Somerville Media Center {SMC) recently held its Grand Opening event to celebrate its relocation to 29 Properzi Way. We congratulate them on the successful transition to their new location and on their many years of service to the city.

SMC started in 1983 as the first community access television station in Massachusetts. Thirty-eight years ago, at the direction of then-Mayor Eugene Brune, the City of Somerville renovated the former firehouse in the center of Union Square to create television studios to be run by the community. SMC was the site of the first national teleconference for the deaf, the first cable access lesbian soap opera, and some of the earliest panels on transgender youth.

It was also the starting point for such treasured recording artists as Tracy Chapman, and it remains the home of the longest continuously produced access show in the United States, Dead Air Live. We are now SMC, with an internet radio station (Boston Free Radio) and a thriving youth program.

Their new computer lab and podcast studio are operational and already providing service to members. Their new and luxurious conference room has already hosted meetings for staff and board of directors. Next online will be, their hot set mini-studio and full-sized main studio. Registration is open for 2025 Spring Youth Programs, visit https://www.somervillemedia.org/.

For more information about SMC, its new facilities, and currently available programs, visit them online at https://www.somervillemedia.org.