Warren County Technical School students prepared to produce community programming for cable channel

Sunday, September 27, 2009
By BILL WICHERT
The Express-Times

FRANKLIN TWP. | Whether it's for a discussion about health care or an interview about a historic destination, cameras are prepared to roll inside a classroom at Warren County Technical School to give a glimpse of the community.

With a window overlooking a picture of downtown Manhattan and an adjacent green space to project other images, Warren Tech students are expected to begin producing video programs to showcase nonprofit and other community organizations.

"Let's hear what's going on in Warren County," said Richard Patricia, the school's television, radio and digital media teacher.

Inside their classroom studio, the high school students are preparing to produce at least three half-hour shows, including one involving a combination of community groups, Patricia said. The shows would be broadcast on a weekly basis on Comcast's local access channel, he said.

As part of their curriculum, the students are set to work on the shows' production and possibly as hosts and interviewers. One of the three productions, a talk show called "Real to Reel," previously aired on Comcast.

Another show, called "Kidz Vidz Network," is expected to present a collection of video and audio projects created by K-12 students from throughout Warren County. The show would allow students to have their work seen and check out what other children are doing as well, Patricia said.

"It could inspire them to become the next Spielberg," Patricia said.

Nonprofit representatives and elected officials are being invited to discuss topics affecting the community, Patricia said. Nonprofit agencies need such an outlet to help raise money or promote various issues, he said.

The organizations could design the shows and have the students produce them in the studio, or submit taped shows to be aired, Patricia said.

"I just think that it's important for those people to have a voice," Patricia said.

The Warren County Regional Chamber of Commerce also is expected to develop a show to discuss different community issues and promote local tourism, said Robert Goltz, the chamber's CEO. For example, the show could involve interviewing the Phillipsburg schools superintendent to review what's happening within the school district, Goltz said.

Goltz has proposed producing one, half-hour show each month and between eight and 10 annually. The programming would not be dated, allowing shows to air at different times, he said.

The fact that the program would provide an educational experience to Warren Tech students "made it definitely a win for us," Goltz said.

Besides the Comcast programs, the high school students produce a news program broadcast within the school, and they are working on two documentaries. One documentary is about the Washington Theatre and the other is on the Morris Canal.

Warren Tech students previously provided production assistance for the Comcast Newsmakers program, which produced five-minute segments for CNN Headline News. That program, which is now known as Comcast Local Edition, continues to film out of a Mansfield Township studio, Comcast spokesman Jeff Alexander said.

Having always dreamed of being a photojournalist, sophomore Sam Greco said she is interested in the editing process, putting all the pieces together around a given topic.

"You can make something that really means something to someone else, just as much as it means to you," the 15-year-old Phillipsburg resident said.