an energy-services provider with subsidiaries serving approximately 1 million electric and over 400,000 natural gas customers. Providing its customers in the Midwest with regulated electric and natural gas service is the company’s primary focus. Alliant Energy, headquartered in Madison, Wis., is a Fortune 1000 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LNT. For more information, visit the company’s web site at http://www.alliantenergy.com/.

Looking to the future

Discover Janesville is gearing up for its second season. Considering that the program was designed to be shot on monthly basis, it now is nearing completing its first 12-month cycle. During that time I have learned much about what I wanted this program to be. It is a lot of fun and has been tremendously helpful to me, and hopefully to the audience, in learning more about Janesville.

The first season the program had one sponsor: the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board. I can not overemphasize the importance of that partnership, for it helped the program find its feet, while proving its usefulness to the SWWDB. Now, for our second season, Discover Janesville will be joined by some excellent sponsors. Stay tuned for some exciting developments!

Here is a video designed to introduce our future supporters to Discover Janesville and its mission.

Viewer letter

This letter came in the other day. Written in long-hand, it talks about our interview with Geoffrey Parker earlier this year:

"A must-see for every Parker pen lover and any affecionado of American craft of the twentieth century."

Carla Mortensen
President
Pen Collectors of America

Thank you!

Discover Janesville: Walk a Mile In Her Shoes and the Literacy Connection

While we were out and about, Jon Wangerin stopped by to talk about the Walk a Mile In Her Shoes fundraiser for the YWCA that he is chairing for the second year in a row.



Cathy Jennings is the executive director of the Literacy Connection in Janesville. This is an organization dedicated to eradicating literacy in our area. It is run in main part due to its many volunteers.

Discover Janesville: Visiting a Weatherization Job Site

For our August show, we visited a Summer Youth Employment Program site that is supported by the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board (SWWDB). As part of this program, youth in 6 southwestern counties in Wisconsin are set up with existing businesses to help them out for the summer.

This was a very exciting program as we got to talk with several people in this chain and we got to see (and show you) several different perspectives on this project. First, we talked with Ron Coppernoll who is the community outreach liaison for the SWWDB, then we talked to Glenn Swedlund, who works for CISA 2 and is the liaison between the program, the business owners and the employees. Then we talked to Cliff Wakefield who runs Beneficial Insulation Solutions and two of his new employees, Erica and Shirley.

The sense of excitement that came from all of the program participants is infectious. It is clear that these people are doing the jobs that they want to do and thanks to the stimulus funding they are able to do their jobs better and on a bigger scale. The biggest concern was that this program continues in its current form because it helps everyone involved - from the youth workers for some of whom this is the first job ever, to the business owners who are able to get more things done, to the homeowners who are able to get their homes weatherized.

Discover Janesville with Yuri Rashkin - Terry Thomas

Terry Thomas is a Rock Count Supervisor currently serving his first term. Terry retired from the General Motors plant a few years back and got his accounting degree. We talked about his experience of being a non-traditional student, as well as what it's like to serve on the Rock County Board of Supervisors.

part 1


part 2