Over the years, Bethany student news and variety shows have come and gone with the students who run them. This spring semester, Greg Vandermause launched a 1 credit practicum course for students interested in bringing back campus news. Every week, one of the students created a short newsbreak segment to release online and on KTV, Mankato area community television, which is operated on campus. While these news breaks were fun, quick segments, last week Anna Meyer took the project up a notch by releasing a 20 minute news program. Take a look!
Moving forward, Anna imagines the program combining aspects of a professional news show with a late night talk show. In addition to the hard news and sports segments, ideas for future entertainment segments include lip-sync battles, games with guests, entertainment from musical acts, magicians, comedians, jugglers, etc. “I want it to be something Bethany’s students and campus look forward to watching and something Mankato residents can look for to find out more about Bethany and what’s going on here,” she says. “In order to do that, it will need to be constantly progressing to bigger and better so that people don’t feel like they are watching the same thing every time.”
Going through this process has been a great learning experience for Anna, a highly driven freshman. “My eyes have definitely been opened to how much work it actually takes to produce a news show,” she commented. “It may seem easy at first glance, but there is a lot that goes into pre-production, planning our content, writing, getting the footage we need…Then comes the editing and putting together packages, the actual recording of the show, post-production editing, and final touches. I have also learned that this is certainly not a one person job. It takes a lot of people who want to make it be the best it can be.”
Because this program is playing on community television, it includes PSA breaks rather than commercials. This was the perfect opportunity to showcase PSAs for the National Safe Haven Alliance recently made by AV3 students—one of which won their PSA video contest! Students Sarah Meilner and Max Grabow worked together on the project and secured a prize of $250 for their winning submission.
Next fall the news show will be launching monthly. All interested students are encouraged to sign up for the practicum credit, COMM105 or COMM305, which is overload exempt. “You’ll get a credit for the hard work and effort you put in, along with the satisfaction and pride in producing the show,” concludes Anna. “If you have any ideas about how to make the show better, you are interested in producing a news show, or just want to be involved, join our team or contact us with your questions, ideas and comments! We’d love to have you and make our news show better!”
