Behind the Scenes of KHTV
It’s 8:47 Tuesday morning. The bell just rang, signaling the end of first hour. Students in Broadcast Journalism II immediately stand up from their desks and walk into the broadcast room across the hall. Erica Dyroff and Ali Cavanaugh, the day’s anchors, head to their designated chairs in front of the camera with the “KHTV: Your World. Our News” banner hanging behind them. They run through the script for the day and make sure they know how to pronounce all of the words and names. At 8:53 a.m., when the next bell rings, the students immediately quiet down. After the intro plays, the anchors begin the show.
“We want to be a service to the school and provide them with entertainment and information,” Mary Kurtz, KHTV adviser, said.
Although the student body may think KHTV is just the daily announcements, the staff of the morning program wants students to know they work harder than most think.
“We are not all about the daily show,” Cavanaugh, junior and organizational manager, said. “In class, we spend most of our time shooting and working on stories that are more journalistic than the daily show.”
Currently, such stories include a profile on L.E.A.F. Club, a piece about the historical Mudd’s Grove, and a feature on various rock legends such as Bob Dylan.
Zach Beuckman, sophomore and first-year member of KHTV, agrees the program deserves more recognition than it is given.
Since becoming the adviser two years ago, Kurtz has worked with the small group of 13 students to gain respect and attract an audience. However, like all new programs and clubs, KHTV has faced struggles.
“I think we’re a new program, so we’re going to have a little bit of a battle for gaining the reputation of a news show,” Chelsea Watkins, senior and co-producer, said.
Technical difficulties are no strangers to KHTV, either. Sometimes the battery of the boom microphone will die in the middle of the broadcast, stripes will appear across the picture, the opening titles will malfunction or Montage will face troubles.
Students filming an interview for a story are up against such troubles as well, forcing them to reshoot the video.
“You have to go back and recapture a moment that can’t always be recaptured,” Kurtz said. “It’s difficult because I can’t fix that for a student who’s disappointed.”
Despite problems, KHTV staff members stay positive and continue to work on improving the program.
“We’re still working on stepping it up to show everybody what we can do journalistically,” Cavanaugh said. “Broadcast journalism is different than The Call or the yearbook, but also the same.”
In an effort to show KHS what KHTV is capable of doing, the staff is working to produce a monthly magazine show. As of press, they have played one magazine show, which Cavanaugh believes was decent for the first airing.
As for other goals, Kurtz hopes to raise the level of KHTV to a news medium and to operate with quality and confidence.
“You have to have a staff that really cares about what they do for the students, not for themselves,” Kurtz said.
Five short minutes after the broadcast begins, Dr. Holley reminds the student body to have a good day, the cameras stop rolling and the Broadcast Journalism II students slip quietly into their second hour class and continue with their day.
