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What is PlanetUtica.Org?
PlanetUtica.Org’s Mission Statement
Contact PlanetUtica.Org
Volunteer Opportunities at PlanetUtica.Org
The PlanetUtica.Org Story
What is PlanetUtica.Org?
Planet Utica is a non-profit organization that produces an alternative multi-cultural website and online new media.
PlanetUtica.Org’s Mission Statement
The goal of Planet Utica is to produce media products and programming promoting diversity, equality and cultural awareness and to provide a local alternative to the commercial media.
Contact PlanetUtica.Org
Email: news@planetutica.org
Call: (315) 798-1069
Volunteer Opportunities
Web Journalist/Photographers Opportunities
PlanetUtica.Org provides the community with opportunities to submit news stories, digital photos, column ideas, links and pop poll questions for our alternative news website. This is a great opportunity for writers, photographers, community activists and public relations professionals to have their work included in our website.
For more information on this volunteering opportunity contact PlanetUtica.Org at community@planetutica.org
Community Coordinator Volunteering Opportunities
Community Coordinators perform a variety of Public Relations oriented tasks including designing and implementing outreach efforts to area groups and communities, developing public relations strategies to promote PlanetUtica.Org’s membership, assist with newsgathering and cultivate volunteers.
For more information on this volunteering opportunity contact PlanetUtica.Org at community@planetutica.org
Pop Poll Reporting, Producing and Editing Opportunities Video and Online
Pop Poll segments on Neighborhood News are taped outside the studio in neighborhoods under-represented by the commercial media.
- Production volunteers working on Pop Poll segments ask people questions about important issues that haven't been covered adequately by the local media.
- Reporters appear on camera asking the questions and soliciting the answers.
- Producers are responsible for developing topic questions making scheduling arrangements, and identifying a location for taping.
- Editors are responsible for editing the footage into a segment of a specific length.
- Individuals may perform a variety of these roles, and can work independently.
Production staff working on Pop Poll segments also develop questions and answers for an online poll on Planet Utica's website.
Questions and answers for the online poll should be timely, informed and about current "hot topics" in the news, but preferably written with a sense of humor and a unique "alternative media" perspective. Volunteers for this position should have a sense of humor, a strong interest in news and current events and an ability to write succinctly.
For more information on this volunteering opportunity contact PlanetUtica.Org at community@planetutica.org
Grant Writer Volunteering Opportunities
Grant Writers are needed to assist members of the Planet Utica Board of Directors in researching and writing grants. Volunteers are needed for a variety of tasks including identifying grant possibilities, contacting potential grant sources, gathering relevant information and coordinating the writing and editing of the grant proposal.
For more information on this volunteering opportunity contact PlanetUtica.Org at community@planetutica.org
The Planet Utica Story
In the fall of 1995 Ron Klopfanstein created Planet Utica as a non-profit organization designed to use public access television to bring people from different communities together to celebrate their diversity, promote social justice and provide an alternative to the local commercial media. A diverse group of people who were interested in producing community oriented television met Tuesday nights in the St. Francis DeSales parish center.
In the spring of 1996 Planet Utica moved into the top floor of the DeSales Neighborhood Center (formerly the St. Francis DeSales School) on Genesee Street in Utica. That summer the studio and the newsroom were built and planning began for the premiere of the first broadcast.
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Chef Zoe Sharpe appeared in Planet Utica’s very first episode in 1996 she was instantly popular and was quickly spun-off into her own show which became Planet Utica’s first big hit. Zoe’s World starring Chef Zoe Sharpe, Patsy Seidel and Frances Szlek, premiering 1997 and still in production, is Planet Utica’s longest running show. Zoe has taken viewers to parties, cultural events and has explored dozens of international cuisines and cultures represented in the Mohawk Valley.
Highlights include the show’s annual summer episode at Zoe’s camp in Old Forge, a two-part episode exploring three millenia of cooking and the 2001 season premiere which celebrated Frances’ 80th Birthday Party.
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Our First Season 1996-1997
In September 1996 the one-hour premiere was taped and in October, Planet Utica began airing Monday nights at 7:00 PM on Harron Cable. The first show was an hour-long newsmagazine called the Planet Utica Show.
In January of 1997, The Planet Utica Show split into two separate shows, Overview, an alternative newsmagazine, and Pozitive Light, a newsmagazine hosted by Vince Scalise designed to educate people and raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. Some other shows that were produced during Planet Utica’s second season included Update:E, an newsmagazine about local arts and entertainment hosted by Cathy Mosher and Askewed an experimental show that mixed sketch comedy with alternative media arts.
Planet Utica’s first big hit came in the spring of 1997 when Chef Zoe Sharpe's popular cooking segment was spun-off into Zoe's World with the concept "Chef Zoe Sharpe takes you all around the world without ever leaving Central New York". Since her debut episode, Chef Zoe Sharpe has become a popular local celebrity presenting a multi-cultural mix of cooking, conversation, history, music and sometimes art. She visits ethnic stores, attends artistic presentations, explores scenic and historic locations and talks to people whose unique skills and talents make the Mohawk Valley such an interesting place. The following season her sister Patsy Seidel and their mother, Frances Szlek became regulars on the show.
Our Second Season 1997-1998
By the 1997-1998 Planet Utica was seen on three area cable systems, Harron Cable in the Utica area and the Time-Warner Cable systems in the Valley area and in Rome. In the fall of 1998, Overview became Neighborhood News, Diane Stebbins joined Ron Klopfanstein to co-anchor the show which was more than a new name- it was also a new concept. The public was invited to drop into tapings on the second Saturday of each month at 1:00 to "share the news of their world" with the Planet Utica’s newsteam.
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In the spring of 1999, Penny Lee Davies suggested Planet Utica begin producing programming exploring our area’s history. Her first stop was a visit to Suzi Anderson who was making a quilt. This segment part of a series of specials called Square One. The specials were so successful they became a series designed to make history a regular part of Planet Utica’s programming.
That show was called Now & Then and it starred Penny, Norma Sengupta and Ali Guay, Suzi came along later as a regular contributor as did Lou Barile who eventually became a co-host when Norma Sengupta and Ali Guay moved onto other Planet Utica projects. The show was produced until the Fall of 2000.
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Our Third Season 1998-1999
Planet Utica evolved a great deal in its third season, a grant from the Slocum-Dickson Foundation purchased a digital nonlinear editing computer that greatly improved the quality and sophistication of our programming. The computer allowed Planet Utica to integrate voice-overs, background music and titling, this was a great step forward for our shows.
Planet Utica’s website debuted with a premiere party that featured ethnic food and entertainment, party guests were the first people in Central New York to log on and visit the site. That summer Planet Utica held it’s first people-of-the-planet multi-cultural neighborhood walk-about, an annual fundraiser that offers participants to experience the some of the diverse cultures present in Utica’s inner city. By the fall of 1999 Planet Utica began working on a local history show which was titled Now & Then (originally titled Square One) and would star Penny Lee Davies, Norma Sengupta, Ali Guay and Barbara Klein. That season Don Stebbins launched Syncopated Science a series of science segments running at the end of Planet Utica’s broadcast hour.
Our Fourth Season 1999-2000
As the fourth season began Jackie Bateman, Suzi Anderson and Pete Robinson made their first appearances on Planet Utica. Jackie became a regular on Neighborhood News roundtable discussions, Suzi joined the cast of Now & Then and Pete began appearing on Syncopated Science.
In the summer of 2000 Planet Utica participated in Utica Monday Nite, successfully completing a contracted assignment to cover all thirteen weeks of the arts and entertainment festival. Planet Utica also produced a professional exercise video for a tai chi instructor from the New York area and installed a professional lighting system in the studio with the proceeds of that project. With our upgraded facility Planet Utica was able to begin offering professional video services
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Generations starring Lou Barile, MaryAnn Stockton, Suzi Anderson and Ali Guay was one of Planet Utica’s most popular shows. Featured segments included Lou’s My Hometown where he shared his slides and memories of Utica’s past, Today’s People in which MaryAnn and Ali interviewed local people, Suzi’s craft and garden segments and Original Voices: Local People Remembering History, an oral history project.
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for area artists and organization looking for an affordable alternative for the production of videos.
Our Fifth Season 2000-2001
In our fifth season Planet Utica launched a joint project with Elderlife and the United Way of the Greater Utica Area entitled Original Voices: Local People Remembering History. In these segments senior citizens from the community shared their memories of historical events they had personally experienced and offered their perspective on social and cultural changes that have occurred in their lifetime. Original Voices aired during Generations, a new history program that had replaced Now & Then. This new show starred Louis Barile, MaryAnn Stockton, Ali Guay and Suzi Anderson and was a popular part of our 2000-2001 season. Generations concluded in the summer of 2001 with a tribute episode to Lou Barile who left the show and a Best of Original Voices extended segment recapping the highlights of that project.
Our fifth season ended with a special cliffhanger episode of Syncopated Science in which hosts Don Stebbins and Pete Robinson were abducted by the show’s alien character and taken to outerspace. This episode was especially memorable because it included the cast members of all of Planet Utica’s shows Neighborhood News, Zoe’s World and Generations.
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Don Stebbins created Syncopated Science to present "off beat" views of scientific issues that are in the news or have impact on all our lives. The show includes discussions of environmental and medical issues as well as purely scientific considerations. The emphasis gives the viewer a new look or slant on those scientifically related concerns that are inadequately treated in the mass media. One of the highlights of the show was the cliffhanger that ended the 2000-2001 season with Don and Pete abducted by an alien!
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Our Sixth Season 2001-2002
Our sixth season began in the fall of 2001 with Don Stebbins and Pete Robinson’s safe return from the alien’s home planet in time for the new season of Syncopated Science. Penny Lee Davies returned to Planet Utica with an idea for a new show which would be produced by local woman and would focus on the interests and talents of local women. That show was called The Woman Next Door and it debuted successfully in the second half of the season starring Penny, Suzi Anderson and Fran Evans.
In 2002 Planet Utica donated copies of some of our best shows to the Mid-York Library System making them avaialable for home viewing. Planet Utica also donated a copy of Original Voices to the New York State Museum for permanent historical perservation.
Our Seventh Season 2002-2003
The seventh season began with a special double episode of The Woman Next Door which included a special trip to The National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY. Penny, Suzi and Fran treated viewers to an exploration of Women’s History and introduced our audience to some of the great women who made history in New York State. The Woman Next Door produced an additional four episodes before concluding in 2003.
In October of 2002 Planet Utica held it’s annual people-of-the-planet multi-cultural neighborhood walk-about in Utica’s Historic Bagg’s Square West district beginning at Utica Monday Nite’s offices and ending at Virgo Bat & Leo Phrog’s Coffeehouse. One of the highlights of that event was the reading of a letter sent by Oneida County Executive Ralph Eannace encouraging us in our efforts.
“There is certainly no better place.” County Executive Eannace wrote, “to celebrate the history and diversity of Utica than the starting place for your walk-the Utica Monday Nite offices. From the days when the Erie Canal flowed through downtown Utica to today when a different kind of cultural river flows through Utica, the story of our community has been one of adaptation, change and partnerships.
“Please share with your supporters my praise for the efforts that have been undertaken to form Planet Utica and keep it alive.
“In a community filled with different voices, Planet Utica serves a positive role by helping to promote greater understanding among our community’s diverse groups and by helping all of us in our community to see each other for the people we are, and not the labels others might think we should wear.”
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Penny Lee Davies created The Woman Next Door to feature and promote the contributions of everyday women to the culture, economy and history of Central New York. One of the series’ hightlights was a trip to the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY.
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Our Eighth Season 2003-2004
In our Eighth Season Planet Utica took a trip to the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY to gather footage and information for a variety of segments raising awareness about animal rights issues and the food industry. Planet Utica also gave considerable coverage to the local anti-war movement and donated fifty episodes of the show to the Mid-York Library making them permanently available for viewing by the public.
Also the complete series of The Woman Next Door episodes were rebroadcast in the spring and summer of 2004.
Our Ninth Season 2004-2005
By 2005 Planet Utica was proud to reach an important milestone the production and broadcast of our 100th episode. The hour featured episodes of Neighborhood News, Zoe’s World, Generations and Syncopated Science.
PlanetUtica.Org 2006-present
Upon reaching that achievement we turned our efforts to new media and focused our efforts on the Internet and the limitless possibilities it offered not only to reach an audience anytime, anywhere but to offer more people the opportunity to volunteer virtually by writing news stories and feature articles, submitting digital photo and video, participating in our interactive features and enjoying highlights and favorite moments from Planet Utica all the way from 1996 to the present.
To celebrate our evolution to new media we have updated our name to PlanetUtica.Org. We look forward to entertaining and informing our loyal viewers and to grow our audience as we continue to serve the people of Mohawk Valley with alternative and multi-cultural news and feature stories, opportunities to interact with our writers and producers, news and reviews about media products and many surprises still to come.
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