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 Human Rights titled "The Constitution and Public Access" aired on July 12, 1989. Rosemary Adang, Community Programs Manager with Today's Constitution and You, moderates a conversation about the "right to know" with Judith Bendich, attorney and board member of the American Civil Liberties Union; Mary Elizabeth Bezanson, doctoral candidate at University of Washington's Communications Department; and Chuck Bailey, Education Director for the Washington State Labor Council AFL-CIO.

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.