On the air

By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
ILEEN KOLAT AND HER STUdents have gotten tons of phone calls since the beginning of the year.
"People are calling us, thanking us for putting the football games and volleyball games on the air," the high school English and video production teacher said. "A lot of them are elderly and told us they can't get to the games anymore, so they love being able to see them on TV."
It's just an added bonus for the 40-some students who are learning how to film, edit, produce and air everything from sporting events to documentaries to public service announcements. After four years of airing productions throughout the high school only, students are seeing their work broadcast throughout the community.
Starting out
At the beginning of the school year, school and city officials and representatives from Time Warner Cable secured Channel 16 throughout the city and township for the video production class to begin airing programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"It was a two-year struggle, but we're on the air," said Superintendent James Herrholtz. "We are the only school district in Trumbull County airing in the community."
Herrholtz said federal regulations require local television stations and cable companies to provide a certain amount of education-based programming each week. The regulations also require local cable companies provide each school district the chance to handle programming for their own channel, he added. So he and other school officials decided to take advantage of the offer.
Some other districts in the Mahoning Valley, including Austintown schools in Mahoning County, have similar channels in their municipalities.
"We were limited with what we aired in the beginning," Herrholtz said of the channel. "But it's getting better all the time. These are kids who had no real experience in filming, editing and airing a program in a short amount of time, but now they are becoming pros."
Kolat said the process is still evolving, since there is still a limited amount of resources for students to use for their work. When the program started five years ago, there was one Apple computer and only two cameras.
"Now we have 10 computers for editing, those two old cameras from when we first started, two more older digital cameras and one new digital camera," she said. She noted that students conduct fund-raisers throughout the year in hopes of getting even more new equipment.
Handling the limelight
Getting their work thrust into the limelight has been a little unnerving for some students, as well as a valuable learning experience.
"Not everybody was able to show their true talents with only two cameras," said senior Erik Melvin. "But there wasn't so much pressure then. Now, we need to tape things like sporting events, and come in, get them edited and get them on the air within a day and a half."
Ken Oyler, also a senior in the program, said the lack of sufficient equipment for the program has been a hindrance in getting enough original programming for the channel, but notes that he and his fellow classmates are learning by leaps and bounds.
Plans are in the works now, he and Melvin said, for there to be original programming, including a project documenting the selection process for the school's basketball team and maybe even a cooking show.
"It's getting to be even more fun now that we can get a little more creative," Oyler said.
slshaulis@vindy.com