The 64th Annual Independence Day Parade will be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable Channel 19 again this year thanks to a growing group of junior broadcast enthusiasts.  The long standing tradition of broadcasting our parade on local cable continues as it has for over two decades. With the help of Bill Putnam of Time Warner Cable, 13 junior journalists on tap to kick of the fourth year of volunteer broadcasters, KYDS TV will air "America's People 2012", the Coronado 4th of July Parade start to finish. 

"At 10:00 on the Fourth, four months of preparation will end and we'll go live,  then all bets are off." says Mark "Gill" Gilliland, founder and executive producer of the not for profit organization, the Coronado Young Directors Society (KYDS). Gill, a resident and Coronado Optimist has organized, assembled and produced the event using duct tape, shoe strings and enthusiasm since Time Warner Cable was forced to seek volunteers to air the parade in 2008. "We as ready as we're going to be, we're very fortunate to have a record eight returning volunteers, seven more that our first three years. And, he adds, "we've trimmed a huge chunk of weight and technology by replacing a handful of PCs with a single iPad for graphics and a MacBook to record."

This year's broadcast is stacking up to be a banner year with seasoned volunteers from Coronado Middle School's KCMS and CHS experienced broadcasters in the control booth and manning the cameras. Ms. Amy Steward made a pitch for the broadcast in her classroom the last week of school and KYDS TV nailed down two of her star director and anchor talents. With an enhanced technical team, experienced volunteers, and a large willingness to do a good job, the KYDS TV production quality, direction, and overall visual experience should be an appealing "must see" on the 4th, and on DVD if you don't catch KYDS live on TV (Gill  hints that DVDS may be available for purchase some time after the parade).

In 2009 KYDS went live for the first time when television production operations were terminated by Time Warner Cable in Coronado. That void left many aging, life long residents of Coronado, too old to actually attend the parade, without a means to see the event as they had for over two decades. KYDS TV was created to fill that void by providing youth with an interest in broadcasting and journalism an opportunity to not only provide a valuable community service, but in doing so, enjoy and learn more about something that is interesting.

"Some of our volunteers received as many as 48 documented community service hours in a single year preparing and carrying out the event." says Gill.  With a handful of seventh and eighth grade students, KYDS TV endeavors to produce, engineer, direct and broadcast the parade on television, but they are young volunteers, not television professionals. The KYDS at KYDS TV do this for the fun and the experience of giving back to this great community.

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