Chicago State University Television

Chicago State University built its original television studio in the early 1970’s. The studio is located in Douglas Hall. Over the years, many media venues have been added to the studio. These additions are: digital editing suites (Avid and FinalCut Pro), audio production suites, digital media arts suites and the use of camcorders for students to check out for projects and remote shoots.

Over the summer of 2005, the television studio’s production control was completely rebuilt and configured to the specifications of a true broadcast television station studio. The spring of 2006 brought the concept to webcast CSU-TV/ipTV to the world via the Internet. To achieve this goal, numerous students under the direct supervision pf CMAT’s (Communication, Media Arts and Theater) Director of Engineering converted two unused rooms (former photo darkrooms) into an editing suite with two Avid systems and a Master Control room from which constant 24/7 programming will be webcast and cablecast. December of 2006 saw the arrival of CSU-TV/ipTV’s new Leightronix Nexus, a dual channel automated video server to deliver content unattended. CSU-TV/ipTV will see many more improvements in the near future. By the summer of 2007, plans include the interconnection of all editing computers, audio production computers and media computers on a “mini-LAN,” thereby elimination the need to manually move content over the LAN eliminating the need to use costly media. This is expected to save the CMAT department valuable resources along with exposing students to the real world operations of the modern production facility. Fall of 2007 plans include the integration of a media content server, with 8 terabytes of storage, for common storage from all systems.

The future of CSU-TV/ipTV is very promising. By changing the operations from that of a typical educational facility to one which students gain hands-on experience in the field of electronic media, our students exceed the usual expectations for entry-level positions. This is a reality, as Chicago State University’s CMAT major and course enrollment has seen a steady rise over past semesters.