President Obama and Public Access

Attorney and activist Frank Avila was a long-time host on Chicago's Public Access station. In 2003, he introduced his audience to one of his guests with the question: "Who is Barack Obama?". As an article in the Chicago Reader explains, at the time, Obama was running in his first state-wide election and welcomed any publicity he could get. What better place than public access?

Over the next half hour, Obama tackles issues and themes that he's still disussing today--from judicial appointments to income inequality. You can watch the full interview here. Of course, now everyone knows the answer to Avila's question, and Obama likely hasn't been in a public access studio in quite some time.

This fall, as part of Race2Represent, we welcomed New York City's politicians into our studios to share their visions for the city. Keep an eye on them; you never know where they could end up!