Oakland Mayor And Council Honor Communications Commissioner Fred Birks For Launching And Successfully Operating Borough Public Access TV

He is an original member of the Oakland Communications Commission and, most significantly, played a pivotal role in designing and launching Oakland’s public access television station.

Fred Birks brought his long-time expertise in television engineering to the programs that have kept residents informed about the borough. Among the many hats Birks has worn are director, producer, operations manager and Control Room engineer.

After about 20 years of dedicated service and applying the highest standards to the borough’s television station, Birks announced his retirement in late 2018.

In December, Mayor Linda Schwager and the Borough Council presented Birks with a resolution honoring him for his dedication and deep impact on the town.

The Communications Commission and the borough Television Committee surprised Birks with the announcement that the television Control Room will be named after him.

“The whole thing was a wonderful surprise, I never expected that,” he said in an interview days later in the Control Room, which had become something of a second home for him.

Birks said it was important to make the borough’s public access program “a level playing field for all.”

Asked to reflect on his single biggest achievement, Birks said there were “many pieces to the achievement,” including “getting the public access station off the ground, the whole system we built, it went through many iterations, this room was about half this size, only two people could fit, and we expanded it and expanded it, and here we are. And I’m very proud of it.”

The Communications Commission Chairman, Ryan Schwertfeger, said that Birks put in a lot of time into the station.

“I don’t know how many hours he spent here, all the weeknights and weekends down here,” Schwertfeger said.

What’s the next chapter, we ask? Fishing?

Birks, who doesn’t mince words, shakes his head.

“I’m not a fishing person.”

But there’s a gift his wife and kids gave him in December of 2017 that he finally will be able to enjoy.

“I got a brand new guitar,” Birks said. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to play and never was able to do it.”

But rest assured, there will be Birks sightings in the Control Room.

“I’m still going to stay involved here with the technical stuff,” Birks quipped, smiling. “One way or another, they’re stuck with me.”