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School radio, TV start digital year

As technology continues to advance and equipment becomes outdated, CHTV, WHJE update facilities to prepare for future


By Tommy Sneider

<[email protected]>

In the broadcasting room, there were cameras with books on them in order to keep them pointed down. There was some equipment produced in 1989 and there were other devices that could be older than the students who used them. Next door in the radio rooms, there were microphones and outdated equipment for radio broadcasting as well as a more closed in environment shut off to non-WHJE students.

Today, beginning with this new school year, all of that has changed. Senior Kyle Borcherding has taken classes related to CHTV since his freshman year. He said, “Having worked with the other equipment for the past few years, it’s going to be really cool having all of the new equipment for broadcasting and doing everything that we do.”

During the past school year, both CHTV and WHJE were budgeted a little over $1 million to spend on whatever was needed.

CHTV teacher Harold Espey said that there will a new editing room for video, new cameras for the studio and event coverage and other cameras to do interviews with. He said, “We’re also going to have some new video switching equipment to have a more professional look on the air.”

On the radio broadcasting side, WHJE spent money on new equipment as well as on tearing down walls to make the station more visible to the school. “(The students) will see a huge difference. The main on-air studio will be thrust forward where the senior and freshman halls intersect,” WHJE teacher Brian Spilbeler said. In addition to those changes, there will be cut windows out of the wall so students will be able to see what they work with on-air.

According to Borcherding, the new equipment brings a great opportunity to current students as well as new students who plan to take the course. He said, “It is really going to give the new kids a chance to be a part of what is going to be a really nice equipment that we haven’t had before.”

While the remodeling provides better equipment for higher quality coverage, it also gives students a newer place to learn about modern equipment. According to Spilbeler, there will be separate “office” areas for student workspace, a projector and document camera.

“This will impact teaching because I will be able to instruct students in a (technology) friendly environment,” Spilbeler said. “I will also expose them to cutting edge radio technologies. More students will be able to engage in hands-on activities at one time.”

However, with the rapidly changing technology in today’s world, Borcherding said that it would probably be difficult for the equipment to remain modern for long. He said, “Technology seems to change so fast that it’s just hard to keep up sometimes.”

Spilbeler said that the equipment should last at least until the next decade but will need to last longer.

Espey, however, said he has his own different view on new or old equipment. “Technology is important, but a bad interview is still a bad interview whether that is high definition or black and white,” he said. “There are some skills that transcend technology and that is definitely the case here.”

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