WestfordCAT Celebrates 2015 And Looks Ahead During Annual Meeting

WestfordCAT held its annual meeting on Thursday night, highlighting a year of change for Westford’s public access television station.

Hosted by WestfordCAT President Ira Keltz, the evening served both as June’s Board of Directors meeting as well as a chance to present various accomplishments.

Perhaps most notable among the accomplishments, the meeting took place within an expanded WestfordCAT Office, which was officially christened with a ribbon cutting ceremony near the end of the night.

In 2015, the station 162 episodes of 20 locally produced shows, including 52 “CAT Tracks” segments. WestfordCAT also produced 19 homegrown specials throughout the year and recorded 104 meetings from nine local government boards as well as both Annual and Special Town Meeting.

On WestfordCAT News Online, which was also officially established in 2015, over 1,000 pieces of news from WestfordCAT staff and the community as a whole were also published.

WestfordCAT Executive Director Lauren Horton also presented previews for the future, which included a new WestfordCAT website set to debut next week and the expansion of the town’s fiber optic network to the station, which will allow live coverage from a greater number of locations across town.

Between looking back and looking forward, Horton was pleased with the response from those in attendance.

“I was really impressed with the people who came and the enthusiasm they showed,” she said. “People liked what they saw, we’ve come a long way and people really recognized that.”

During the evening, WestfordCAT also gave awards to its most dedicated community members as well. Recent Westford Academy graduate Joe Sepe and health expert Rekha Sharma were honored for their recurring segments recorded at the station.

Ed Cohen and Niki Penta were also praised for their work on Weathering the Weather with Ed, now known as the Ed Cohen Variety Hour.

The evening also marked the re-election of WestfordCAT Board of Directors Member Tracy Tebrow and the last meeting for WestfordCAT Treasurer David Brown, who announced he will not pursue another term on the board.