What you see in front of you is history in the making. From our humble beginnings, literally out an apartment window, to our extensive coverage of the controversy between the Bayside Community and the SCA. Since 2012, BaysideLiveTV has been on top of local news, events, and personalities. Below is a short summary of the videos that have put us on the map, and the evolution of the quality of our productions over our three year history.
BaysideLiveTV was founded on March 7, 2012, by Gregg P. Sullivan. Gregg had a vision, a vision to re-connect community to the media, facilitate a new emerging voice of local residents and provide a new channel where they can be heard. This video was the first to create some buzz around the new hyper-local channel.
In “The Traffic Report,” Gregg is sticking his head out the window of his Bell Boulevard apartment to give viewers a sense of the nightlife. As he was panning the camera around he was approached by Dina and Dawn, from Bethpage, Long Island. Gregg would literally keep the camera rolling and run down his stairs to ask them, “What brings you to Bayside?” The answer was simple, “It’s like a mini Manhattan here, it’s amazing!”
When we began our technology was not very advanced, we had only a simple handheld camera. But on June 14, 2012, after a huge rainstorm, the sky cleared and a bright shiny rainbow appeared over Bell Boulevard. Witnesses of the scene said they found the end of the rainbow, with a leprechaun and his pot of gold after they walked through Brian Dempsey’s front door 😉. The sight was so amazing that Gregg picked up his camera and created one of Bayside’s first personal home videos.
Soon after that, music came to BaysideLiveTV. What is a better way to showcase local musical talent then a local television network? For instance, did you know that the President of the Bayside Historical Society Paul DiBenedetto doubles as the lead singer of the rock and roll band “Chicken Head”? In this video from April 14, 2013, Chicken Head rocks out to “Gimme Three Steps” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, during a St. Baldricks Fundraiser at C.J. Sullivans.
BaysideLiveTV has always been interested in covering public events. Uploaded on December 23, 2014 as a Christmas gift to the entire Bayside community was a short documentary on the returning Children’s Christmas Parade up Bell Boulevard. The Bayside Train Station was packed with people, of all faiths and all cultures, which is no surprise considering Queens is the most culturally diverse place on the planet. As Public Advocate Tish James said, “Only in Bayside would you have Santa Claus come along with a Hindu prayer and a rabbi walking up the stairs. That’s Bayside!”
Bayside loves its children. The 2015 Bayside Little League Parade was a celebration of those kids who chose to go out, play ball, learn from their coaches, and learn to better work as a team. The teams of Bayside Little League marched their way up Bell Boulevard down to the fields at Crocheron Park. U.S. Senator Chuck Shumer and the local politicians were there to speak a word of encouragement to the players, a word of thanks to the coaches and directors, and finally to ask each player to thank their parents for giving them the opportunity to play Little League baseball. BaysideLiveTV by creating this content created a true relic for those who marched in that parade, both now and years from now. Now that was a “homerun” for the Bayside community!
From rainbows to fireworks, BaysideLiveTV always captures the beauty of Bayside. July 1st, 2015, the Bayside Historical Society hosted one of the best attended and most successful events the Bayside Community has seen in decades. The Fort Totten Fireworks display saw kids playing football with one another, bands performing in front of a large crowd, that was mostly sitting on blankets in the grass, and of course a larger than life fireworks display. This short documentary is so inviting it almost makes you feel as if you were back in the middle of summer, witnessing it all again for the first time.
So now here we are nearly four years later, no longer do we work out of an apartment, and our equipment has been significantly upgraded. Now it’s time to achieve our goal, to reconnect the public to the media, to have the people Be Heard! by the politicians, to Be Heard! by the community. BaysideLiveTV has created that platform, for the Bayside community, and thus far it is working out well.
The efforts put in by the entire BaysideLive production team has made a difference in the community. It is through videos such as this one that have made the voices of the people heard, and have directly influenced the decision of a major issue that could drastically change the lives of Baysiders and outsiders alike.
BaysideLiveTV is the platform for you the viewer. We exist to provide the community with a voice. We exist to make memories last a life time. So welcome to the new BaysideLiveTV.com and please continue to look through the site and enjoy the content we have produced for you.
Sincerely Yours,
Teddy Byrne
Associate Producer/Web Designer, BaysideLiveTV
