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From left to right, District Chancellor Darroch “Rocky” Young, Harbor College President Dr. Linda Spink, Congresswoman Harman, and Trustee Michael Waxman

Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-El Segundo) officially launched HCTV, the Los Angeles Harbor College television station, Monday after taping an interview show with college president Dr. Linda Spink.

“There’s lots of room for improvement in television programming and change should start at this level,” Harman said after taping the ninth episode of “President’s Roundtable,” one of two shows being produced by Harbor College students and staff.

Harman sponsored the $800,000 Federal Appropriations Grant that revitalized the 1970s-era facility to include sate-of-the-art digital equipment and a “global classroom” where new technologies connect students in Harbor College classes with college students in England, the Netherlands and Oregon.

“Television is a huge industry in Los Angeles and this is giving community college students the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century,” Harman said. "It is exciting to see this project develop from an idea into the real thing, and I am happy to have played a small part in making it a reality.”

HCTV – Comcast Channel 27 – has the ability to become a regional emergency broadcast station at the flip of a switch and reaches nearly 50,000 homes in Wilmington and parts of Carson, Gardena, Harbor City, Lomita and San Pedro.

“We’re glad to add this high-tech TV station to our cadre of teaching and job-training tools,” Los Angeles Community College District Trustee Michael Waxman said. Waxman was instrumental in obtaining the federal grant.

“It’s more than a TV station, it’s a digital arts global classroom that extends our reach to the community,” he added.

Beginning December 1, “Campus Collage,” a monthly, half-hour show airs twice daily along with the half-hour “President’s Roundtable,” beginning at 10 a.m. and again at 4 p.m. This semester, the school is offering nine sections of speech, digital arts and theater-for television production classes. In the spring, the campus is adding classes in television production and edition. Within two years, Harbor College will begin graduating students with certificates in televised theater and television production.