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Community Corner

Healthy and Nutritious Local Television

Local organic food expert KC Thorson talks with health specialists and shares nutritious recipes on the television show "What's Cookin' with KC."

KC Thorson, longtime Menomonee Falls resident, was back in the cable access studio this week to film another episode of “What’s Cookin’ with KC”

On this latest installment, she talked with Karin Peterson, a health educator at Froedtert.  They discussed ways Peterson encourages her grandchildren to eat healthy foods and prepared an easy low-glycemic and gluten-free snack. 

Thorson is a cooking coach who works with people who have challenges with cooking due to allergies or medical conditions. 

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She helps them to learn how to make dishes that are easy to cook, tasty and will agree with their digestive systems.  Some examples of the diets that she’s helped clients learn to cook for include: gluten-free, dairy-free, yeast-free, diabetic, and weight management diets. 

Thorson also offers educational group cooking classes, teleconferences and has written books.  She recently published a cookbook called “Gluten Free is Easy to Be” which is available for online download from her website, and is currently working on a cookbook of gluten-free desserts. 

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One of her secrets for cooking gluten-free is to use coconut or nut flour, which is higher in fiber and more nutritious than wheat or rice flours.

Thorson has been hosting “What’s Cookin’ with KC” for over two years, filming a dozen episodes at the Menomonee Falls Cable Access studio.

“I wanted to create this show as a community service to bring health improvement information to the public,” Thorson said.

Thorson is able to produce this show because of the opportunity for Menomonee Falls residents to use the cable access studio and broadcast on channel 14. 

About the community and for the community

The Menomonee Falls Cable Access studio brings information about local events and local people to the community. 

Subscribers of Time Warner Cable living in Menomonee Falls can view three local stations – channel 13 is dedicated to education, channel 14 broadcasts public access programming, and channel 25 shows government meetings.   Shows can also be viewed online here.

Channels 13 and 14 are both broadcast from the cable studio located at the high school and shared with students in the Media Studies class.

The cable access channels are funded by the franchise fees paid by Time Warner for the use of city equipment such as telephone poles said station manager Harry Stoetzel.  The studio has been operating in Menomonee Falls since 1982.

Anyone in Menomonee Falls can create their own show just like Thorson.  The use of the studio is available at no cost to residents who want to express themselves and have the opportunity to learn how to produce a show. 

To create a new show, the members of the new team first take the training classes to learn how to use the equipment and facilities.  The classes cover aspects of television production, from camera operation and setup to the editing and post-production. 

Graduates of the station’s training class can create a show which is eligible to be broadcast on channel 14 with the help of the station manager.  

Menomonee Falls cable access produces about 225 shows per year.

“We produce a lot of shows with good quality, but low cost.  This offers amateurs the opportunity to gain experience and express themselves,” Stoetzel said. “Some of our programming has won awards for excellence.”

The crew of the "Falls vs. Marquette Boys Basketball Game" broadcast and Gordon Kirchof, producer of "The Show", both received the Excellence Award at the WAPC (Wisconsin Assoc. of PEG Access Channels) Video Festival in 2010. 

For more information about the cable access studio, visit www.fallscableaccess.com.

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