Our View: Cable access is vital information link

CAT-7 has been a part of local cable television since the late 1970s. In recent years, the channel became stagnant and irrelevant, serving little purpose except to broadcast some City of Cloquet meetings and a few half-hearted public service announcements. Operating a TV channel became a burden to the city, rather than a benefit to its residents. So, the city contracted out the operations to an entity that knows how to gather and present local news and information: this newspaper, the Pine Knot News.

After several months of assembling complicated television equipment and implementing procedures to provide programming, the revamped CAT-7 by Pine Knot News debuted this past winter, and we could not be happier over the future of CAT-7.

Initially, CAT-7 began playing local church services and city council meetings again, and a few public service announcements. Children’s programming arrived from the good people at the Cloquet Library, which has been well received. The local semipro hockey team revived its “Into The Wilderness” talk show, and the ubiquitous “Harry’s Gang” (hosted by Pine Knot News publisher Pete Radosevich) made a limited return.

Now, we are ready to begin the real work of making CAT-7 even more valuable to cable subscribers: our plan is to regularly update the channel’s scrolling announcements to provide up-to-date information on Covid issues, community events, school announcements, and services available in our area. As the community’s newspaper, we have access to important information and we are learning how to get that information on CAT-7 quickly.

But here’s where you can help: remember, CAT-7 is a community channel. So if you’re having an event, or are providing a service, or if your church or team is holding a fundraiser, we’d love to hear about it. Send your posters or announcements to [email protected] and we’ll get them on the air.