Started in 1976 by Virginia Brookbush, CTA produced up to seven half-hour public access television shows a week in the late 1970s and 1980s. Designed to let anyone use public air time to talk about local issues, CTA produced regular shows like "You Have the Right to Know," "Community Bulletin Board," "Visiting Over the Backyard Fence," "This Town's Talent," and "Vecinos" on Viacom and TCI. An advocate for public access as grass roots television, Brookbush began her career in television in her 50s and often paid expenses for CTA with her social security checks. In a 1990 article for the Seattle Times, Brookbush estimated training over 500 people in television production over her career.

This episode of You Have the Right to Know titled "Hanford Cancer" aired on April 28, 1989. Michael Straka and Stephanie Gates have a conversation with Millie Smith, who grew up in Pasco, discussing her life and health issues after being exposed to nuclear radiation from the nuclear facility at Hanford.

Caption information source: "A Pioneer of Public-Access TV Books Passage to the Print World," by Kit Boss, The Seattle Times, September 25, 1990, page F2.
Caption information source: "All People Have the Right to Be on TV," by Merry Nye, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 17, 1981, page D3.