My Nonprofit Reviews

Hello, My name is Diane Johnson and I have been a community Producer with PCTV for about 8 years or more. My story is a little unique, I was introduced to PCTV by my mentor, Ms Joyce King many years ago who has now passed away. She had a show called "Everyday People" which focused on mental health issues and to stop the STIGMA surrounding it! Her objective was to prove that people with disabilities was not the illness and that they were "Everyday People" just like anyone else. So she invited people like myself, yes myself who eventually became a community producer, which she paid for, to appear on the show to showcase our talents. I started off producing shows "KALEIDOSCOPE" which featured my own group "The Unspeakables Lip Sync" group the only lip sync group in Pgh. I then went on traveling to different Karaoke lounges, filming there & in the studio, introducing the locals to Channel 21 to my surprise some people weren't aware the station existed or that they could become producers themselves. They were so excited to not only be on TV but thought it was so cool that there was something like this happening in our city. I then was nominated to sit on the board but unfortunately didn't make it but it was nice being nominated. Now I've been hired working in the mental health field as a Outreach & Education Coordinator, so I decided to use my training & get others trained too so I applied for a grant and changed the name of the show to "KALEIDOSCOPE"Forever Changing Lives and used the others who were trained too to finish what Ms King had started. Unfortunately, what I had met Ms King early on had turned for the worst in 2003 I became very ill and had to stop working and producing shows. In 2006 after being misdiagnosed after all those years, they found a tumor the size of an orange on my brain which has now been removed and my last appearance on PCTV was in 2007 in which the ACCR(Allegheny County Coalition for Recovery) found would be a good story to promote "Hope" to people in Recovery. For this reason I find it is important that Channel 21 stays right here, there has been many other shows that have been informative and I think it's a good learning tool for individuals who would like to do this as a career move, why should we have to leave our city or give money to other cities, there are to many of our youths leaving our city trying to find opportunities elsewhere, some don't return and some need I say more, let's just stop pushing people out and start trying to keep them in....... I would love to come back some day and finish what I started! Thank you for reading, Good Luck PCTV Staff & Volunteers & Supporters, Thank you for all your support & help over the years.......... Diane Johnson, Community Producer "KALEIDOSCOPE"

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