elon student television FALL 2014 SEMESTER REPORT

!Brian Mezerski, Station Manager

Prepared December 11, 2014

!!elon student television FALL 2014 SEMESTER REPORT !SUMMARY !Elon Student Television continued its commitment to provide foundational learning opportunities for students to gain pre-professional news and entertainment television experience this semester. ESTV also continued distributing broadcast and digital content to the Elon community. The four-student Management Team has led the organization’s largest staff to date, with ten key Executive Producers and 225 total organization staff members. !!Through the production division, student members were involved with pre-production, production, and post production processes for original programming. The organization provided hands-on production workshops to improve show quality. Students were presented opportunities to work on show productions for additional station affiliate programming. Through the development division, the organization implemented a refined pitch process to bring ideas for new, sustainable shows to the station. The Development Director initiated the process with five new students. Through the marketing division, the organization sponsored numerous events to connect with the campus community. ESTV interacted with its audience through social media and launched a new website to increase collaboration between station shows. The Marketing Director aided individual shows with marketing initiatives.!!Most notably, ESTV has improved its internal operating guidelines and documentation in efforts to make the entire organization more sustainable for the future. ESTV focused on improving community. The organization achieved social and professional unity between its news and entertainment show staffs. The Management Team refined organization structure, policies, and procedures to accommodate rapidly growing ambition and needs within the organization.

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TOTAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT Fall 2014

FRESHMAN 54 (24%)

SOPHOMORE 72 (32%)

JUNIOR 53 (23.5%)

SENIOR 46 (20.5%)

GENERAL ORGANIZATION INFORMATION !ESTV Mission: Engage, Reach, & Achieve Great Television. !Elon Student Television is committed to !• engage talented, creative and spirited students !• reach deeper, broader and closer with our content, platforms

and interactions!• achieve outstanding results efficiently!!

ESTV Vision !Elon Student Television enriches the lives of the Elon University community through student-produced television multimedia. ESTV cultivates the minds of students pre-professional television production opportunities that expand the minds of students through hands-on initiatives, entertainment programming that share perspectives on university lifestyles, and news programming that keep the community informed on local events and cultures.!!2014-2015 Management Team !Station Manager:! ! Brian Mezerski, Senior!Production Director: ! Jonathan Winston, Senior!Development Director:! Ben Stringfellow, Senior!Marketing Director: ! Caroline Arnold, Senior!!Organization Advisors: !Entertainment Division:!! Staci Saltz!News Division:!! Rich Landesberg!!!!!!!

MANAGEMENT TEAM SEMESTER GOALS & ACTIONS !Goal 1: Create a pre-professional television and multimedia experience for all members!

• Facilitated student-produced news and entertainment television productions!• Discussed, drafted, and signed Production Agreements with show

Executive Producers.!• Managed station budget.!• Maintained communication with all organization members, advisors, and the

School of Communications!!Goal 2: Facilitate and improve entire organization collaboration, cooperation, community and development, including news and entertainment divisions!

• Conducted open, joint meetings with Management Team, Executive Producers, and organization staff!

• Hosted open and casual social events for entire organization!• Established inter-organization communication tool through Moodle!!

Goal 3: Increase station integrity, passion, quality and efficiency through its original programming!

• Organized and facilitated trainings and workshops!• Facilitated new programming through developing pitch process!• Facilitated production consistency!!

Goal 4: Expand station involvement and presence within campus community, and expand partnership with other campus organizations, outside student media!

• Organized campus move-in weekend and org fair presence and conducted information sessions!

• Publicized ESTV through marketing initiatives!• Created a dynamic, college-based, and appealing brand!!

Goal 5: Increase distribution opportunities for original shows and station services!• Maintained join website, elonstudenttv.com!• Improved channel operations!• Explored new ground for programming!!

Goal 6: Maintain passion, enthusiasm and continued momentum for a better organization!

• Maintained focus on yearly growth!• Developed and maintained organization documents!• Developed initial organization handbook!

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MANAGEMENT TEAM S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS !! !1. ESTV encompasses and develops a wide range of interests and talents within all

aspects of the organization. !2. The Management Team works extremely well together as a team and has fostered

the collaborative mentality to all show Executive Producers.!3. Original programming at the station has improved in quality from last year and is

seen as good for the college-level.!4. ESTV has established working partnerships with other entities on campus, including

student media organizations: Limelight Music Group, The Pendulum and WSOE; and campus offices: University Communications, Teaching & Learning Technologies and the Office of Alumni Engagement.!

! !1. ESTV is faced with progressively ineffective infrastructure, including outdated media

software and equipment, a cramped office space, and no storage for set pieces and resources inside the School of Communications.!

2. ESTV lacks effective distribution practices for station content, including overall operations and staff morale.!

3. ESTV has no successful presence in the digital media space.!4. ESTV lacks in profitability, having no established healthy revenue engagements.!

! !1. ESTV has the ambition to develop healthy opportunities for revenue and bring a

media-sales model to the student media climate.!2. ESTV looks to increase collaboration between organization staff and the campus

community.!3. The organization encourages more students to develop sustainable ideas and

provide a platform to bring new ideas to fruition. !4. ESTV’s variety clip show, The Reel, seeks to expand show structure and format to

increase its showcase of student media produced in the classroom.!5. ESTV hopes to expand its brand and develop areas of original production, internal

and external development, marketing, education and outreach, and media business and sales.!

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STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES

! 1. ESTV has rapidly increasing ambition on campus with very small staff and resource

growth. The Management Team is currently comprised of all senior members and faces complete turnover to new leadership in the spring.!

2. ESTV has received increasing influence and input from various faculty, staff, and advisors on campus. Each entity presents their own diverse opinions to the organization.!

3. ESTV is increasingly hindered in appeal and productivity by outdated software, equipment, set pieces, and props.!

4. ESTV has a concern for maintaining unity between all shows in the organization.

THREATS

ORGANIZATION SEMESTER HIGHLIGHTS !NEW WEBSITE !ESTV redesigned its website, elonstudenttv.com. The redesign included a new focus on original programming content, a responsive theme, and specialized sites for every show.!!!! !

GENERAL AND LEADERSHIP MEETINGS !ESTV hosted two general interest meetings at the beginning of the semester for students to learn more about station structure and operations. The Management Team met weekly to conduct station business. The Management Team met with Executive Producers and leadership as a large group on a monthly basis for updates and discussions.!!

!MARKETING EVENTS !ESTV connected with the campus community through various marketing events. The Marketing Director distributed free bags of candy, station literature, and station-branded pens during move-in weekend. The leadership team distributed free lanyards during the campus organization fair. The Marketing Director distributed candy, stress balls, and station-branded cups during finals week as part of an “ESTV Stress-Free” campaign.!!

HOMECOMING EVENTS !ESTV participated in the 2014 Homecoming events sponsored by SUB and SGA. The student team was a mix of representatives from each show, increasing morale among staff.

ESTV: 20 YEARS HOMECOMING CELEBRATION !

ESTV celebrated its 20th year as a campus organization during Elon’s Homecoming 2014, October 17-19. Current students connected with visiting alumni throughout the weekend. ESTV partnered with the Office of Alumni Engagement to sponsor an interactive photo booth Friday night at the campus-wide homecoming opening ceremony and

Saturday morning at the football tailgate. Current members took photos and conducted video interviews asking about favorite Elon members with any visiting alumni.!

!ELON’S HOLIDAY FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS !ESTV partnered with University Communications and Teaching and Learning Technologies to produce a live stream and edited 30-minute TV broadcast for Elon’s Holiday Festival of Lights on December 1. Student members were in production roles such as technical director, talent, and camera for the broadcast.!!!!!

INITIATED NEW SHOW PITCH PROCESS !ESTV hopes to inspire and foster students to generate ideas for new shows, expanding content and opportunities at the station. The management team developed a five-stage rolling pitch application process. Through the pitch program, ESTV received a remarkable five pitch applications within the first month of the semester. The Management Team ordered the development of four pilot episodes from these applicants, including ideas for a late night comedy show, informative talk show, street magic show, and student-produced music video highlight show.!!NEW ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMMING !

ESTV has ordered the first season, comprising of ten episodes, for a late night comedy show. “Elon After Hours” will debut Spring 2015 after successful completion of the New Show Pitch Process. The Management Team will work closely with two co-producers for the show during Winter Term for successful development of show staff, format, marketing, production, and integration into the station lineup. ESTV is pleased to offer such a desirable show for the college audience.!!!!

CONTINUED SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT MEDIA !“The Reel” is ESTV's spotlight on student media. The show highlights content such as short films, picture stories, and other multimedia projects created by students outside the organization. The show accepts and reviews student submissions that is most frequently generated in the classroom.

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ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING CONTENT !Elon Student Television’s hallmark operation is student-produced news and entertainment television programming. Students work hands-on every day within an ESTV show, gaining experiential knowledge that leads to advanced professional careers. ESTV is proud of the practical experience it provides to students through its original programming.!

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CONTENT DISTRIBUTION !(FOR ALL SHOWS - Aug-Dec 2014)

DIGITAL REACH

YouTube 27,704

Facebook 5,819 likes

Twitter 6,950 followers

CONTENT TYPE !(FOR ALL SHOWS)

SHOW FORMAT NUMBER SHOWS

IN-STUDIO 5

FIELD PRODUCTION/

POST-PRODUCED

3

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61 TOTAL EPISODES

Fall 2014

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38 TOTAL WEBISODES

Fall 2014

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35 TOTAL HOURS PRODUCED

Fall 2014

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer: !GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT !As a show our greatest accomplishment was coming together and putting on a 2+ hour election show in which first-year students were instrumental.!!AREA FOR GROWTH !Elon Local News decreased in production of newsworthy stories this semester compared with previous years.!!MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER !Elon Local News hopes to produce stronger stories with more newsworthy and “hard hitting” content with as few production errors as possible.!!COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES !A workshop about finding better stories would certainly help out a lot. I also think on our part we can instill stronger mentorship/training between more experienced and less experienced members.!!

ELON LOCAL NEWS !Elon Local News is Elon’s broadcast news leader with 3 shows, a web exclusive, and a constantly updated website week in and week out. We strive to be as professional as we can with deadlines and content development. We push for solid content and will not just put anything on the air, encouraging students to produce their best.!!News Director:!Eric Halperin, 2015 !!ELN Executive Producer:!Ryan Greene, 2015 !!Assignment Manager:!Garrett Grumbach, 2016!!Production Manager:!Brian Mezerski, 2015 !!Production Manager:!Jonathan Winston, 2015 !!ELN Radio Executive Producer: !Brennan McGovern, 2015 !!ELN Web Exclusive Executive Producers:!Audrey Engelman, 2017 &!Paige Pauroso, 2017 !!Social Media & Web Manager:! Kelly Finneran, 2015

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer: !GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT !Our greatest accomplishment this semester has come in covering the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury decision without being fluffy or self-serving as morning shows are sometimes guilty of.!!AREA FOR GROWTH !I always wish I'd tried more and pushed harder as an executive producer, expanding what the show can do and improving its reach.!!MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER !I'd like ELN Morning to air a few "specials," whether an a cappella showcase, or an "Around the State" show that features various towns and cities around North Carolina students may not know much about.!!COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES !In terms of resources, we'd love additional storage and help putting the set somewhere out of the way, to maintain show aesthetic quality.!

ELN MORNING !ELN Morning covers both national and local news, bringing campus what it needs to know when waking up in the morning covering weather, sports, travel, technology and other updates essential for our college audience. Our show is written, produced, hosted and run by students, allowing us to push ourselves knowing it is our name and effort on the finished product. Students support and encourage one another, while still competing for stories, internships and pre-professional experiences.!!News Director:!Eric Halperin, 2015!!Executive Producer:!Katie Maraghy, 2015!!Hosts:!Ashley McGetrick, 2016 &!Paige Pauroso, 2017

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer: !GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT !One On One’s greatest accomplishment this semester was thriving technically and production-wise. We had just lost the single greatest - and largest - One On One Sports class of seniors in history. We were all a little nervous coming into this year, but we worked hard and nailed it.!!AREA FOR GROWTH !Creativity. With the loss of an unbelievable senior class, we focused on keeping the show fundamentally sound. It certainly was, but the first half of this semester lacked creativity and fun as a result.!!MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER !Again: Creativity. We had an amazing Halloween show this semester. It was lighthearted and fun - exactly what One On One Sports strives to be! We need to bring that same creativity every week, even if it's just one fun or different block per show.!!COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES !A new backdrop would look great in Studio B featuring our updated logo. Other than that, we’ve never been a high maintenance show and do not plan to start now.!

ONE ON ONE SPORTS !One On One is a completely student-run sports debate show that strives to produce a quality product while enjoying the learning process of television. One On One Sports prides itself in assisting communications students by providing hands-on experience. With a weekly webcast and show, all members are guaranteed immediate airtime and control room practice - even as freshmen.!!Executive Producer:!Ben Greenberg, 2016

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer: !GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT !Our greatest accomplishment this year has been producing quality content even though we started out with a few set backs.!!AREA FOR GROWTH !I wish we could have trained crew a little more outside of the scheduling of the show.!!MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER !I think learning to fully use the TD board would set Win Stuff apart from past seasons.!!COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES !Focus on updating our set and researching potential aesthetic purchases.

WIN STUFF !Win Stuff is ESTV's first and finest pop culture gameshow! Win Stuff has been really focused on getting first-year students hands on experience in any position. Everyone on our crew knows at least two jobs. !!Executive Producers:!Theresa O’Sullivan, 2016 &!Brandon Barbieri, 2016

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer: !GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT !Our greatest accomplishment as a show was to be able to produce two thirty-minute episodes along with six extra web content sketches all within the span of one semester, as well as significantly improving the quality of the show.!!AREA FOR GROWTH !I wish we would have scheduled and planned a little more efficiently.!!MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER !Next semester I would like to continue to improve the quality of the show and make the method of production even more efficient.!!COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES !I think having more equipment available would help, along with adding more staff to the show for producing duties and scheduling would really help.

NEWSBREAKERS !Newsbreakers is a mockumentary sitcom that follows a dysfunctional news team and all of their antics as they try to raise from last place in the ratings to becoming a successful high functioning news team. Newsbreakers helps students develop skills for being on film sets and learn how to use equipment properly and effectively. It also teaches students how to follow set protocol in a professional environment and work with a crew to achieve a finalized product.!!Executive Producer:!Jordan Roman, 2015!!Director/Producer:!Frankie Campisano, 2017!!Line Producer:!John Martin-, 2017!!Editor/Producer:!Bella Mazzola, 2017!!Editor/Director of Photography:!Rhett Lawson, 2017!!DP/Writer/Key Grip/1st AD:!Franklin Kramer, 2017!!PR Team:!Justin Veiera, 2016!Tony Weaver, 2016!Olivia Hays, 2018

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer: !GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT !I believe our greatest accomplishment this semester is our smoothness with the live-to-tape filming. Because of this I believe we will feel comfortable in the Spring to start a live stream or broadcast.!

!AREA FOR GROWTH !As a show, I believe we could have done better with deadlines. Because deadlines were missed sometimes things didn’t always run as smoothly during our shoots.!!MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER !I believe feedback on the episodes would help a lot next semester so we know what areas we can improve upon.

ETALK !ETALK is Elon’s source for all things entertainment, health, fitness, and local talent. This year our members are getting hands on experience as it pertains to the entertainment field, such as studio positions creating out of studio packages and show planning.!!Executive Producer:!Ariana Badiali, 2015!!Show Producer:!Kathleen Harper, 2015!!Assistant Show Producer:!Abbey Maloney, 2017!!Webcast Producer:!Courtney Campbell, 2017!!Radio Directors:!Katie Klochany, 2017 & !Katie Condon, 2017!!PR Director:!Joe Del Vecchio, 2016!

Evaluation from Show Executive Producer: !GREATEST SEMESTER ACCOMPLISHMENT !This year we strongly prioritized growing the talent of our group, emphasizing giving tasks and roles to new members. Though still going through some growing pains, this decision means that we are well on our way to having a stronger, larger, more talented team for future seasons.!

AREA FOR GROWTH !We'd like to become more organized and better at executing deadlines to keep work consistent rather than piling up towards the end of the term.!!MOST LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH NEXT SEMESTER !Next semester we would love to see content quality continue to increase.!!COMMENT ON NEEDED RESOURCES !What would help our show out is a budget especially allocated to craft services. Unlike some of the other ESTV shows, our shoots are all day on Saturday and Sunday. It is unreasonable to expect either that our devoted cast and crew not eat for 7 hours or that one of us must pay for this necessity out of pocket.

ELON TONIGHT !Elon Tonight is Elon University's first and best sketch-comedy show. !Elon Tonight has had a long-standing tradition of prioritizing professional content and production quality and is the place where many Elon communications students first learn the basics of video production, from on-set protocol and procedures, to creating and editing content in a fun and friendly environment.!!Executive Producers:!Becca Evans, 2016; Matt Lee, 2016!!Line Producer:!Caroline Grell, 2017!!Director of Acting:!Julia Boyd, 2015!!Director of Editing:!Brian Lorello, 2016!!Production Manager: !Ben Stringfellow- 2015!!Assistant Production Manager:!Cappy Leonard, 2015!!Associate Content Developer:!Rebecca Hurd, 2016!!Marketing Director:!Peter Walpole, 2015!!Web Editor:!Nick Boss, 2016!