The Skagit21 Origin Story
You ever walk into a place and immediately know the system was built by people who stopped caring a long time ago?
That was Skagit County’s Channel 21.
One camera in the back. Three officials up front—mic’d like they were whispering through a pillow. Each meeting slapped end-to-end on a six-hour VHS tape in “XLP” mode, like a sad playlist of monotony.
When the tape ended, mid-sentence, the viewers at home saw:
• Blue Screen
• <<Rewind>>
• <Stop>
• Play>
• Snow [noise]
• Black
• Wrinkled video
Then it all started again—whether you’d seen it or not.
And the people watching?
Didn’t matter.
Because, hey—it’s just government access television, right?
That’s where I came in.
Not because I thought I was some visionary. But because the way they were using the medium pissed me off.
I came from broadcast. Where the audience matters. Where the edit is a promise. And what I saw on Channel 21 wasn’t just outdated—it was disrespectful.
They had the wheel… and they were still dragging sleds.
The Build Begins
I wasn’t handed a crew.
I wasn’t handed a budget.
What I was handed? Autonomy.
Thanks to a County Administrator who’d come from Boeing upper management, I was given full control—and full trust.
In less than a year, I built Skagit21 into a fully programmed government access television station. Real day by day scheduling. Branded transitions. Real music licensing. Current clean colorful bulletin boards. Everything timed down to the minute across 12 DVDs and three carousel playback decks.
• Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.? Deck 2, Disk 1, Track 3.
• Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.? Deck 1, Disk 3, Track 4.
• Thursday, 9:00 a.m.? Deck 3, Disk 4, Track 2.
Old-school? Sure. But intentional. And it worked.
Photo by Peter Stumpf on Unsplash
The Innovation
Let me be clear: I didn’t do this with top-tier gear.
I did it by inventing a process.
Final Cut Pro became my lab. The editing system I built let me reuse timelines, drop in modular content, and cut post production time by 75%. No redoing intros. No repeating tasks. Just fast, consistent outputs.
It wasn’t flashy. But it was network-level quality—and it was freeing.
When I started making it to the health club after work…
When I had time for my kids’ soccer games again…
When I wasn’t editing in the dark every night?
That’s when I knew:
This wasn’t a hack. It was a system.
Resistance
At first? No resistance. My original boss got it.
But eventually, leadership changed. And one day the new guy showed up at my door with a video tape, a friend in tow, and a weird request:
“Hey Rich, this is Tom. He just got back from South America. Shot some amazing bird footage down there. Can we run it on the station?”
I blinked.
“We’re a government channel. How would that even fit?”
“Just try it out,” he said. “See how it works.”
That was the moment I realized:
Not everyone understands what you’re building.
Even if it’s one of the best government channels in the state… some people still want to toss bird videos into the timeline.
The Public Did Get It
A few years later, the County ran a survey asking residents where they got most of their local info.
Over 30% said Skagit21.
That’s when it was official.
The system worked.
The brand worked.
And the audience noticed.
Why I Built It
Here’s the part most people miss:
I didn’t build it to prove something.
I built it because I didn’t want to spend every night editing the same thing twice.
I built it because I wanted my time back.
More time for family.
More time for health.
More time to create something that actually mattered.
That’s what innovation should do.
Not make you look cool—
Just set you free.
What's Coming
I’m not releasing the full editing system just yet.
But when I do, it won’t just be for editors.
It’ll be for every one-person media team out there—trying to create studio-quality video without a studio, a crew, or 40 hours of spare time.
Because nobody’s talking to them.
But I am.
Right here at StridePreneur.com.
You’ll know when it drops.
And when it does…
You won’t look at timelines the same way again.
Q: What motivated you to build the Skagit21 system?
A: Rage. 
Okay—rage and the deep, unsettling need to not live at the office. I didn’t want to spend my best years re-editing bumpers and filler segments. I wanted my life back.
Q: What did the system actually do?
A: It let me reuse timeline logic. I won’t say more than that here—but let’s just say once it’s set up, it’s like slotting content into a vending machine. Push a button, the whole sequence drops out.
Q: What’s your advice for someone editing videos until 2am every night?
A: Stop thinking like a content creator. Start thinking like a factory foreman. You don’t need more motivation. You need fewer decisions.
Q: Favorite moment during the Skagit21 run?
A: When someone asked how many people worked there and I said, “One.” Their jaw hit the floor. That was satisfying.
Q: Any regrets?
A: Not really. Maybe that I didn’t document the process earlier. But maybe that’s why I’m doing it now.
Q: Is the system coming soon?
A: Let’s just say… you’ll hear the hum of it before you see the wiring. Stay tuned.