DES MOINES, Wash. — Host Nancy Bogni is a retired executive assistant. Editor Richard Barnhart had a pottery studio in the basement of his house. And set designer Sondra London was once a children's librarian.
They're all part of the all-volunteer staff of Channel 370 at Wesley Homes, a retirement community in Des Moines.
"This is a very exceptional place," Joan Zatloukal said.
Channel 370 is the only TV station run entirely by residents of a retirement home.
"We broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Zatloukal said. "We have a number of exercise programs, then we have interviews with Des Moines city officials and residents. To me the most important part of the station is getting to know each other, getting to know the residents, and it has been phenomenal."
The programs are all broadcast on closed-circuit TV for fellow residents, along with movies and concerts by visiting acts.
A former high school teacher, Zatloukal has been at Channel 370 since it got started in 2004
"We were just a group of people that had absolutely no idea what we were doing," she said.
Instructors have come and gone, but the volunteers have stuck with it.
"It's just plain interesting for me to do it," Barnhart said.
"We are all learning as we go and so it's very much about encouraging each other," London said. "If things come up that don't work, well we'll try something else."
"If we are all doing our best, I mean that's all that I'm asking for," Zatloukal said. "I mean after all it's not like we're all getting paid. We're not paid anything."
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