By NICK VILLALOBOS
Editor-in-Chief
The Northwestern Mass Communications department is currently receiving improvements to its broadcast studio.
Progress on the NWTV 7 studio improvements began Jan. 25. It is still unclear, however, how long the studio upgrades will take.
According to Matt Adair, a Northwestern mass communication professor who emphasizes in radio and strategic communications, the end of the upgrades will not be till approximately three weeks, or “till all the minor cable, visual and audio tweaks are complete.”
The improvements that the NWTV 7 studio will be receiving include a brand new virtual studio, a new audio board and a new V-Mix switcher. New TV camera upgrades are coming as well.
The decision to improve the studio has been long awaited.
Allison Zimmerman, a Northwestern mass communication professor who emphasizes in broadcast, said it was roughly a year and a half ago that the department decided to improve the studio.
The idea of improving came when Zimmerman entered the department back in 2014. Zimmerman said that upon arriving in her position, she began to look at the needs from both a personal view point and the students’ viewpoints.
After determining what improvements were needed, Zimmerman and the department looked for the most viable company to come and install the upgrades. Enter Benson Sound.
“Benson Sound has worked in Alva on several churches before, and as a result they have received great reviews,” Zimmerman said. “Then after contacting Benson Sound, they agreed to come in and access the areas in which we needed improvements in the studio.”
Following the official process of determining whether they were the best choice for the job or not, Benson was accepted for the job. “We felt that they were the best to offer us,” Zimmerman said.
Adair has worked with Benson Sound on the daily upon their arrival last week. Adair said that the hardest part of putting these improvements in has been all the finessing with wires and getting everything dialed in.
Upon completion of the improvements both Adair and Zimmerman said that the area that will benefit the most from the upgrades will be that of the students.
“This [the upgrades] gives the students the ability to work with high end, computer-based technology, which is what the entire television industry is moving to at this point.” Adair said. “So on the tech side these improvements are going to be working on the things and programs that students are going to see repeated in the real world.”