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Monday, September 26, 1988/The Battalion/Page 9
KAMU provides entertainment,
services for A&M community
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
Senior Phil Hollingsworth, an employee at the television station, Sherrill Show from the KAMU control room. Hollingsworth is a
controls visual aspects of KAMU’s live broadcast of The Jackie broadcast journalism major from Bryan.
By Kelly S. Brown
Staff Writer
Sesame Street is on every tele
vision screen in the building, but
there are no children around. An
occasional laugh may be heard
down the hall, but it’s never tra
ced.
In each room the viewer ran
domly scans the set. He’s really
not there to watch TV — well, ac
tually, he is — and he’s getting
paid for it, too.
The building is KAMU-TV, a
Public Broadcasting Station, and
half of its employees are A&M
students.
Jessica Baggett, a junior jour
nalism major, said working at
KAMU as a production assistant
has given her invaluable hands-
on experience that has allowed
her to know her own capabilities.
Before becoming a paid em
ployee, Baggett was one of the
many volunteers that KAMU em
ploys.
One thing that bothers her, she
said, is that some people look
down on the station, while they
don’t know what services really
are offered on KAMU-TV.
“Because we are a public sta
tion, we can’t afford many pro
grams that we would like to, but
there are still some entertaining
and educational programs that
are truly good,” Baggett said.
Program director Rodger Le
wis said many people associate
PBS with something boring and
painful.
“Years ago, its name was
changed in hopes that the associa
tion would be made null.”
PBS’s original name was Edu
cational Broadcast Services, and
the word ‘education’ scared many
viewers away.
Kittie Bilke, an elementary ed
ucation major with a degree in
speech, is a production assistant
at KAMU-TV. She said people
don’t realize that although it may
be an educational broadcast, it is
an enjoyable learning experience.
“I never used to watch PBS,”
she said. “It was something my
parents watched. When I did
watch TV, it didn’t occur to me to
turn on PBS. But since I began
working at KAMU in May, I
watch it all the time and find it
really interesting, especially as a
future teacher.”
Some of the programs offered
are NOVA, National Geographic,
Wild America, Smithsonian
World and Mark Russell’s Com
edy Special.
But many of the programs are
localized, too.
Among the local shows broad
cast are Fifteen Magazine, a
weekly show that gives exposure
to organizations and community
events; Candidate Program, to be
aired in November, which will
give viewers a chance to get to
know the local candidates before
the election; and the Sherrill
Show, a call-in program which
airs Thursday nights.
Lewis said the athletic depart
ment is KAMU’s biggest client.
Aside from the call-in show,
KAMU produces the Jackie Sher
rill show on Sunday, the post call-
in game show, the football video
yearbook and an academic re
cruiting tape. The football games
are replayed on Sunday nights.
The athletic department is not
the only group who benefits from
KAMU-TV.
In every corner at A&M pro
fessors and other faculty utilize
much of the tape at KAMU.
“Over half of our time is spent
doing things for the University,”
Lewis said.
“One big misconception people
have about KAMU-TV, is that it’s
just the local PBS outlet. Yes, it is
PBS, but it is a whole lot more.
Over $165,000 is spent buying
PBS programming, but that num
ber is small compared to the over
a million-dollar budget that we
have.”
KAMU receives its funding
from a cooperative venture.
In round numbers, Lewis said,
the University, community and
federal government each provide
one-third of the station’s operat
ing budget. The University gives
a little more, however, while the
community pours slightly less
than one-third into the funding.
“We would not be doing well if
it were not for the University,”
Lewis said. They give us a lot, but
we give them something equitable
in return.
“So much of what we do is re
lated to producing programs for
the departments — providing
some kind of audio or video
equipment. We produce video
programs that professors can
take to conferences for presenta
tions. In the past we have had
classroom instruction on TV.
“I wish we could do more tele
course lessons. Last year we of
fered a Management 211 class on
channel 31, the learning channel
program, where students had a
chance to watch each lesson four
times.”
Also on channel 31, the station
sends and receives teleconfer
ences.
In October, experts will talk to
A&M faculty about teaching
methods in a nationwide telecon
ference.
The most successful confer
ence to date, Lewis said, was the
Wiley Lecture Series’ “Nuclear
War: Thinking the Unthinkable,”
which featured William F. Buck-
ley, Robert McNamara, Sen. John
Tower and former British Prime
Minister Lord Callaghan.
“We’re always looking for sub
jects of major national interest,”
he said.
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
A view through the lens of Todd Wright’s video camera on the set of
The Jackie Sherrill Show. Wright is a senior broadcast jouralism
major from Dallas.
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