The radio TV film (RTF) department at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh prides itself on offering students hands-on experience using the same equipment they’ll use in the field after graduation.
The start of spring semester brings with it new equipment—more than 250 RTF students will be using new high-definition (HD) broadcast equipment.
“The process of converting our equipment from standard definition to HD started with planning in 2008,” said Justine Stokes, director of television services and senior lecturer in the RTF department. “Our first upgrade was a single camera, then field production, labs and editing gear.”
Bill Kerkhof, director of engineering, said the upgrade allows RTF to provide an even better environment for students to learn in.
“The equipment we replaced had been here since 2000, and our switcher was from 1992. It was antiquated, outdated and a much needed change,” Kerkhof said. “Our students really helped lead the change from SD to HD.”
“A lot of decisions on campus are made without student input, and we could have made our HD upgrades without students, but we wanted to be very inclusive of students throughout the process,” Stokes said.
It was senior RTF major and Titan TV Station Manager Adam Steinbach who spearheaded the remote broadcasting HD upgrade.
Steinbach was involved in writing proposals for funding, researching options and helped install equipment with Kerkhof.
“As a student to have faculty listen to you is incredible,” Steinbach said. “The dialog is invaluable and learning budgeting was something I wouldn’t have gotten through my classes.”
Steinbach was one of several RTF students who worked together and wrote a proposal and received funding for the HD equipment through student technology fees.
HD changes included a $40,000 upgrade to the Titan TV programming system in 2012, which included the ability to provide video on demand, a $100,000 upgrade to the Titan TV remote broadcast system in 2014 and a $178,985 upgrade to the Titan TV broadcast infrastructure in 2015. All three projects were funded through Student Technology Fees.
For Steinbach, using the new tools and troubleshooting has given him the confidence to walk into future employers and be able to hit the ground running.
“I interned in Milwaukee this past summer for a Summerfest production company and it was a seamless transition for me,” Steinbach said. “I was able to gain hands-on experience in my classes without the fear of messing something up in the field. I was even able to show an engineer at my internship how to add a label on a switcher.”
The UW Oshkosh RTF philosophy is to provide students with high-quality gear to work with, Stokes said.
“We could have completed our HD upgrades sooner by buying cheap gear, but it was really important to us to offer our students the same equipment our alumni are using in the field,” Stokes said. “It allows us to mimic an environment our students will be working in when they graduate.”
Before the HD upgrade, the options for going in and out of breaks during live broadcasts were very simplistic. Now students have more flexibility, options and a professional feel, Kerkhof said.
“We strive to get and maintain professional equipment for our students,” Kerkhof said. “All of our gear is Ross gear and top of the line—it’s the same equipment stations in Green Bay are using.”
Titan TV’s first HD broadcast will be live on Time Warner 97-57 at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, and will also be available on the Titan TV website following the live broadcast.
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