We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dave Prewitt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dave thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

The idea began as a fan of music and local music television. I had been filming bands as a hobby with my own gear for a couple of years, also watching local cable that featured bands that I would see around town. I thought that’d be a great idea, took the courses required and began to turn in footage to the local cable channels. Over three decades later I’m still continuing to go pursue bands that have no other means of being seen or heard if you don’t go to the club and see them yourself. Weekly I invite bands of all types and genres to perform in the cable studio for us. We use high-end audio and video equipment to create live performance videos for them, that they’d have no other means to have seen, or use for promotion.

Dave , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a viewer of local cable access, and a technology nerd from my youth, I was motivated to be able to create my own content that the public could see. Being in Austin Texas we are lucky enough to have one of the nation’s top quality access television studios, currently managed by Austin film society. For small fees I am able to access top dollar equipment which allows me to hone my skills while being able to expose the public to bands who are cutting their teeth or have no other means of being seen and heard. We do not charge for this, however I am also blessed to have some of my own gear and do have opportunities to make money in the field when it’s comfortable. While a lot of bands have people who can shoot video on a cell phone and things of that nature, it’s rare if not impossible to have 4K quality video from multiple cameras, and multi-track audio produced for their live performances. While I enjoy doing it and it feeds my creative needs, the bands are also able to use it to book gigs as well as get the word out about their music on social media and to perspective clubs for booking. I’ve done it since 1989, and with any luck will continue to do it for years to come. In the mid-90s we hit a very large spectrum of folks which allowed us to be seen in many venues we may not have been able to conquer previously. In 94 and 95 consecutive Billboard awards were given to one of my programs originating out of this public access Studio I’ve been doing the program for since 1989. Many local accolades were also earned including beating the famed Austin City Limits three times in a local poll from the cities major music publication, the Austin chronicle. For me, the recognition and welcome Wagon I am able to enjoy in every Club in this town, and with every musician I’ve met is the only pay I need.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I had begun developing internet content in the early 90s when nobody thought that it would be a means to share your art. From the time the Real Player and Windows Media files were able to be made, I included them on my website. Keeping abreast of all technology updates throughout the years made it very comfortable to embrace the YouTube Community as soon as it became a major reality. Based upon archival of some of my shows from the ’90s gaining a new younger audience looking for that retro connection I capitalized on a series of clips that would have never been seen unless you lived in austin. Doing so allowed me to take my YouTube following up by thousands, as well as spread into all other social media from discord, to tick tock, to instagram, and more. I would say staying abreast of all technology, branding, and opening every door you see as an option is the best way to have your social media presence known. Post different content on each, update it regularly, and be reachable. Use similar phrases so that when searches are done you are what they find.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Some of the most rewarding aspects of doing what I do have been numerous and plentiful, thankfully. I take great pride in musicians wanting to show the work they’ve done with us to their parents and children. I think it’s great when they use it to promote the band as they feel confident enough about the work that it tells their story, while allowing me to tell mine at the same time. Over the Decades of doing the program and producing content, there have been many ups and downs. I’ve been most excited recently with a rebirth of creating content. This was something based on brainstorming with my fiance about what it was that actually kept me down instead of going upward and creating new content. Really getting into what it was I still desire doing with the art I create after over three decades of production set a new fire under myself as well as previous crew members I’ve worked with over the years. We’re heading highs we’ve probably never hit, and producing content better than we ever have at this point.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.davetv.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/capzeyez
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davetvtx
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/davetv
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rawtime
• Other: https://linktr.ee/DiscoverTexas

Image Credits
Dave Prewitt