Tom Poole: An Interview

Tom Poole is an organizer of many things. Counting arts administrator, media facilitator, and activist among the many titles he has held over the years, Poole currently brings all these capacities to bear as the executive director of the Pittsburgh Community Television (PCTV) station. In his contribution to the On Art and Artists series, Poole discusses his early foray into media activism as a member of the video art collective Black Planet Productions. This experience enabled him to help create a grassroots public affairs program called Not Channel Zero, which, as Poole describes, catalyzed his embrace of the public access model as a tool for media activism. In his current capacity, Poole sees himself as a part of an ever-growing constellation of independent media centers, all seeking to expand knowledge and enliven debate by bringing the personal to the local and the local to the global.

— Kyle Riley

Tom Poole's resume includes working on the PBS series Positive: Life with HIV as an associate producer (1993-1994), and as a segment producer for another PBS series called Signal to Noise (1994-1995). He has managed The Nuyorican Poetry Cafe’s video program, directed a media youth program YO-TV at Educational Video Center (1995-1998) and ran a media distribution company Deep Dish TV (1998-2002).

— Verbs on Asphalt

Interview conducted by Romi Crawford in April 2002, edited in 2013.