Now in its fifth season, the “My Long Island TV” show is celebrating 900 episodes of stories reflect the values of our community and that have provided Long Island with over $40 million in economic activity.
March 2015
When Waldo Cabrera began his project, known as Islip.TV in 2006, online video was a relatively new concept. Larger, more traditional newspapers and cable-TV providers dabbled with content online, but Cabrera jumped in with broadcast quality programming. “Sometimes you just have to step up and change things,” he said.
His vision was to provide viewers with an alternative to the local media establishment: an opportunity to take a longer-form look-and-listen to stories of local interest. Typical topics included conversations community leaders, high school sports, local theatre activities, and supporting the efforts of our local Chamber of Commerce members . If it’s part of your Long Island, it’s on MyLITV.
“At most events we were the first to arrive and the last to leave. That investment in time allowed us to tell more in-depth stories. I felt good about our storytelling I wanted the wider community to know about us, so I entered local journalism awards competitions,” said Cabrera. “But they didn’t have an online video category for us, so we competed directly with the major broadcasters... and won.”
Cabrera says winning awards from the Press Club of Long Island or FOLIO Award from Long Island’s Fair Media Council is an honor, “We proved that our work online stood up to some of the most-respected journalism in the Metropolitan New York region,” he said.
An early triumph was Cabrera’s report about members of the New York State Assembly Black, Hispanic and Asian Caucus holding back a 1-percent sales tax exemption from Suffolk County until hiring halls were created for immigrant day laborers. Cabrera phoned the most outspoken caucus-members to ask about the (non-existent) hiring halls in their communities. It was good TV, and award-winning journalism. “As a homeowner and member of our community, it was an issue I cared about,” he said.
Recent MyLITV subjects include visits to Brookhaven National Laboratory to hear scientists describe their research, a tour of the famously-inaccessible U.S. Government animal disease research facility on Plum Island, and a trek into our Long Island wetlands with mosquito-control teams from Suffolk County.
Along with the thrill of victory, the past five years have also provided difficult challenges. The Great Recession of 2008, was a time of retrenchment, down-sizing and diminished expectations for most, but Verizon tuned-in to a value when they encountered Cabrera and invited the respected programmer to join their FiOS1 News channel roster in 2009.
Since going on air in June of 2009, The insightful, informative, often heartwarming narratives produced by MyLITV exposed non-profits and local businesses provide to its over 800,000 TV and streaming viewers. That's media exposure worth over $40 million.
"My goal was simply to help my community by featuring the outstanding people who sacrifice so much for others" said Cabrera "I never thought it would be $40 million worth of help.
“Waldo is a person of true vision,” says publisher and former Bellport Mayor Frank Trotta. Trotta publishes Fire News and 50+ Lifestyle newspapers. The two became acquainted as Cabrera recorded Trotta’s “Senior Idol” talent competition and other local happenings.
“He brings out the best in people; he helps them feel confident about expressing themselves in their own words, and that’s a key to creating stories of wide and lasting impact.” said Trotta. “His programs are timely, but they also have lasting impact. Waldo knows today’s events are tomorrow’s history.”
“Do you know that kids game, ‘Where’s Waldo? Well, this Waldo is everywhere!” says Liza Burby, editor in chief for Anton Media Group, a Mineola-based newspaper publisher. “He knows his market and it shows in everything he does,” she said.
Burby and Cabrera became acquainted during her role as publisher of Long Island Parent magazine. They met frequently while covering local stories. She soon found that linking her readers to MyLITV created another platform, “No other competitor had this advantage,” she said. Story links between Anton’s 18 publications and MyLITV enable a potential reach of 1.5 million. “Local is what people are longing for, and MyLITV gives people a picture of where they live,” says Burby.
Cabrera is looking forward to reaching ever-larger audiences with his National Video Journalist Network (NVJN) channel on the “Roku,” video streaming service. Roku has shipped over 10 million devices in the United States.
“Through the NVJN I intend to bring Long Island's story to the rest of America, and bring America's stories to Long Island” said Cabrera.