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The lights are shining and the cameras rolling inside the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences (CHBS) television studio, which opened its doors to Radford University students, faculty and staff in January.

The TV studio is a learning space inside the CHBS building and will allow students to gain advanced broadcast experience in a professional setting.

“Students are able to get in and get hands-on experience in a news studio,” said the college’s technology specialist, Jeremy Jennings. “The studio is set up so students are able to get dedicated experience at different positions. Students will know the function of each piece in the studio.”

The embedded nature of each position within the studio allows for an immersive educational experience.

“Students have a remarkable opportunity to immerse themselves in all aspects of production, at length and over time,” said School of Communication Director Matthew Smith. “This is more meaningful than a mere tour of an operational facility; students operate a facility themselves, figuring out how the technology works and having the chance to experiment with its capabilities, while pushing their own.”

The TV studio is full of advanced technology that meets or exceeds that of local newsrooms.

“It is on the higher end of studios,” Jennings said. “Around the area, we are comparable if not better than other studios.”

The studio incorporates a piece of that new technology — a robotic camera, which is controlled from the production room.

“If a professor needs to do an interview on a television network, you can do the interview with minimal staff,” Jennings said. “The camera can be completely controlled from inside the production room. The robotic camera has the same lens as the other studio cameras, so there is no difference in the image quality. Otherwise, the camera is a secondary camera during productions.”

Jennings said that the robotic camera functions are easy to control, “especially if you have played a video game before.”

The original concrete floor caused audio and video issues during filming, which led to Jennings and the School of Communication installing advanced flooring in the studio.

“It was just cement at first, but it caused some jitteriness when rolling the cameras around,” Jennings said. “We can roll the cameras freely and output a smooth, consistent image. The floor is a no-noise material, so movements don’t impact the audio.”

A common tool inside of the production studio is a green screen. The screen is composed of a material that allows the background to be changed. A uniform color, and in the case of the CHBS TV studio, a bright green color, coats the wall.

The screen inside of the studio goes to the floor, with a gradual curve at the base, allowing for consistent lighting over the entirety of the screen to enable proper image replacement.

“The green screen floor,” Jennings said, “allows us to stand on the green screen and get a full-body shot.”

The combined technological power of the learning space gives students professional opportunities during their collegiate career and aids them after graduation.

“Having a professional learning space gives our students the opportunity to work in an environment that mirrors what they will be working in once they leave Radford University,” said Assistant Professor West Bowers. “This better prepares students for that first job and for what they will encounter in their professional lives.”

The initial use of the studio will lean toward instructional purposes so that students and staff members alike will have time to be properly trained in the use of the new technology. The studio will also be used for Radford Athletics video promotions.

As for the studio’s long-term future, a closed-circuit cable network is in development.

“We want to give students experience running live news shows,” Jennings said. “It gives students an opportunity to get positive feedback on running a live news show and gives students tangible experience. We will have a place where students, faculty and staff can get real campus news.”

The launch of the closed-circuit campus news channel is expected within two years. ■