‘Brought to you by locals’: California news nonprofit runs on volunteers

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. (CN) — Volunteer news anchor Keith Overbey looked up as Santa Claus walked into the room. He’d learned about the segment’s two guests just moments before.

Santa — in reality, Grass Valley resident Charlie Williams — sat next to Overbey in the office studio ofNevada County Media, a media nonprofit in rural Northern California. Overbey read from a script that rolled across a screen before him. Then came the next guest: Brian Hoddick, who gives paid motorcycle-sidecar tours in the region.

Both interviews took only minutes. Overbey asked a few unscripted questions and exchanged some banter with the guests. Then it was time for a commercial break.

Off-camera, Overbey joked about his unlikely journey to becoming a news anchor. “I used to be a cop,” he said. “Now I’m doing this.”

Welcome to “Nevada County Now,” an online local news program from Nevada County Media that hit its third week of production just before Thanksgiving.

Produced by Ramona Howard, the group’s executive director, it’s a project some seven years in the making. After some delays — a move to a new facility, a search for new equipment and the Covid-19 pandemic were all factors — the program officially launched in early November.

Besides producing news, Nevada County Media functions as a production studio for the local community. Members can use the group’s audio/visual equipment. It has A/V training programs, internships and volunteer opportunities.

The news program, in fact, is a method of training people on the equipment. “It was bringing something to the community that it didn’t have,” Howard said. It just so happened, she quipped, that running a newsroom is a massive undertaking.

Currently, Nevada County Media has some 150 volunteers. That includes hosts like Overbey, as well as production staff, writers and others.

Anybody can contribute stories to the news program, Howard said — though oversight is essential. “We’re not going to contribute to the crap,” she said. She doesn’t allow opinion pieces on the show. As she sees it, people are hungry for the facts.

On a recent Tuesday, intern David Castaneda sat behind a panel of controls and video screens. He listened as just outside the studio, Howard counted down the time until cameras rolled.

Overbey sat in front of a green screen. Beside Castaneda, a video screen showed the host against a background of televisions. Overbey’s name appeared in a chyron at the bottom. “It’s education, training and hands-on media equipment,” Castaneda said of the experience.

David Castaneda discovered his current home of western Nevada County through the federal Small Business Administration. The work brought him to Northern California, where he found and took a liking to Grass Valley.

He found Nevada County Media through his work with the federal agency. When he retired after decades of working for the federal government, Castaneda wound his way to the Sierra Nevada foothills town of about 14,000 people — about a 90-minute drive northeast of Sacramento.

Long ago, before he ever worked for the federal government, Castaneda was a wedding photographer. He wanted to return to photography, but he’d been out of the business for decades. The last time he used a camera professionally, it needed film.

That’s where Nevada County Media came in. As an intern, Castaneda works at the organization once a week. Over the months, he’s grown more proficient with using cameras and video-editing software.

After his segment with Santa, Overbey gave himself a post-game review. If he’d had more notice about that day’s guests, he said, he would have prepared better questions.

That’s a change that Howard, the group’s director, already has in the works. She has a spreadsheet listing the hosts and the guests for each day. Soon, hosts will have online access to the document.

It’s one of a handful of changes she has in store. She also wants to bring a sports host on the daily show — and to get her volunteer newscasters out on the field, taking cameras to events and talking to people. Williams, the local Santa Claus, has a massive Christmas display at his home. Howard wants the show to pay him a visit.

Howard and Overbey tossed around ideas. It was a couple weeks after Election Day, and the pair expected some updated local results that afternoon. Overbey suggested they slip them into that afternoon’s show.

The show currently doesn’t get many views. At press time, the Santa episode had 47. Still, Howard stressed it was only the beginning for Nevada County Now. A soft launch of sorts, and an opportunity for volunteers to work out the kinks.

Howard hopes sponsorships will start rolling in. She wants to have the ability to go live when news breaks, whether for a fire or another breaking-news event. Most importantly, she wants the program to offer news by and for the public. It’s a sentiment that Overbey used to sign off his segment.

“This program is local news and information brought to you by locals,” he said.

Overbey has the same hopes. He doesn’t consider himself a “talking head” on television. A former state worker with the Department of Justice who has served on the county’s civil grand jury, he sees himself just another Nevada County resident, doing his best to keep his neighbors informed.

Now retired, Overbey is excited to be a part of this burgeoning news program. “There’s all these details that go into this that you don’t really think about,” he said. “This has a lot of potential.”