William Tang was sitting in what passes for a Green Room (TV talk for an area where guests for a show cool their heels before going on) at the CAN TV facilities in the West Loop.
“I am not nervous,” said Tang, smiling. “But I am excited.”
He is the host of “Special Olympics Chicago,” a monthly program that features some of the special-needs athletes involved in the SO, the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with mental disabilities. No mere on-camera showcase, the program has SO athletes serving not only as host, but filling the roles of floor director, audio operator, character-generator operator and cameraman.
Jared Jeffries, CAN TV’s director and training coordinator, is in charge of the taping and has been overseeing these efforts since the show began in December 2012.
“Working on the show has definitely been a rewarding experience for me personally,” he said. “Obviously, I had heard of the Special Olympics, but I didn’t really know anything about the organization or the games when we started the partnership. I really can’t believe it’s been almost three years. I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many really fun and motivated people. Especially the crew, since many of them have been here since very near the beginning.”
The show is 30 minutes long, generally in three segments, and airs on the first and third Saturdays of each month (July 18) at 9:30 a.m. on CAN TV’s Channel 19.
This is the only such program in any U.S. city. On one level that’s shameful — the only one? — but on another it’s fitting: The Special Olympics began here with 1,000 children and adults from 26 states and Canada participating in athletic contests on July 20, 1968, at Soldier Field.
Hardly anybody noticed. A small story in the Tribune (and it shows how far we have come in terms of understanding and compassion) was headlined “1,000 Retarded Kids Compete in Chicago Special Olympics.”
This year, the Special Olympics World Games begins with opening ceremonies on July 25 in Los Angeles. There will be some 7,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches representing 177 countries, along with 30,000 volunteers and an anticipated 500,000 spectators watching from seats in various venues across the greater LA area.
Sitting across a table from Tang was one of the athletes who will compete: Keith Tyler, set to be interviewed on the show, and his father, Kevin, who said, “We have been doing the Special Olympics for more than 20 years. If something is fun for Keith, that makes it fun for me.”
Keith has the look and build of the weightlifter, which he is, but he will compete in soccer at the World Games. “I love to be interviewed,” said the 30-year-old.
“He is my friend,” said Tang, who is 32. “And so this interview will be easy.”
And it was, after Tang first interviewed on camera Jessica Gerig, a program associate with Aon Service Corp., which is an ardent and active supporter of the Special Olympics.
She said, before taping began, “I am a little nervous. I studied broadcasting in college so maybe I’m just a little rusty. But it’s a privilege to be here.”
The show went smoothly. It was entertaining and enlightening, and yet another example of the sort of programming that CAN TV has been doing here for more than two decades. It was established by the city as a nonprofit in 1983, intended as a necessary stage for the vox populi, a cable channel free of commercials, unfiltered and uncensored. Since 1990, when it first went on the air, it has covered thousands of events and offered nearly a quarter of a million programs, providing the training, facilities, equipment and channel time for city residents and nonprofit groups to do their things.
The shows it broadcasts — most of them, at least — lack snazzy sets or flashy production values. But the best of them make up for that in substance, sincerity and in showing the diversity that is this city. Some are awkward and a few, frankly, weird, but most are valuable and intriguing (cantv.org).
CAN TV Executive Director Barbara Popovic likes to echo the words of Gabriel Piemonte, of the Woodlawn Voices and Visions organization, who says, “All of Chicago needs to put its arms around CAN TV. It is the best of who we are.”
And it will get better soon, as the operation moves into new quarters to the west. Ground was broken in December for what will be a 21,000-square-foot facility at 1309 S. Wood St., with new equipment, more space and new hopes.
“The move will be hectic, but we hope to do a formal opening next year,” Popovic says.
At the end of “Special Olympics Chicago,” someone said, “Great job everybody.”
There were no medals awarded as is customary at Special Olympics competitions. “Great job” was more than enough.
