While the fall television season might look rather grim, one bright spot is our very own TUTV, Tufts University Television. The station, which can be found on channel 23 on campus, has been revamped with new equipment which will help the station reach more viewers than ever, and hopefully bring in more station members as well.
First launched campus-wide in 1997, TUTV, located in Curtis Hall, has had its ups and downs. The only show one really could count on was "Jumbo Love Match," which at times has been surrounded by a variety of programming, including popular movies, sketch-comedy shows and advertising. However, due to a $15,000 grant, the station is primed to be bigger and better than ever.
The new broadcast system, and the acquisition of the funding for it, has been the project of TUTV President George Rausch ('05). Rausch, who had been the technical director at the station during his first three years at Tufts, quickly realized after he joined the channel that changes needed to be made.
"I came in as a freshman and saw that the equipment was not adequate, and I've been working since sophomore year to create a new broadcast system that will suit our needs now and for the future," explained Rausch.
In order to finally obtain this new system, Rausch had to somehow secure a large amount of funding, as "the kind of funding we needed I couldn't get from capital expenditures and the TCU." This meant submitting a seven-page proposal to Wayne Bouchard, the former Executive Dean for Finance, Budget, and Personnel, and meeting with him over the course of six months.
After an original proposal that required about $25,000 in funding, Rausch was able to tweak and modify the plan, eventually getting the $15,000 plan approved.
TUTV has now been transformed by this new system. The most important piece of the new equipment is perhaps the multi-cast streaming system, which can steam high quality video to all computers on all three Tufts campuses.
This gives TUTV, as Rausch described, "the capability to be broadcast live on any of the three campuses." In addition, TUTV will continue to work with JumboCast, the organization that webcasts Tufts sporting events. The eventual hope is to use this system to show sports matches, campus events, and speeches; in effect, to bring the campus together.
Not only can TUTV now be seen by more Tufts students than ever, the station is in negotiations to share a stream with 20 other universities, which would increase the number of possible viewers from around 2,000 to approximately 100,000.
The growth does not stop there, however, as TUTV is hoping to partner with OSTN, a consortium of collegiate television stations that share content via the internet. This would enable TUTV to share material with about 70 other universities, allowing TUTV content to reach as many as one million students.
By next week or the week after the channel will be at about half to three-quarters power, broadcasting Communications and Media Studies projects, films from the "Producing Films for Social Change" course, entries from two independent filmmakers and an off-campus program called "No Dogs or Philosophers Allowed."
Later in the semester, we will see the return of Jumbo Love Match, and students in the ExCollege course, "Understanding and Creating TV News," will produce four or five news shows for TUTV. Rausch hopes to groom these students into a dedicated news team.
Also on tap are film shorts ranging from 30 seconds to ten minutes. In addition, Rausch noted that, "a lot of people have been enthusiastic about producing shows, about going out and shooting and bringing back four to five shows."
As an entirely student-run television station, "TUTV is a unique opportunity," noted "Shorts" producer and TUTV post-production director Brett Weiner.
The only non-student involved is station advisor, Professor Howard Woolf. Rausch lauded the system: "Go to a school like Syracuse, Hofstra, UPenn -- you will find people who receive a paycheck to do what they do at the television station. The students don't get the same power and opportunity they will get with TUTV."
The station certainly is brimming with potential. Weiner, a senior, remarked, "We have better capability than we ever had before ... now that we have this equipment we want to encourage people to come down." He added, "The station is only going to get better."
Despite his success in revitalizing TUTV, Rausch has even grander visions for the future. "Someday there will be a media building on campus ... almost dedicated entirely to TUTV, with a full size studio, rigging, a blue screen and high ceilings." While he admitted that won't happen anytime soon, the immediate future of TUTV looks bright.
