A Scoutmaster's Blog

This is hard to believe. The Melrose Scouting Productions channel on YouTube is 18 years old. I posted the first video on January 9, 2006. The channel now contains over 200 videos featuring Melrose Troop 68 Scouts throughout the decades.

I remember when I started the channel. There were not many Boy Scout troops posting videos online yet. Melrose Troop 68 was one of the early troops to have its own channel. While the very first video was not Scouting related, it was made by one of our Boy Scouts at the time. (It was actually a school class project.)

I did not have to go far to find videos to start posting. I had been filming troop courts of honor, events, and outings since 1989 for MelTV, the local television access station. Unfortunately, the city closed down the station in the early 2010s. There were several dozen videos, on VHS tape, that could now be posted online for people and former Scouts to continue to enjoy. And, of course, there would always be more videos to create. It gave me a place to share other Scouting related videos that I had collected over the decades.

One of the most fun things I did with the channel was to bring Buttons the Boy Scout to life. Buttons was a puppet I owned that became the comic mascot of the channel. It may have been fun but it was also a lot of work bringing Buttons to life. I have not made a new video featuring Buttons since 2010, but he did have his own following of online fans during those four years.

At the time I write this article, there are 213 regular videos posted to the channel. Many of them features songs and skits from campfire programs and the troop’s Laughs For Lunch Shows. During the last few months I have began playing with YouTube Shorts. While most of these Shorts don’t receive many hits, a few have received over 2000 views. One Short even reached 8000 views!

While I have not been very good about posting videos to the channel during the last few years (only 13 videos posted in 2023), my goal is to post videos more regularly during 2024. Why not? After all, we now carry video camera in our pockets everywhere we go. It is not like I have to grab the massive old VHS camcorder anymore.

If you have not seen the channel yet, check it out at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClUOxM42AYjgLwGyoqgpx1w

I said I was going to do it. I did it. I started adding new videos to the Melrose Scouting Productions channel on YouTube once again. After a few years of the channel having a new video posted only a few times a year I decided it should be active once again. A dozen videos have been added this year with several more already lined up to be posted over the next couple of months. The videos feature several aspects of Scouting including some from the history of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 and the Scouts performing some skits and songs. Here are a few of the latest videos:

A scavenger hunt for the Boy Scouts at the Melrose Area Museum.

Boy Scouts practicing the six man lift during a visit to the Melrose Firehall:

The Boy Scout performing a skit which combines first aid with a story about an invisible bench:

The Melrose Scouting Productions channel can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClUOxM42AYjgLwGyoqgpx1w/ If you like what you see you are invited to subscribe to the channel and LIKE a few of the videos.

I wrote a post last week about the years that I had a video podcast, and that I was missing podcasting a little. A few of you commented that I should start a YouTube channel and post the videos to that instead of podcasting. I think that is a valid point, especially when you look at all the people watching YouTube these days on their mobile devices and televisions at home. I find myself watching more YouTube videos these days than I watch regular television.

The thing is, I do have a Youtube channel, and many of the videos I posted to the podcast have found their way to the channel over the years. Unfortunately, I have not posted to it lately and I have not mentioned it or promoted it very often during the last few years. There are over 100 videos featuring the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 performing songs and skits, promotional Scouting videos, and short films featuring Buttons, the radical Boy Scout (my puppet.)

I changed the name of the channel today to Melrose Scouting Productions, which is the logo found at the beginning of most of the videos. I thought it might be best to take my “nickname” off the channel title to make it fit the channel better. The channel can be found at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClUOxM42AYjgLwGyoqgpx1w

The channel currently has 688 subscribers. There are over 1,700,00 total video views. Take a look at it when you get the chance and let me know what you think of it. I do plan to start posting new videos to the channel soon so don’t be afraid to hit the subscribe button.