Tony Ruggieri, former City TV production supervisor, has joined the Board of Directors at TV Santa Barbara (TVSB).

“We are thrilled to have someone with Tony’s professional experience and history with public, educational and government media join the TVSB Board,” said Erik Davis, executive director of TV Santa Barbara.

“Tony is an incredible addition to an already outstanding, diverse and community-minded Board of Directors,” Davis said.

Ruggieri is recently retired from the city of Santa Barbara after 36 years as the City TV production supervisor.

His first interaction with community television in Santa Barbara was at the old Public Access Studios at 310 E. Haley St. back in 1989, when he produced the public information program Santa Barbara City Scene for two years. At that time, the Public Access TV operation was managed by Cox Cable.

For about 12 years, Ruggieri was the lead staff person at the city assigned to providing staff support to the Public Access advisory committee, whose responsibility was to ensure public access television operated according to the terms and conditions of the local franchise agreements Cox Cable had with the cities of Santa Barbara and Carpinteria, and Santa Barbara County.

Under Ruggieri’s supervision, City TV programming won numerous programming awards for video excellence, including three Pacific Southwest Region Emmy Awards.

Ruggieri said he is proud of the role City TV played during his tenure in serving the public information needs of the Santa Barbara community, providing transparency to the city decision-making processes.

TV Santa Barbara is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit, which operates two community access television channels, 17 and 71. TVSB’s mission is to empower people to make media that matters. TVSB does this by providing residents with the knowledge, resources, and tools to create their own original programming. TV Santa Barbara has served as the local media access center since 1975.
With studios at 329 S. Salinas St., TVSB provides members with access to video production equipment and electronic media resources to facilitate public dialogue, free speech, and participatory democracy. Learn more at www.tvsb.tv.