Avella, Burgettstown spearhead public TV programming
Brad McLaughlin, left, and Cole Mirich stand in the media studio at Burgettstown High School.
In front are Burgettstown students Brandon Williams and Allie Smith. In the back row, from left, are teacher Matt Grove, Jessica Truby, Brad McLaughlin, Cole LaRocka and Cole Mirich.
Brandon Williams lines up a camera for a green-screen shoot.
New programming is coming in February to Hickory Cable subscribers as students from Avella and Burgettstown school districts are set to air various TV productions.
A contract was confirmed with the two districts last week, with Fort Cherry potentially joining the collaborative, according to Rick Walsh, the owner of Walsh Media, who coordinated the cable deal. He said programming, including archived student history projects of the region, will air on channel 1014, The Hometown Television Network, in high definition.
Burgettstown School District already is showing off “The Devils Do,” a monthly 25-minute program highlighting activities, sports, clubs and even changes in the school lunch program. English and media teacher Matt Grove oversees the productions.
“These are prerecorded segments because they’re so labor intensive, getting all these subject areas covered,” said a former TV and print news reporter.
“What we’re trying to relate to the kids is solid writing. You can have great cinematography skills, but if your story isn’t good, it’s going to fall flat,” Grove said.
Burgettstown sophomore Brandon Williams jumped at the opportunity, joining seven other students in the applied communications media class since it started in 2013.
“We’re in a YouTube world, so when I heard video editing, I wanted to get an idea of how these are produced with quality and care,” said the 15-year-old.
“Media skills can be applied almost anywhere, and with me working on physical set designs as well, I think I’ll be ready for any type of media employment,” Williams said.
The segment Williams produced highlighted school clubs, including the guitar club and Asian culture club.
“This is particularly a vital service for freshman students. Unless they’re in an honor club, or something that funnels them into another club, they’re out of the loop,” Grove said.
At Avella, technology and business teacher Jesse Saunders has been helping students crank out daily editions of “The Eagle Eye News,” a five-minute news program about the district, since 2011.
“We’re hoping this public broadcast will impart on them a consistent urgency to meet deadlines, and to produce high-quality content under those deadlines,” Saunders said.
“Local community events, like the Washington County Fair and homecoming parade, we’ll do highlight packages of those, as well,” he said.
For parents and history buffs, videos highlighting the region’s people, places and events from the past 80 years also will be pulled out of the archives, Grove said. Burgettstown Junior Brian Antonetti produced one of the history profiles when he was a freshman.
“We’ve handed over a bunch of content for Hickory Cable to sift through to put in rotation. In addition to that and the monthly program, we’ll be doing features as we go along, too,” Grove said.
Whether it’s a public service announcement, or quarterback Brad McLaughlin recapping the football team’s recently broken records – including his own record of 329 passing yards in a game – the projects are collaborations. A student may start in front of the camera, end up behind it, then edit and produce a classmate’s assignment. The school districts are set to benefit from some of the advertising revenue on the channel, said Burgettstown Superintendent Dr. James Walsh, who is no relation to Rick Walsh.
“No big expectations of revenue coming our way,” James Walsh said.
“This is more about the opportunity it provides students, and to give them a bigger stage to show off the kind of work they’re capable of,” he added, explaining details of the contract are still being worked out.
Rick Walsh said he also was working on getting Mt. Pleasant Township and other nearby municipal government organizations to provide live broadcasts of their meetings.
Officials with Fort Cherry School District did not return calls for comment.