Television broadcasting can be a fairly alien experience.
A pre-production meeting with the residents before recording our program Outlook.
Photo by Cheryl Beckley
In 2016 the production team at WKU PBS built a remote studio inside a vacant residential pod at the local juvenile detention center, the goal was to spend a week with the residents and expose them to, and train them in, various methods and skills of broadcasting production. At the end of the week we recorded an episode of our public affairs program Outlook in the detention center with the residents serving as the crew under my direction.
While the purpose of this project was a “workforce-career-building opportunity” by providing the residents with vocational skills and possible future options, personally I wanted to focus on helping the residents navigate the intimidating world of broadcasting. While our “studio” was a portable version, the equipment was still quite advanced and daunting to someone who has never seen it before let alone worked with something like it. This provided an opportunity to introduce the residents to the problem solving-nature of the broadcasting culture. Remaining calm under pressure, communicating effectively, and thinking through and working a problem, are traits that are not only necessary when working on a live video production, but are generally helpful in life overall.
And in the end the residents did an amazing job.
A student resident operates the switcher while I direct the program.
Photo by Cheryl Beckley
A student resident operates a camera during the recording of the program Outlook.
Photo by Cheryl Beckley
The result…
Kentucky Justice Secretary John Tilley joins OUTLOOK for a unique production recording on location from a pod at the Warren Regional Juvenile Detention Center. As part of a vocational education training opportunity, production support is being provided by a small group of residents from the facility working with the WKU-PBS crew. Secretary Tilley discusses criminal justice reform and drug control policy in Kentucky.
