Full Disclosure: The wife of this story’s writer is employed by Oxford Community Television.

“I’m still pinching myself.”

That was Production Manager Teri Stiles’ reaction to standing inside Oxford Community Television’s (OCTV) new station in Seymour Lake Township Park.

“I’m in heaven. We’re no longer (housed) in a garage,” said Stiles, referring to the commercial space on M-24 that OCTV had leased since 2005.

On Feb. 8, OCTV moved into the 3,010-square-foot facility, which includes an attached garage. The address is 2975 Seymour Lake Rd. Suite A.

According to Stiles, the new station is superior to the old one in terms of space, layout and “functionality.”

“We have a lot more elbow room,” she said. “There’s a place for everything and everything has its place now.”

The station was specifically designed and built to meet OCTV’s wants and needs. “We didn’t have to retrofit anything,” Stiles said.

Her favorite feature is new edit suites, of which there are seven. Not only are the suites greater in number and size, they are located outside the studio, not in it, which means they can be utilized when a program is being filmed.

“We don’t have to shut everything down as far as editing is concerned to do a production,” Stiles said. “We can do productions and the staff can still work.”

Stiles believes having the station located in the township’s most heavily-used park is going to be a big benefit to OCTV.

“I think we will be more visible to more people in the community because of the amount of people that come in and out of this park,” she said. “I think that’s going to be an advantage for us.”

Stiles is hoping to increase public awareness of OCTV, its work and its mission to help recruit new volunteers and preserve the funding it receives from fees paid by subscribers to cable TV services such as Spectrum (Charter) and AT&T U-verse.

“Our funding is threatened (at the state and federal levels),” she said. “We need the community’s voice to help us save our funding.”

On the surface, it appears OCTV is simply filming and broadcasting things such as government meetings, high school sporting events, parades, festivals and concerts.

But to Stiles, it’s much deeper than that. She sees OCTV as creating a video time capsule of the community, its events and its people.

“We are recording Oxford’s history,” she said. “We belong to this community and we are for this community. We’re always trying to get that message out.”

Stiles, who’s been associated with OCTV “in one capacity or another” since 1998, said she could have gone to work at other stations over the years, but she chose to stay because “promoting this community is what is meaningful to me.”

“That’s why I’m still here,” she said.

Being located in the park will also allow OCTV to film classes, programs and sports offered by the parks and recreation department.

“Whatever parks and rec. has going on, we’ll be able to shoot it,” Stiles said. “We’re going to work hand-in-hand with parks and rec.”

Stiles wished to express her gratitude to everyone who worked on the new station.

She said township Parks and Recreation Director Ron Davis, who served as project manager during the station’s construction, and the contractors under him “worked miracles.”

Construction began last October.

“I never thought that they’d have it done so fast,” Stiles said.

The Oxford Area Cable Communications Commission, which oversees OCTV, budgeted $350,000 to take the new station from concept to reality. Of that, Stiles said approximately $327,000 has been spent. She noted “we’re waiting for some ancillary bills to come in,” but it’s expected the final project cost will be below the budgeted amount.

Stiles is thankful to OCTV staff members Russel Currier and Elgin Nichols for setting up the new station.

“Without Russel and Elgin, we wouldn’t be functioning right now,” she said.

She is also grateful to Oxford Township Supervisor Bill Dunn, who secured a group of trusties from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office to do a majority of the moving.

“It took them about a half-a-day,” Stiles said.

Throughout the transition from the old station to the new one, OCTV remained on the air.

“We didn’t really miss a beat,” Stiles said.

An open house for the new station is being planned for sometime in April.

“Everybody’s welcome to stop by because it belongs to them,” Stiles said.