Locals in Cape May County might soon spot a little flurry of activity on the boards or near their favorite restaurant, as a slender brunette with a microphone describes the highlights of a perfect day at the shore while a man hovers around with a camera.
The woman is Gail Kasper, a South Jersey TV host who specializes in making visitor guides. The man is Matt Radico, the camera operator, producer, planner and all-round creative type for several local interest channels, including the new Cape May Channel.
“We focus on promoting travel and tourism,” Radico said by phone while standing on the deck of the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. “But we cover some local interest as well. Maybe it’s something they didn’t know about — this way they can find out what’s happening” on the new streaming Cape May Channel.
While Radico is quick to point out that this is not a news channel, the digital events station does feature interviews with “the movers and shakers of Cape May County,” allowing them to explain what’s coming up and how to make the most out of a weekend visit or school holidays.
Since this platform debuted in early November 2024, they’ve been gradually building a stockpile of restaurant guides, Night Out guides and something they’re calling Cape Conversations: video interviews with the people behind the scenes, many of them conducted by Kasper.
Kasper has been working with Radico for “a number of years.
“I don’t want to get into trouble saying how many,” he said.
And this is not the first time they’ve built a new digital interface together. Radico already works on similar channels in Lancaster and Valley Forge, Pa., and a travelogue channel for the Cape May-Lewes Ferry called Ferry Vision.
The duo has worked on Ferry Vision for 11 years already, creating guides for visitors and passengers to learn more about what awaits them on both sides of Delaware Bay, including little day trips farther afield.
For this reason, they’ve been interviewing and creating local promotional content in the area around the city of Cape May for more than a decade, but now are widening their scope to cover the entire county.
They recently spent the day filming on the Ocean City Boardwalk, bundling up in coats and scarves to remind viewers to start making their summer plans now.
Kaspar is known as “the Face of Philadelphia,” according to her bio, mainly because she hosts the local interest channel Philly Vision that plays in nearby hotels and the airport.
Although she lives in South Jersey, she’s built a national brand of fitness and lifestyle content as well as her hosting duties welcoming visitors to an ever-widening slice of the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Behind the scenes, Radico is figuring out the technology that makes it possible to reach a growing number of viewers. The Cape May Channel is accessible from any smart TV; through iTunes, Amazon Fire, or Roku; through AppleTV, LG and Android; on YouTube; and will soon have an app one can download for quicker access.
Radico explains the channel is a mix of traditional and cutting-edge, with a range of options for viewers. They can watch it like old-fashioned broadcast television from start to finish, or select relevant categories like Where to Stay, Where to Eat and What to Do.
As Radico awaits word that Google and Apple have approved his new app for launch later this spring, he is also offering to send help to any owner of a rental property in the area that has a smart TV or other streaming service to install the channel so it’s one of the first things newcomers can see after they’ve checked in, much like similar guides in hotels worldwide.
The Cape May Channel already has a growing viewership in Pennsylvania, where many are using it to plan their summer vacation as early as January — no doubt reveling in dreams of their summer holidays on a blustery winter’s day.
With so many 1- to 2-minute features on Where to Stay gaining numbers in the Philadelphia area, Radico is focused on building up the Things to Do section for when these visitors arrive.
To that end, he’s been filming at Cold Spring Village, Naval Air Station Wildwood, the Ocean City Boardwalk, Wildwood, interviewing the mayor of Sea Isle City, Michelle Gillian of Ocean City, various county authorities and officers of the Chamber of Commerce. As the season approaches, this list will only grow longer.
As the Cape May Channel grows, they’re also collaborating with some other local content creators, including Wildwood’s Joey Contino, who recently celebrated 10 years of creating Wildwood-centric video content on YouTube.
“He’s our citizen reporter,” Radico said of Contino, though he insists this channel is “advertorial, to let people know what’s out there.”
In the coming months, Radico will have to work even faster to create more content about all the little towns and off-the-beaten-path attractions that Cape May County has in abundance.
“We’re really working to encompass all of Cape May County,” he said while filming birds along the shoreline. “We’re making a great effort to represent all the towns here” and show what’s special or fun about each one.
With so many events planned for summer and quite a few traditional events that make great visual stories (Night in Venice in Ocean City, perhaps, or any music fest in Cape May), there’s no limit to how far the Cape May Channel could go.
“It can be seen by anyone, anywhere in the world,” Radico added, bringing the wonder of the Digital Age to the old-fashioned art of promotions.
To see the Cape May Channel, check out capemaychannel.com or search on any streaming device or YouTube.
By VICTORIA RECTOR/For the Star and Wave
