SCTV3’s CJ Legner takes a look at the new TV studio.
Assistant A&E Editor
For a long time now, with a tv remote in hand, you would pass by channel three and see great outdoor imagery and false hope. The screen promised a television program “Coming Soon.”
Now, Springfield College gets an under the radar upgrade, thats impact will be bigger than its hype. Not in a residence hall or a new food offered in the Richard B. Flynn Campus Union but to a little room in the basement of one of the academic buildings on campus.
In the basement of Weiser Hall there was an old, outdated TV studio. Oh you didn’t even know Springfield College had a TV studio? That’s probably because unless you’re taking journalism classes you would have walked by the room and thought it was a janitor’s closet. To your defense it could have been considered a janitor’s closet–most of the equipment was collecting dust and outdated.
The upgrade to the studio wouldn’t have been possible without Jody Santos, an upgrade herself to the professional staff of the Communications/Sports Journalism major. “When I first came to the campus…I communicated to my department chair and other people that I can’t teach television journalism with the equipment we had,” said Santos. Santos saw the flaw in Springfield College’s media triangle. We had a strong newspaper and an effective radio station, but outside of pictures there was no visual aspect.
Not only does the lack of technology affect the way journalists relay information, it prevents a lot of students from becoming the multifaceted journalists that are required in today’s workforce. Just log onto your local news website. You’ll probably see articles with videos attached.
With this upgrade, students are flocking to the studio, eager to get their hands on all the new equipment.
“All we want to do is a news show, because I have a lot of seniors in that class, and they said before they graduate they want to get their hand on the set,” Santos remarked, referring to the senior students who think this upgrade may have come just in time.
What kind of upgrade is it? We’re now graced with tri-caster technology that grants the ability to create a virtual set. A virtual set can range from an anchor desk on a professional new station to an Oprah Winfrey style talk show set. This all green-screen set completely tops the table and two chairs that once stood in its place. The cameras that were in the studio previously were given adaptors to upgrade the video to high-definition (HD), which gives a more crisp and clear view. With the new technology you can also livestream from any event on campus, and that stream can be picked up on the cable channel, the Internet and even your mobile device. This makeover takes the tv studio to the next level.
Santos now has a vision and direction for the studio along with the students who push to make the Communications/Sports Journalism major recognized. As a student, the possibilities have become endless. We enter the realm of streaming Springfield College sporting events on our closed cable network, a talk show hosted by any fine tuition-paying student, maybe even a sketch comedy show you and a bunch of your buddies wrote up. No longer does it have to be nothing.
There are still some flaws in the virtual studio, with a learning curve still to be overcome. It’ll take training, monitoring and maintenance. Things Santos and her students are set out on accomplishing. So if you get the time to traverse Springfield College’s campus and happen to stumble upon a TV Club meeting held in the basement of Weiser on Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m., stop in and take a look, because as much as this is for the journalists on campus it’s also for those students who always wanted their 15 minutes of fame. Those 15 minutes can happen before you know it