Chris Daggett, the new media production coordinator for Gray and New Gloucester. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly

Chris Daggett was recently hired to serve in the new position of media production coordinator for Gray and New Gloucester’s community television stations.

According to Daggett, he has worked in technology for most of his life. He works as the IT administrator at Gorham High School during the day, and said that he was looking for supplemental income in the evenings, and thought that the Gray job looked interesting. While previously interested in broadcasting, he said he had never before worked with it at the level of his new job.

“It (was) a perfect opportunity for me to check all of those boxes at the same time,” said Daggett.

The first event that Daggett recorded in his new role was an SAD 15 School Board meeting held on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Kyle Hadyniak, director of communications and IT in Gray, explained that Daggett’s main role in Gray would be to broadcast and record meetings of the Town Council, school board and Planning Board, among others. Meanwhile, in New Gloucester, he would serve in a more administrative role, managing New Gloucester Television and ensuring that it has sufficient support from the town.

Gray Community Television has three distinct components of its programming, said Hadyniak. Two days of the week are dedicated to government and school board meetings, respectively, with the remaining three dedicated to public access. Anyone in the Gray community can sponsor videos to run on the channel during that time. While Gray Community Television is primarily a cable channel, it also offers programming and meeting livestreams online, via YouTube and Facebook.

“It’s a resource dedicated to the community,” said Hadyniak, “and we hope people are wanting to use that resource.”

When asked about what he hopes to bring to his new role, Daggett said that he hopes to polish his broadcasting knowledge, while “bringing (his) ears and eyes” to help with any kind of refinement he could. Hadyniak, who had interviewed Daggett as he was applying for the job, hopes he can use his vast technical knowledge to help streamline GCT’s technical process when it comes to recording and broadcasting meetings.