CANADA COURIER: Making "Kontakt" with the community (08/24/97)

UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE: THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY

CANADA COURIER

by Christopher Guly

Making "Kontakt" with the community

For the last five of Ukraine's six years of independence, independent Toronto television producer Jurij Klufas has been offering Canadians and Americans a window on Ukraine and a mirror of their own community's activities through his weekly program, "Kontakt."

In September, Philadelphia will be the latest addition to his syndicated network present in Ottawa, Toronto, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, all of Alberta, Vancouver, Sacramento, the New York metropolitan area, Chicago and recently, the northwest Quebec communities of Val d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda.

"Kontakt" incorporates news from Ukraine, from across North America and, at times, material specific to the community in which it is seen. Light on analysis and heavy on coverage, the series serves as the ongoing time capsule for the community, capturing what's new and who's doing what.

Though produced mainly in Ukrainian, some segments are English-spoken, which no doubt has as much to do with the linguistic abilities of on-camera guests as it does with the bilingual limitations of Mr. Klufas' audience.

Produced on a bargain-basement budget of $5,000, (or about $3,500 U.S.) per show, the show's survivability and presence on commercial, not community, TV stations is a credit to Mr. Klufas' persistence.

Having started the "Ukrainian TV Magazine," now known as "Svitohliad," in the Toronto market 21 years ago, the 46-year-old English-born broadcaster knows a thing or two about how to produce a television show. And attract sponsors he knows how to - a particularly important aspect of Mr. Klufas' work given that he receives no financial support from the organized Ukrainian community.

"Kontakt" is driven by commercials, as "Old World" in presentation as some of his advertisers opt to use. (One, for instance, is out to sell the Toronto-based publication Ukraine and the World, and focuses on a kid on a bike delivering a copy of the newspaper to an old man dozing on a park bench. Dialogue is replaced by music seemingly produced by a band playing at a wedding.) "It has nothing to do with us," explains Mr. Klufas almost apologetically. "We only execute the camera work."

As executive producer, Mr. Klufas heads a team of almost 25 hosts, camera operators and producers in the various regions where "Kontakt" is televised. These days, the show is being hosted by wunderkind Michael Luchka, a young twenty something student filling in for regular host Ola Szczuryk, who is on maternity leave.

Thanks to a $250,000 (about $179,000 U.S.) investment in equipment Mr. Klufas made at the end of the series' second season, "Kontakt" is also produced with the latest digital broadcasting technology and has a permanent studio home in downtown Toronto.

But while Mr. Klufas has assembled an impressive collection of people and technology to create a window for the community, he's had ample opportunity to look through his own and witness the changes that have taken place across the Atlantic and here at home. What he has seen and heard from the folks with whom he has come in contact have painted a not-so-pretty picture.

"There is a sense of us against them out there," says Mr. Klufas about Ukrainian-North American reaction about their compatriots in Ukraine. "They want to empathize with Ukraine. However, they feel the system there is either archaic or convoluted, and they get turned off by what they see."

The slow pace of economic change in Ukraine has become a sticking point for Ukrainians on this side of the ocean, he says. In pre-independence days, the diaspora was only too eager to send "hroshi" (money) to the old country to support political causes.

"Now, they're more reticent to send money, unless it's going to family or friends in Ukraine," says Mr. Klufas.

But if this means more of a cautious attitude is being taken with Ukraine, he hints that to err on that side may not be such a bad thing.

During the Soviet era, "all eyes were toward Ukraine" - often at the expense of ethnic communities in Canada and the United States, says Mr. Klufas. "Now, we're realizing that it's the local community that needs our attention."

He says he's encouraged by the initiative taken by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation, which recently held a conference in Calgary and established a game plan for active involvement in the Ukrainian Canadian community.

But if community attention is shifting away from Ukraine, as a TV producer, Mr. Klufas needs to be mindful of giving his audience what they want. An unscientific poll of viewers, based on the feedback he receives, suggests that half want more news on Ukraine and half want more news on what's going on in their own North American communities.

What's most intriguing about the 50-50 split, perhaps, is that it doesn't necessarily follow any strong generational lines. As many seniors may request content from Ukraine as would Generation Xers.

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