There are simply not enough bodies or hours in the day to spare.

But given the available resources, a small group of people still manages to turn the gears of Santa Clarita’s only television station on a daily and even hourly basis.

Success?

There are varying opinions and few ways to measure it. One yardstick might be self-satisfaction. Yet you get a sense that despite some achievements, others are still on the horizon for this small group.

SCVTV is the city’s public, education and government TV channel. The City of Santa Clarita hired a nonprofit corporation, also known as SCVTV, to manage the station and the facility that houses it.

How a group so small — just three paid employees and several dedicated volunteers — puts it all together is a wonder.

But it happens.

Leon Worden is the president and CEO of SCVTV and serves as the Webmaster of scvtv.com.

Those who know him can verify this — Worden works an estimated 18 hours a day for SCVTV.

As a volunteer. No pay.

Why?

“To me, the major local media outlets are what bind us together as a community,” Worden says. “Without those, you’re just some suburb of greater Los Angeles that no one cares about. … This is something that needs to be done. It’s a wonderful resource we have.”

This media factory is situated in an unassuming building behind a Newhall laundromat.

SCVTV has 24 hours of programming in a given day. Many shows — be it talk shows, sports, city council meetings, even documentaries and news programs — are locally produced. An eclectic mix of passionate students, young adults and industry veterans make it work.

And they’ve come a long way. As cable deregulation began to take effect in the late 2000s, cable companies washed their hands of PEGs (public, educational and government channels) in the Los Angeles area.

In mid 2008, Time Warner Cable began the process of shutting down Santa Clarita’s station’s operations, yet a team of people at the station convinced the city to put the PEG TV operations out to bid. Three candidates emerged, but the city deemed their bids unsatisfactory.

The people at SCVTV, as well as the William S. Hart Union High School District, College of the Canyons, major nonprofits such as the Senior Center and, at the time, the Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce, urged the city to get involved and invest money in the station. SCVTV would, in effect, run it for the city.

In December 2008, the City Council approved awarding the contract to SCVTV. Yet the changeover wasn’t smooth, as Time Warner Cable left the small staff with few resources.

“They took the new cameras, left the old cameras and left us with things of less value. … The ship was sinking. No pride in anything,” says Mike Mazzetti, treasurer and CFO of SCVTV.

Mazzetti is also the engineer, which he does on a volunteer basis. He has been with SCVTV since it was Channel 20 on King Video Cable in 1993. Mazzetti stayed on through Time Warner Cable and is still guiding the station on the technical side. It’s people like him, a man with a full-time job as an audio engineer for TV shows, who help make SCVTV go.

Then there is the paid staff. The station has only a $50,000 budget for that paid staff.

The city gets approximately $300,000 per year from Time Warner Cable for equipment-related expenditures and rent for the location.

SCVTV fundraises and receives donations to cover other expenses. The station also sells advertising and DVDs of its programming, particularly the popular sports events it covers, such as football.

The $50,000 is split between full-time production manager Megan Mann, a recent College of the Canyons graduate, and production specialists, Austin Dave, a Golden Valley High graduate and COC student, and Desiree Perez.

Worden says they are the success stories of the station.

Mann says its volunteers, interns and students deserve a great deal of credit, too. “A lot of the production is made possible by volunteers. A lot of it is done by phone calls, ‘Hey, can you come out and help?’” she says. “A lot of (volunteers and students) are passionate and thirsty to learn.”

To the students, it’s a resume builder and an opportunity to get experience. They’ll operate the cameras, edit and run the lighting, among other tasks.

SCVTV also serves as a classroom, as College of the Canyons has two courses that operate out of the station’s media center.

Beginning in May, SCVTV could also gain a greater educational feel. The William S. Hart and Saugus Union school districts have entered into a Joint Powers Authority with the city. The three powers will set up goals and do strategic planning with SCVTV.

“More ideas, more programming and we’re more accountable to more sectors in the community,” Worden says. “I see that only as a good thing.”

There are no TV ratings for the programming on SCVTV (which airs on Time Warner channel 20 and AT&T U-verse channel 99), yet it can gauge the number of people watching online at scvtv.com.

The city is satisfied with the work the team at SCVTV has done.

“I think Leon and his team have done an excellent job of getting the station up and running,” says city spokeswoman Gail Ortiz. “They do spend countless hours there, helping to facilitate everything from teaching COC and high school students, running tours for elementary kids, providing non-profits with necessary public service work, and working to cover important community events.”

Worden has his own way of measuring whether the station is on course. “How would I gauge success?” Worden asks. “The fact that everyone wants to participate in it.”