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Photograph by George Sakkestad

Fourth-grader Kori Rodriguez videotapes her classmates in the Vargas Elementary School walk-a-thon. Rodriguez's footage will be edited and may air on Channel 28 as part of the school's coverage of the event.

Media Savvy

Students get a head start in broadcasting through Channel 28

By Steve Enders

Vargas Elementary in Sunnyvale has all the things expected of a school: monkey bars and a sandbox, books, chalkboards, backpacks, lunch boxes and teachers.

But it also has a not-so-standard item for an elementary school campus--a television studio.

The studio is home to Channel 28, the Fremont Union High School District and Sunnyvale Elementary School District's television station. The two districts run the station in conjunction with TCI Cable and a local organization called the Institute for Computer Technology.

Broadcasting 24 hours a day, Channel 28 can be seen in Sunnyvale on TCI Cablevision, which was required by law to provide an educational-access channel. It's similar to public-access television, except it doesn't have a free-for-all, "anything goes" programming schedule. The principals and administrators of each school are required to review the content of the shows, making sure they're suitable.

Some programs are reruns from the Arts and Entertainment Channel, The Learning Channel and PBS. The station is allowed to tape and rebroadcast some of those shows commercial-free.

The others, though, which compose the bulk of the programming schedule, are produced and edited entirely by students. Even the people working the cameras are students--sometimes fourth- and fifth-graders.

"It takes forever to edit and to put out a quality product," said Julie Coopman, the station's technician. Coopman explained that what goes on the air is sometimes unpolished, and the station uses a disclaimer that describes why the content is sometimes left imperfect.

Students start at the elementary school level, learning the technical slang and basic camera work that go into producing professional television shows.

The program hasn't been established in Sunnyvale's junior highs, although those running the station hope it will be someday.

"One of the things we can be proud of is that most of the things we planned on in the beginning have all come to pass," administrative assistant Pam Cavallero said. "When you see what the elementary kids do, it's just great."

At the grade-school level, kids get their first chances to edit tape, work the controls that make graphics and get behind the cameras. They shoot events such as school plays, music programs and award ceremonies. They also produce a news program in which three student anchors report happenings at the school. The news is edited with on-scene events as well, giving the show a professional feel.

The cream of Channel 28's crop is produced by the high-schoolers. At Fremont and Homestead high schools, Loren Reed teaches two county-run Regional Occupational Program classes, each dealing with television production.

Reed's students produce shows that cover issues that are important to students, like sex and alcohol use. They also cover sporting events.

One of Reed's star students is Paolo Subida, a senior at Homestead. Subida is already thinking of internships and future job opportunities and loves being behind the camera.

"I didn't really want to show that I was into this video thing, but I got into this class," he said. "With the curriculum and the equipment, it's more of a freelance position."

Subida already has a rap music video to his name, as well as some promotional material for Wild 94.9 FM radio. He's used creative camera angles to be more expressive with his shots. In the process, he's become familiar with the advanced technical features on one of the classes' expensive cameras.

Reed allows his students to work with equipment ranging from simple home-video cameras to high-end, professional Beta Cams.

"I've been playing with a camera since I was 6," Subida said. "Then I saw [people behind the scenes] on TV, and it's like, 'Wow! You get paid to do that?' "

The station's first broadcast went on the air in 1995, according to Cavallero and Coopman, the station's technical supervisors. At the time, the station was the first in the area to use a digital video server, which was donated by Hewlett-Packard. The server is a $250,000 piece of machinery that lets the station run all day, every day.

The rest of the equipment at the studio was also donated, mostly by local high-tech companies that had used the cameras and editing gear for their own promotional purposes.

The station is the only one of its kind in this area, its organizers said. Karen Burnett, the station's manager, said Channel 28's $40,000 annual budget comes from grants from the city of Sunnyvale, as well as the budgets of the two school districts and the Institute for Computer Technology.

Loren Reed, who has about 10 years of broadcast television experience behind him, gives the high school students the opportunity to make the most of this media-rich area.

He clues students like Paolo into covering events like Great America's season opener, and uses his connections to bring in guest speakers from the industry.

"These are the things that will help you get involved and engage them with public-access opportunities," Reed said. "They produce their own shows and creatively tell their stories and their dreams."

Reed, who also owns his own media consulting business, recently took a couple of his students to Los Angeles to work on site on two of the city's biggest celebrity award shows.

Fremont High's Ron Raymundo tagged along with Reed to the NAACP's Image Awards and the Grammy Awards preshow, both of which were held on the same weekend recently.

"Before we went, I thought I'd be starstruck," the 11th-grader said, "but everyone was really cool. There were no crazy fans, just some people trying to eyeball the stars."

Raymundo said his job included technical work such as running cables and wires from outlets to cameras that other students were working. He said he's been inspired by Reed to pursue technical production work in college or as a career.

Two other students at Fremont High share Raymundo's enthusiasm for film. Darrell Hill and Kayzell Milton said they will both seek film and communication degrees in college starting next fall.

Hill and Milton both helped tape sports coverage for Homestead, providing color and play-by-play for basketball and baseball games that were broadcast by the station.

Hill is working on a script for a movie with his brother, who is attending film school at UCLA. Milton is going to the University of San Francisco, a small private school, to play baseball and to take advantage of the city's opportunities in theater and film.

"The teacher said he could get me into doing theater and would introduce me to a lot of people," Milton said. "He took me to an L.A. studio for a commercial shoot once, and you can make some good money doing that--more than what you can make doing a movie."

Sunnyvale TCI subscribers can catch Milton and Hill's commentary during the Fremont vs. Homestead baseball game, which will air daily at 8:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 29, 1998.
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