Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
IT’S LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Avon Grove High School debuts new television studio
LONDON GROVE >> Move over Jim Gardner and George Stephanopoulos, there’s a new TV station in town.
Avon Grove High School last week cut the ribbon on the AGtv Studio adjacent to the school’s library, which has been in the works since 2013.
The studio, which cost $125,000, was put together completely by students, teachers and maintenance staff. It provides 24-hour-a-day programming with content about school news and events. It can be accessed by anyone who has Internet.
Staffing the project is a student crew that takes videos, edits, broadcasts and creates copy. They are part of the student crew who engage in the activity as an elective course. That group has expanded in recent years as was evident in photos taken a year apart when the group visited 6 ABC in Philadelphia. The second of the two pictures shows an Avon Grove crew of greatly expanded numbers.
Sitting at the head of this as executive producer is technology education teacher Clint Jones, who issued the statement, “We also hope we’ll be able to provide valuable programming for our community.”
Sitting in the saddle
“The new space and equipment will allow our students to take their skills to an entirely new level. We also hope we’ll be able to provide valuable programming for our community.” — Avon Grove technology education teacher Clint Jones
as the student executive producer is Jake Zebley, a 17-year-old junior who is in control of all aspects of the station. On Tuesday, April 26, he cut the ribbon on the door to the station in front of about 100 teachers, administrators, school board members and fellow students
in the library.
That door led into a complex that is composed of extra areas of the library and an under used computer lab. Now it in gleaming with lights and controls that include a broadcasting area, a control booth and an enhanced computer lab.
The programs draw content from videos taken at activities, sports events and information bases like weather predictions and
community events. There is even a drone capable of taking videos that can provide views of special events at the school.
Zebley said that sometime in the future they might even get permits to record sporting events, but right now that use is not allowed. In that regard, they have to rely on videos provided by student reporters and photographers, but they have the right to photograph
other non-athletic events.
When Zebley was asked how school kids could staff a 24-hour-a-day operation, he said much of the content is replayed after it is shown live during the nighttime hours.
Zebley, who sat comfortably at the controls between tours on Tuesday, said many of the students on the team have intentions to join the field of broadcasting after
high school both behind the new desk and as directors.
In a written statement, Jones said, “The new space and equipment will allow our students to take their skills to an entirely new level. We also hope we’ll be able to provide valuable programming for our community. And, regardless of whether our students choose video and television as a career path, the skills they are learning translate to so many aspects of 21st Century work life.”
Rather than paying for access to a TV channel, AGtv broadcasts 100 percent online in a LiveStream and VOD (video-on-demand) format via Avon Grove’s new website: www. avongrove.org. The student crew broadcasts sporting events, school assemblies, public service announcements, commercials and daily announcements.