A new studio currently being built and installed in French Hall will provide students in the Communication Studies major a chance to learn how to operate professional equipment used for broadcasting purposes. It is set to be the best installed studio of any Virginia school.
With the new two-story broadcast studio almost complete, members of the communication studies (COMM) department are excited to learn more about the facility.
The studio includes a green screen, a fully operational control room that will act as the home of the studio, a green room, six editing suites which feature state-of-the-art Mac systems that are equipped with Adobe Premiere and Adobe Premiere Pro. In terms of equipment, the studio is also stocked with Canon XF300 video cameras for students to check out and use, three cue-strip cameras, a stand storage system made by Avid, a switcher and a character generation (CG) system made by Ross Video, and a Yamaha audio console.
The Avid storage system will act much like one big hard drive that everyone can see and access, making it easier to copy, share and access files which allows production to be more collaborative. The CG system will allow students to do virtual sets, simulated backgrounds and graphics, such as a weather background.
Digital Video Group, a company that has previously installed broadcasting equipment in news stations, schools and production companies across the country, installed the equipment and network system for the studio in French Hall.
Joe Davenport, who is the senior digital studio specialist for Digital Video Group, assisted with installation of the equipment and systems and believes that the new edition to the COMM department is of high quality.
“It’s right up there with anything in the real world, so students will have access to the highest level of equipment that’s in the field right now,” said Davenport.
Jessica Mayo, a senior COMM student and general manager of the campus radio station, WMLU, is excited for the station to be completed.
“To know that my soon-to-be alma mater is so technologically advanced though it’s one of the oldest universities, it’s always trying to keep up and really give their students a chance to feel like a professional…” said Mayo.
While the broadcast studio is the most current change in the building, Mayo was still thrilled about the upgrade that WMLU recently was gifted when they moved into French Hall last semester. The organization received new desktop monitors, equipped with more memory to store their shows, a bigger control room with similar equipment to professional radio stations, an extra microphone stand, and a recording room.
“We were trying our hardest to shed the image of being the weird kids in the basement,” stated Mayo. “So when we found out that we were going to French, that would have all new equipment, automatic lights, brand new control board for us to broadcast our music out and our programming, we were just stoked.”
The equipment and technology are not the only new things in French. Antoine Williams was hired as the broadcast studio managing engineer in French Hall, which means he will be in charge of the broadcast studio.
Williams is no stranger to the media industry, as he brings a variety of skills from different positions. Williams has experience as a producer of documentary films, actor, screenwriter, and songwriter, in addition to his current involvement with the film project “The Loving” (which is being filmed in Richmond, Virginia) and AMC television show, “TURN: Washington’s Spies”.
Williams believes that with the advanced technologies and equipment in French Hall combined with the professionalism of the department faculty, COMM students will have the capability of producing valuable material.
The new broadcast studio will be available for COMM students to access next semester.
