The spring semester marked the opening of Suffolk University’s new TV studio, known as “Studio 73” for its location at 73 Tremont Street in the Rosalie Stahl building. Built in the space formerly occupied by a gift shop, the 660-square-foot studio is equipped with three Panasonic HPX 500 high-definition cameras, a full lighting grid, and a professional control room that provides broadcast journalism students hands-on experience in a professional setting.
“We always had great production equipment but no studio space,” says TV studio lab instructor Jason Carter.
This semester, Carter, along with journalism professor Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, has been able to use Studio 73 to produce Temple Street, a student-run news program that covers stories throughout the community. Until the opening of the studio, this advanced broadcast journalism class had to convert a classroom into a temporary space to film. Students now can professionally produce all the news show aspects, from researching to shooting and editing, before airing on the Boston Neighborhood Network.
Aside from Temple Street, says Carter, “We are looking to get a group of students to work on a news show and be behind the scenes to make those shows possible.” Focusing directly on the University, these news shows will stream once a week to Suffolk dormitories and potentially to the University’s website as well. “We are hooked up to a Verizon fiber hub so theoretically, we could broadcast anywhere,” says Carter.
Accompanying the news show would be a sports segment hosted by Adam Nelson, head basketball coach and assistant director of athletics. Interested students will be able to attend free training seminars next semester. Also in development is a filmed oral history of Suffolk University. And in April, Suffolk University and New England Cable News (NECN) formalized an agreement to become partners in the studio, an event kicked off with a live broadcast of Jim Braude, host of NECN’s NewsNight program, and Mayor Thomas Menino in the new studio.
By next semester, the department hopes to develop a studio crew to provide equipment training, allowing classes, clubs, and students the chance to use the space. This crew will also create new work-study positions and make the studio more accessible. “The goal for Studio 73,” says Carter, “is to be a space that is reserveable for shoots, provides a knowledgeable crew, and performs a service to the Communication and Journalism department and the University as a whole.”
