SBU's TV Trailer in Place, Ready for Game Production

The television production truck donated to the university last year by Game Creek Video will be put to use just days after finally finding its permanent home.

The 48-foot trailer was moved Wednesday morning from university property just west of campus to a cement pad at the southwest corner of the Reilly Center. Nine fire-safety windows had to be installed on that side of the Reilly Center before the trailer could be moved.

By Saturday night, the trailer will be filled with students producing the men’s basketball game against Saint Joseph’s.

Paul Wieland, instructor in the Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said his Remote TV Production (JMC 401E) students will be producing nine basketball games this spring — five men’s and four women’s.

“Other schools have their students doing similar production, but we’re legitimately unique because this facility is ours. We own it,” Wieland said. “If one of my students wants to go over sometime just to work on graphics, they can with my permission. They don’t need professional oversight. This is an academic laboratory that other schools just don’t have.”

The games will air live on the Internet via the fee-based offerings at gobonnies.com, and will air on tape delay on TV at Time Warner Cable’s discretion, Wieland said. Eventually, he said, Time Warner will lay fiber optics to allow for live game transmissions.

Outdoor athletic events will be broadcast once cable is laid underneath the road behind the Reilly Center; that will happen during campus road reconstruction this summer.

More than 20 students will be involved in the game production, Wieland said. Five cameras — two high in the arena, one on each baseline, and one at center court — will video the game. WGR Radio’s Jeremy Noeson will handle the play-by-play; his color analyst is still to be determined.

Wieland said other men’s games to be produced include Dayton, Fordham, Richmond and Duquesne. Women’s games include Xavier, Fordham, Saint Joe’s and George Washington.

“The nice thing about basketball is that it’s a good place for these kids to break into sports production,” Wieland said. “It’s really one of the easier sports to produce, and I’m going to keep it as clean and simple as possible.”

Students have already gone through a couple of simulations in the fall semester while the trailer was parked at the UPS lot next to campus.

Built in 1988, the 48-foot double-expando truck was once one of the signature mobile units in the country, taking on big-ticket entertainment shows like the Academy Awards. The equipment includes a Grass Valley 3000 switcher, four hard Ikegami cameras with Canon lenses, three hand-held Ikegami cameras, four Sony W75 Beta decks, a Yamaha 3500 audio console, a Chyron Infinit, and an Abekas DVEous.

Pictured, Instructor Paul Wieland videos the placement of the 48-foot TV production trailer outside the Reilly Center Wednesday morning.
(Photo courtesy of St. Bonaventure University)