By MARK MCGEE
mmcgee@bedfordcountypost.com
Tyler Hambrick, through his work as student in the media arts class, has earned a spot as a board operator in the studio for Bowman On Target Media radio stations.
Turn your radio on.
Or in this case, turn your computer
on and connect to the Internet and hear something ground breaking.
For the first time ever students from Shelbyville Central High School will be on the air for five girls’ and five boys’ basketball home games.
The students have been receiving their training in a new offering this school year – media arts class. Neal Gordon is the instructor.
He is a chemistry teacher at Central who also is a co-host of two radio shows on WDUC-FM (93.9) and part of the announcing crew for football and basketball games for the Golden Eagles.
Pete Bowman of Bowman On Target Marketing, which broadcasts Shelbyville’s games, has given Gordon and fellow announcer Kade Cunningham permission to be mentors for these broadcasts. Bowman has also provided equipment and funding for the class.
“This year we get the opportunity to pioneer a new program,” Gordon said. “All of the home basketball games before Christmas are going to be covered on school radio at goldeneagleradio.mixlr.com.
“Put that link in, go straight to our page and push a button and you will be able to hear the games,” Gordon said. “It is going to be easy to do for those who want to listen.”
Gordon’s plan is to recruit at least 10 announcers from the 25 students in his class, including some female announcers. A female has never announced a Central game Gordon pointed out.
Jocelyn Chen practices working the board in preparation for going on the air on the school radio station.
The station can broadcast up to 12 hours a day. After evaluating the basketball games, the plan is for students to be in the booth for spring sports.
“The students would do those games completely without our help,” Gordon said. “We want to make sure our product is good. We are in the process of teaching right now. There are going to be some blunders and that is one reason why you should tune in.
“We are going to start very humbly. We are going to see who has potential. We want people to come to the games, put their headphones on and listen or listen at home and maybe hear basketball from a different perspective. We are going to broaden our horizons. We think it is going to be a huge win for us.”
In addition to producing students who are worthy of being on the radio, Gordon has plans to expand the class. Through donations, they are going to be able to soon add a second studio.
“Shortly, we are going to start running the radio station three hours a day from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.,” Gordon said. “We will have a student DJ. We are going to be able to play music because we are raising money to buy the licenses.
“This is going to be an on-going class. We will change people in the spring. We want to be able to develop an Audio-Visual (A-V) club. I have people who can’t get into the class who want to help.”
In addition to radio, the students have created videos and still photography projects
“The students are very interested and enthusiastic,” Gordon said. “They are interested in all kinds of media We are learning together and that is one of the best situations you can have. It is always a plus we are giving the students new opportunities.”
