Chuck Sherwood

Chuck Sherwood is a longtime public sector consultant, PEG access advocate, and community media policy leader whose career has centered on telecommunications planning and the legal and policy structures that make local media access possible. Over more than 45 years in the field, his work has included community needs assessments for cable franchise renewals, helping municipalities understand local communication needs and negotiate for the access resources their communities were entitled to. He is also closely associated with C3TV in Manhattan, a government access operation described by a colleague as arguably one of the premier community access television operations in the country.

In 1990, Chuck received the ACM's Sue Miller Buske Leadership Award, recognizing his leadership and service to the community media field. The ACM Northeast Region later named its own regional leadership award in his honor, a distinction that reflects the depth of his influence among colleagues working across public access, government access, telecommunications policy, and local media infrastructure. He has remained active in broader conversations about broadband policy and public communications systems, including through his affiliation with The Irregulators, a group of independent telecommunications experts focused on telecom policy and network economics.

Chuck's work reflects the advocacy side of community media: the long, unglamorous, consequential work of making sure public access is protected not only in principle, but in franchise agreements, public policy, institutional design, and civic understanding. His legacy lives in the communities, systems, and access structures strengthened by people willing to defend local communication as a public right.