''John Wants Answers'' is a local television show that airs on

public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

channel KMVT 15 in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

. The show covers current events, social issues, and civics. There are occasional musical guests and other performers. The show debuted in June 2010.

Format

In each episode, host John A. Vink describes the show as a courtroom drama, where he is the prosecutor and the guest is the expert witness. The show is broadcast live on KMVT, as well as live steamed over the Internet. The show is syndicated to another 21 stations across the United States. Older episodes are available on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. Viewers can send in their questions and comments during the show through

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

or the show's website, and the messages are read and discussed during the show.

Topics

The topics for the show usually fall into current events, civics, or social issues. Some current event topics have been North Korea, Gun Control, and

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

. Some civics topics have been the Electoral College, Supreme Court, Jury Duty, and First Amendment. Some social issues topics have been Being Gay, Prostate Cancer, and Bone Marrow.

Awards

''John Wants Answers'' won two Western Access Video Excellence (WAVE) awards in 2012 for the episode "Being Gay." The show won in the categories of Documentary Issues and Special Audience Programming. Other episodes were finalists in the categories of Live or Live to Tape and Magazine.

Notable guests

Keith Stattenfield is a regular guest on the show. Other notable guests have been author

Scott Knaster Scott Knaster is an American technical writer who has written many books, mostly dealing with Macintosh programming and using the Macintosh. He has worked for such companies as Apple Inc., General Magic, Microsoft, Danger Inc., and Google. Knast ...

Lawrence Gowan Lawrence Henry Gowan (born 22 November 1956) is a Scottish born Canadian singer and keyboardist. He was born in Glasgow and raised in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. Gowan has been both a solo artist and lead vocalist and keyboard ...

of Styx,

Timothy Drury Timothy Drury (born July 5, 1961) is an American composer, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and visual artist. His big breakthrough came in 1989 when Don Henley invited him to join The End of the Innocence tour as his pianist, keybo ...

of Whitesnake, musicians Jonathan Mann and Juno Award winning songwriter

Christopher Ward Christopher Ward may refer to: * Christopher Ward (British politician) (born 1942), British solicitor and Conservative Party politician * Christopher Ward (conductor) (born 1980), British conductor * Christopher Ward (entomologist) (1836–1900), E ...

, comedians Jim Short and

Matt Kirshen Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

, the mayor of

Cupertino, California Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 57,8 ...

, and Apple engineers

Daniel Kottke Daniel Kottke () is an American businessman known for being a college friend of Steve Jobs and one of the first employees of Apple Inc. Early life and education Kottke was born on April 4, 1954, in Bronxville, New York. Kottke first met Steve ...

Andy Hertzfeld Andrew Jay Hertzfeld (born April 6, 1953) is an American software engineer and innovator who was a member of the original Apple Macintosh development team during the 1980s. After buying an Apple II in January 1978, he went to work for Apple ...

, and

Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve Jobs, he c ...

.Episodes
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References

External links

Official website
*{{IMDb title, 1988329 American public access television shows American live television series 2010 American television series debuts Mass media in the San Francisco Bay Area Mountain View, California