Using public, educational and government funding, the Novi Community Relations Department has transformed a warehouse space into a modern television and podcast production studio.

Photo by Patricia O’Blenes

Trevor Walega, a Novi video production specialist, and Sheryl Walsh-Molloy, Novi communications director, sit in front of a video wall set up for one of the city’s podcasts.

Photo by Patricia O’Blenes

NOVI – The City of Novi recently converted an old storage room at the Novi Civic Center, affectionately known as the “dungeon,” into a state-of-the-art television and podcast studio.

The planning and construction of the studio, named “Studio No.VI,” took just over a year. It was budgeted for in the 2023-2024 city budget. Construction began in late August and the studio was officially opened in February.

The $800,000 studio was funded through public, educational and governmental funds. PEG funds are generated annually by the city from federal fees charged to cable customers. One of the fees included in a cable bill is a 1% PEG fee mandated by federal law.

“Whether you want to pay it or not, if you have Comcast, Charter, Spectrum or AT&T, they have what are called PEG and franchise fees, and that’s for the use of the right of way – for the fiber – and when we sat down maybe a couple of years ago, we had over a million dollars in PEG fees from our relationships/partnerships with these cable companies,” said Sheryl Walsh-Molloy, communications director for the city of Novi. “The kicker is that these are earmarked funds. They can only be used for video operations.”

Walsh-Molloy said the city receives an average of $350,000 to $380,000 in PEG funds annually. The city receives the PEG funds in quarterly installments from the cable companies. However, the Federal Communications Commission requires that the funds can only be used for capital improvement costs related to construction, equipment, software, warranty, labor and training for PEG access facilities. She said that prior to 2019, the city was able to fund operational budget items such as communications staff salaries with PEG funds, but is no longer permitted to do so by the FCC.

“Imagine having to spend $300 and several thousand dollars every year on video equipment and capital expenditures. So the pot just kept growing and we had a very small studio in a closet – literally a walk-in closet – and we said, ‘You know, social media and electronic communications have changed so much in the last 20 years. … There have been advances. We need to do something. Let’s build a studio, let’s use it to tell the Novi stories in films and longer-form content across multiple platforms,’ and the idea of ​​the studio became a reality,” Walsh-Molloy said.

The 1,000-square-foot studio consists of three different sets: a green screen, a main setup with a video wall, and a stand-alone monitor. All of the equipment is mobile and can be easily moved to create a different background with about 180 different lighting zones. The studio is currently used for “Update Novi,” a monthly update with the mayor; “After the Gavel,” a recap of each city council meeting; the “Now You Novi” podcast, as well as any other type of recording the city may need.

“One of the biggest advantages of this studio is that we have a smaller crew,” said Trevor Walega, video production specialist for the City of Novi. “Typically, when we were filming before the studio opened, we would have a half day just for set-up and tear-down (with three people). So the great thing about this studio is that it can basically be a one-man operation.”

Before the studio, crew members had to pack up a huge amount of equipment, including cameras and lighting. They then had to drive to the set and set up the equipment on location, then tear it down to return to the Civic Center and edit. Now, everything is “self-contained,” Walsh-Molloy said.

“It’s efficient,” said Walsh-Molloy.

Walega said that “After the Gavel” used to take two to three hours to complete, but now that they have the studio, it only takes 15 minutes from start to finish.

“Because we have this really nice looking set with lighting and everything already set up, we can turn content around really quickly,” said Walega. “All we have to do is bring a camera here, repurpose one of these cameras, flip it around, have our talent stand up, press record and that’s essentially it. Just flip it around. Super, super efficient, super easy and that again makes it really nice when we have a lot of different formats here and we’re doing short films and the time savings in set up and tear down has been huge for us.”

Walsh-Molloy said they’ve only had the studio for less than six months and are already finding different ways to use it. She said the Novi Parks Foundation has already used it, they’re planning a live question-and-answer segment with a doctor from Ascension Hospital and they’re also taking portraits and photos in the studio. The studio is not for public rental, but is used solely to produce content for the city’s social media channels, website and cable channels — channel 213-1 on Spectrum and channel 9 on AT&T.

Recently, the studio was used to produce a segment on the city’s transition to People’s Express for curb-to-curb shared transit, with a focus on services for seniors and the disabled.

“Today, a person’s attention span is two to three minutes if you’re lucky and they see a familiar, happy face. So we had to change our ability to tell Novi’s story in a big way,” Walsh-Molloy said. “The biggest thing for me is that this was completed without using taxpayer money, which I think is super exciting, and it was earmarked funds that had to be used for video work. So it’s a win-win, not only for the staff, but for Trevor, because this is a new toy box for him. I mean, you look at it and I’m excited. Every day I come here and think, ‘My goodness, this is like Channel 2, 4 and 7.’ This is quality that we have here, and what other community is lucky to have something like that. So for them to be video production specialists and be able to use that, this is a dream come true.”

“It certainly is. It completely elevates what people see from us across all channels,” Walega said. “It’s just a unified set, a unified look and feel. But just the ability to have that kind of hub for content, to speed it up, make it faster and make everything look really good, yeah, our pipeline is better than it’s ever been.”

Walsh-Molloy said she strives to make the city as transparent as possible, and this studio provides another opportunity to do so.

The next project the city plans to tackle with PEG funds is upgrading the City Council meeting room, since council meetings are televised and the room is technologically outdated. PEG funds have been increased again to around $1 million, so Walsh-Molloy hopes to have this project completed within a year or so.