ATHOL — A Smith College alumna recently ascended to the helm of Athol-Orange Community Television, becoming the second executive director in the public-access cable station’s history.
Liz Walber has taken over for Carol Courville, who had been in charge at 163 South Main St. for 31½ years. Walber started her new position on June 1 and worked under Courville’s guidance until the latter’s final day in the office on June 17.
“I really like Athol and Orange. The North Quabbin is beautiful,” Walber said. “The people are really nice and they’re also strong-willed and smart, and they have a lot to say, which is good for us. We need people who want to say what they think.”
The 32-year-old started at AOTV in 2024 and worked as the development coordinator before being selected for the top position by the board of directors. She was interviewed by a hiring committee in the spring.
“It’s been exciting. Because I was doing the development coordinator position, I was already writing grants for us,” she said. “So, I’ve taken on more grant writing.”
AOTV got its start in 1993, when local residents collaborated with Time Warner Cable to bring public access television to Athol and Orange. The station hired Courville in November of the following year and aired its first live broadcast in March 1995. Courville grew up in Worcester and attended Syracuse University, where she studied television production. She already had public access experience when she got the job.
“The people were just so awesome in the area, I just never left,” she said. “It was incredible, absolutely incredible. The community really loved me as their own.”
Courville, who also founded AOTV’s sister radio station, WVAO 105.9 FM, said she plans to move to a lake house in Tennessee to be closer to family. She received flowers and an award from the Athol Selectboard at its June 16 meeting to commemorate her years of service to the community.
“While retirement marks the end of one chapter, the legacy she leaves behind will continue to inspire our community for generations,” Chair Bill Chiasson said.
“I was flabbergasted,” Courville said of the honor. “I was very moved that they would spend the time and effort making an award — absolutely gorgeous award — and just say great things, just to recognize my years of service in the community, not just community television itself.”
The Fitchburg resident expressed enthusiasm for having a successor with a lot of energy and experience with the organization, and Walber said Courville takes a great deal of institutional knowledge with her.
“She was recognized [regionally] by the Alliance for Community Media many times,” Walber said. “Some incredible projects were created under her … so I would say that she’s a force to be reckoned with in the field, and she definitely deserves her retirement.”
Walber, who lives in Turners Falls and regularly records the Orange Selectboard’s biweekly meetings, was announced as the new executive director at the June 17 meeting. Cheryl Calcari, president of AOTV’s board of directors and its Orange representative, said Walber will continue to work the Selectboard meetings for the foreseeable future.
Walber explained AOTV’s priorities are meetings of the Selectboard, Finance Committee and Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District School Committee, as well as Annual Town Meetings and Special Town Meetings, but the station has also covered meetings of the Mobile Rent Control Board and the Charter Advisory Committee.
“You guys are our shows, that are important for people to see,” she said at the Selectboard meeting. “It’s informational. It’s public information and government.”
Selectboard Chair Julie Davis told Walber she looks forward to working with her. A meet and greet with Walber is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. at the AOTV studio on Thursday, July 9.
Calcari said Walber’s drive and community involvement set her apart from the other candidates for executive director.
“I think she’ll do great. I think she’s outgoing and she’s eager to try new things,” she said. “Carol had awesome ideas and a lot of growth has happened under Carol’s watch, and I think Liz will follow through with that growth.”
Walber grew up in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and moved to Massachusetts to attend Smith College, where she focused on film studies and gender studies. She graduated in 2016 and worked at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst before moving on to Northampton Open Media, that city’s public access television station, where she stayed for three years.
She was in charge of Crowdsourced Cinema while working in Northampton, an annual public art project in which the public collaboratively remakes an iconic film. Each team is assigned a scene from the film to interpret creatively. The scenes are edited together, color corrected and normalized, and the final product is screened at the Academy of Music.
After that, Walber waitressed for a year and a half before being hired at AOTV.
“My original vision was to make documentary. And when I started working on documentary and getting into the weeds of how you actually get a production from start to finish, there’s a lot of media production that goes on that just is so detached from real human experience,” she said. “What public access offers is … anyone has the opportunity to make something. It democratizes the medium. It’s no longer Hollywood. It’s no longer big productions with million-dollar budgets.”
AOTV’s staff consists of her, full-time Production Manager Jake Movsessian, part-time Administrative Assistant Tina Smedley and part-time Production Assistant Patrick Keeney. There are also 30 to 50 volunteers at any given time.
“The vast majority of people in Orange are not going to [municipal] meetings. But they can go on our website, they can search through meetings,” Walber said. “I think it’s the modern way that we get information on what’s happening in town.”
She explained that 80% of AOTV’s budget comes from the federal cable funding formula. About 10% comes from the annual live auction held the first Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in December. The station also holds classes and accepts donations on its website, aotv13.org.
“[Public, Educational and Government access] stations are in a funding crisis across the country. There is legislation at the state level in Massachusetts to address that,” Walber said. “I would like to be directly involved more in the legislative, lobbying process, getting us more funding opportunities,” she said. “I’d like to have successful grants go through.”
She also said she wants to bring ATOV into a new era and recruit more viewers.
Walber will also teach an oral history course for teens, funded by a LifePath grant, in July. Teens ages 14 to 18 will learn the methods of oral history and interview a local elder for the historical record. Registration is available at aotv13.org/class-registration.
