Nicholls State University - La Pirogue Yearbook (Thibodaux, LA)

Page 191 text:

Communications arts senior Richard Smith han- dles the play-by-play for the Colonels against Spring Hill College. by Kevin Fambrough and Bonnie LeBlanc Despite the back-to nature cries heard round the country, these days, we are fairly dependent on our mecha- nized helpmates. The electricity that feeds our homes and powers our familiar machinery also feeds many of our news sources, bringing the world that much nearer. Television, radio and newspapers are all dependent on their electrical umbili- cal cords. We are comfortable with machinery and electricity and on especially famil- iar terms with the ubiquitous radio and television. Cities keep alive a stream of news to the community through radio, televi- sion and computer-produced newspa- pers. Nicholls. a community unto itself, keeps its citizens informed through its media trio - the Talbot television studio, KVFC-FM and Student Publica- tions. This was a year of rapid growth in the campus media, especially for the television studio under the direction of Bob Blazier. For our information The fall semester of 1976 marked the first live television newscast originating from the Talbot Hall studio on cable channel 5. The show was put together through the efforts of the Speech 365 and 366 television workshop classes, which worked together on technical details of the 15-minute newscast. Channel 5 had played viedotaped productions of the workshops before. but these were either promotional material or univer- sity information. The newscasts covered campus events. Anchoring the show were Sue I-limel and Chris Arceneaux, both sen- ior communication arts majors. The spring of 1977 saw new strides in campus television. local cable circuit television in the Talbot studio. The equipment for this, including a color camera and editing machine was installed through a grant acquired by Dr. Merlin Ohmer, dean of the college of sciences, for a series of metric educa- tion programs to be filmed by the work- shop classes. At Easter the KVFC bunny, also known as Cary Landry. hops around distributing Easter eggs. Mcllll 1 7

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Sleeve' Richier. summer program director of KVFG. reads the news during 21 regular broadcast. Steve Wade. a KVFG jock. Cues up a requesi from a listener, 525 5 45- , , Q 1 . 'y in M , ff-2 Q, 4 lf C4 1 ' 211- vvf. fi J: JG YN3-99' V . E .-f rim, ' 'K f fQ.f1f,,zw ww . Im . My 3' 111 I X av -lim 3 -,, 11 e. f1W32?x X. If V- fff, , ' f1't.,'1- r - ' -1 fn :- . , 'ix 1' ' Il . Lim, Q, gg 'f-Q W-K 1 1 -' ' 'dm xxxwkf ' F

Page 192 text:

Fambrough ,Af W' ,, 6. ,, X e K ' . .c :L : C 4: E 'V u. PM-Qs 1 sux. -515 ,qu WJNQX, 'x 188 Media Skills are learned on the job in a television work- shop class. Bob Lamartina zooms in on the sub- ject while floor director Logan Banks supervises. The new equipment, which brought the value of the studio to S100,000, made it possible for Nicholls to broad- cast live or through videotape over the cable, playing to 6,000 cable subscribers and a potential audience of 20,000. The workshops were airing more diversified shows by the spring. A news show, Nicholls News and Views, was still aired, but in addition local talents were showcased in Studio One, local policymakers were interviewed on lntrospect, and Nicholls sports were highlighted on The Colonel Speaks. Students were responsible for all aspects of the show including writing, directing, camera work. lighting and all on-camera and off-camera work. While some students were exercising their creative abilities through one medium, others were doing the same through a sister medium - KVFG-FM, the campus radio. Advertised as a progressive music station, KVFC was managed in the fall of 1976 by Benny Stiegler and in the spring of 1977 by Sue Himel. Students enrolled in the Speech 220, For our information COl1t. 221 and 222 radio workshop classes worked as disc jockeys in the 10-watt Peltier station. Bob Blazier served as advisor to the station until Ron Simeral took over the position in the summer of 1977. Blazier applied to the Federal Communication Commission for permission to raise the station's power from 10 to 250 watts. This move was supported by commu- nication arts students in a series of informal meetings called to review and suggest changes for the communication arts curriculum, with specific improve- ments for KVFC and the television studio. Besides getting an advisor and a stu- dent self-assessment to raise KVFC's power and antenna height, the meetings also helped to establish a television per- sonnel staff much like that of the radio station. Other directors for the fall were Gary Landry, program director: Perry Pitre, music director, Sue Himel, news direc- tor: and Ray Peters, sports director. For the spring semester, the staff with Himel was Gary Landry, program Keeping one eye on the monitor, Van Boudreaux frames the action with his camera in television production class. '