Hands-on broadcasting experience equips students for success

Hands-on broadcasting experience equips students for success

The Hostetter Chapel on Messiah University’s campus houses quite the surprise in its basement. Beneath the sanctuary and student ministries offices lies a full-blown media and film production studio, home to the campus student-run television programming.

Now in its seventh year, Messiah’s broadcasting club, Yellow Breeches Television (YBTV), accomplishes work throughout the semester that’s nothing short of impressive. YBTV provides students with opportunities to land their dream jobs–often before they graduate from college–equipping them with a full four years of hands-on application and over 100 hours of on-air experience.

What is YBTV?

YBTV serves as Messiah’s television news platform. Streamed online every Monday night, the programming is created entirely about students, by students, for students. The weekly broadcast covers a wide range of content including sports, campus events, breaking news, weather, and even a segment on the university’s history.     

YBTV originated from a Messiah television channel called MC77. But, with cable channels no longer in dorms, the club switched the show entirely to YouTube, where audiences both on-campus and off-campus have easy access. YBTV features two sections during the broadcast. The first half, “Falcon Update,” serves as the news portion of the show, covering various topics about campus life; the second half, “YBTonight,” highlights student performers in a late-night-show-style segment.

During the 2021-2022 school year, YBTV received Student Government Association (SGA) club status. This means that the organization can participate in student engagement fairs and is officially recognized as a club by both SGA and Messiah. The YBTV team has 20+ devoted members who work all week to deliver news to campus.

Come one, come all

Most people don’t know that YBTV invites students of all majors and passions to join. EJ Inscho, the studio’s former broadcast engineer and program advisor, customized every student’s journey to focus on the areas in which they desire to grow. Engineering students, history students, broadcasting students, and all majors in between can participate in the club. This past year, one history major began her own Messiah history segment called The Vault.

Don’t have previous experience with broadcasting? No problem. Within their first semester at Messiah, students have the skills and knowledge to operate equipment and contribute to various portions of the show. PJ Riddell, YBTV sports director, arrived his first day with minimal experience in broadcasting, but quickly honed his skills through practice and guidance from Inscho. Riddell accepted an internship with local channel WHTM-TV abc27 during his sophomore year.

Set apart

YBTV stands out from broadcasting programs at other colleges and universities due to the quality of instruction and experience the program provides. At many schools, students begin using equipment during their junior or senior year. At Messiah students can begin using equipment and gaining on-air experience from week one. “…That first Monday on campus, we have an organizational meeting. The following week we start broadcasting. So week two you could be running camera,” Inscho explains.

YBTV isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey, as students may specialize in areas that they’re passionate about. For example, if they want to try anchoring, they can. More of a behind-the-scenes team member? Students have the chance to create news packages, operate cameras, and write scripts. YBTV ensures that all students can gain experience in a variety of areas and achieve their professional goals.

“It’s more intimate than bigger schools. You sit down with [the broadcast engineer] and you tell him things that you’re interested in and then he places you there first,” Marie Miller, YBTV Executive Producer, says. “It’s not just like, ‘oh, you’re gonna start on camera’…and that’s huge because I started where I wanted to be. So it’s tailored to you.”

Equipment

The broadcasting and production studio at Messiah boasts professional equipment on-par with or better than the equipment used at local TV stations. YBTV students gain experience with a variety of industry equipment, including an “Xpressions” graphics generator, switcher, audio board, JVC cameras, Manfrotto tripods, teleprompter, VTR playback machines, green screen, various mics, and headsets.

YBTV makes sure that all students have access to state-of-the-art tools to produce their work, providing a library of equipment which the team can check out. Stocked with Canon R6’s, Lavelier microphones, boom mics, and more, this feature of the broadcasting experience allows students to hone their technical skills.

Professional environment

Beyond the equipment, YBTV implements a work environment focused on collaboration, professionalism, and dedication. As Inscho puts it, “this is real school, not play school.” Students experience both the joys and stressors of live television, preparing them for internships and jobs after college. Whatever happens, the show must go on, and students create on-the-spot solutions for problems.

The quantity of hours that go into one Monday night show reflects YBTV’s professionalism, too. The broadcast is a result of an entire week’s worth of work spent conducting interviews, shooting b-roll footage, researching topics, scripting segments, editing clips, and putting everything into the teleprompter.

“I feel like there’s the misconception where people are just like, ‘oh, you walk up to someone and ask them a question and then record a couple of videos and then you call it a day,’” Riddell shares, “But there is so much more that goes into it than I think people realize.”

Late night editing, anyone?

Don’t worry—amidst the hours of hard work that go into broadcasts every week, the students of YBTV have immense fun, too. As Miller describes it, “[The YBTV people] are my favorite people on campus. Everyone who comes in. Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. You can learn something from everyone on the team.” The team even reportedly has informal “late night editing sessions” where they work on YBTV projects and hang out together.

When new students join, they are paired with YBTV veterans for assignments, allowing the newcomers to learn technical skills and build relationships. The broadcasting program strives to create an environment which welcomes everyone.

Networking

It’s one thing for students to seek out jobs; it’s another thing for employers to come looking for students. Numerous club members can share stories of local news outlets recruiting them for internships based on their work at YBTV. Several alums work for sought-after local news station WHTM which stands in the top 50 market for networks across the country.

Dedicated and well-connected professors and staff take time to invite undergrads into networking and professional opportunities. Inscho takes students with him to various jobs, allowing them to see what broadcasting looks like at organizations such as Hershey Bears hockey and Navy football. Stations across the country hire many YBTV members right after graduation, if not before.

Prepared post-grad

Messiah alums share that YBTV helped prepare them immensely for the workforce, providing them with transferable skills and helping them narrow down their interests. Ashlyn Miller ’16 currently works as a senior producer at WJCL 22 in Georgia. One of the founding members of MC77, she explains that Messiah’s program allowed her to refocus her interests; initially, she thought she wanted to do on-air reporting, but the broadcasting experience showed her that she preferred producing. She gained skills working on Falcon Update that translated to her current job: writing and editing scripts, coordinating people, and working with deadlines.

Alums Curtis Seaman ’19 and Hannah McGarvey ’21 similarly share that YBTV gave them tools to succeed in their positions after college. Seaman, who works as technical director at WGAL 8, says, “While my career is still in TV and not in the exact roles I had at [YBTV], it still provided me with tons of experience and knowledge needed to excel and succeed outside of my time at Messiah.” McGarvey, a director at WHTM, earned an internship at her current station after her freshman year. She shares that her experiences at Messiah gave her many transferable skills, such as looking over and editing scripts, testing graphics, and setting up various effects for the broadcast, which helped her transition smoothly into her internship and career. Multiple alums share that the team aspect of creating productions at Messiah prepared them well for working at other news stations.

Describing it as “the greatest experience throughout [her] entire college career,” Valerie Bell ’18 explains that YBTV served as a launching point for her job as a News Reporter at ABC 33/40 in Alabama. “When I got my first job as a multimedia journalist right after I graduated, I already knew how the news operation worked and knew what was needed to do the job. My first week on the job I was already out telling stories in the community.” Beginning as an anchor her first year at Messiah, Bell learned the necessary skills to succeed in her field through hands-on work and mentorship from professors. She shares that she wouldn’t be where she is today without her time with YBTV.

COVID-19 sparks change

As with the rest of the world, COVID posed struggles for the YBTV crew. But, despite the limitations, the team persevered, delivering top-notch news every Monday night. Through the muffled messages of masked mouths on headsets and the separation of shower curtains in the control room, students continued broadcasting to campus.

Beyond the challenges, the broadcasts experienced positive transformations as well. Marie Miller explains, “We had to start getting creative on how we were going to tell stories.” Previously, the shows focused on sports updates and student performances, but COVID forced students to pursue new creative opportunities which sculpted the program into its current style. Now, YBTV features live-shot, breaking news as well as recurring segments like Falcon on the Street, A Bird’s Eye View, Campus Calendar, Falcon Forecast, and The Vault.

The future of YBTV

The YBTV team hopes to continue growing over the next several years, gaining students in the program and reaching a larger audience on campus. Through including more live-shot, breaking news segments, the crew will bring news to campus as it’s happening, moving away from focusing on pre-filmed packages. Eventually, YBTV hopes to transition to 4K when the TV industry decides to switch. 4K resolution, also known as Ultra HD, means that the horizontal pixels in a screen total around 4,000, providing a clearer picture than standard HD TVs.

As Riddell sums it up, "We’re doing [YBTV] for more than viewers; we’re doing it for more than a demo reel; we actually see it as an act of service to the campus community to keep people informed…”

Tune in to YBTV Monday nights at 7 p.m. on YouTube for a stellar, student-centric show. https://www.youtube.com/c/YBTVYellowBreechesTelevisionMessiahUniversity

-Micah LaRue ‘23