KIDS ON THE AIR

Students learn broadcasting hands-on

The future Jane Pauleys and Bob and Toms are getting their training in the radio and TV classes at the J. Everett Light Career Center.

Students in these classes get the opportunity to be disc jockeys on FM radio and host and produce TV programs.

Currently there are 56 students enrolled in the two three-hour radio and TV classes at the career center, located next to North Central High School at 1801 East 86th Street.

Children's Express interviewed four high school juniors and seniors taking the radio and TV classes and one of the teachers.

All the students we interviewed are enrolled in the radio and TV program because they were interested in some form of communications as a career.

"I heard about the radio and TV class, and I know I want to be in some form of communications, so I figure I've got to take all the communication subjects that I can," said Shannon Meadows, a 16-year-old junior at North Central.

"So when my brother told me about how little he was getting to do (in the communications field) in college, I figured that I might as well get some experience in high school, and I knew the J. Everett Career Center was an excellent program from my counselor."

Aaron Coleman is also a junior at North Central. He says he enrolled in the radio and TV class because "I had heard about WJEL (89.3 FM, the class' radio station) and about . . . some people winning sports contests. WJEL has a lot of good programs, so I talked to my counselor about it and decided to get into it."

DJ selects music

The radio and TV students play music, offer commentary and read news on WJEL. WJEL has no specific programming because each DJ selects the music he plays. While doing this, their experiences are sometimes frustrating or embarrassing.

Courtney Dorney, a senior, says the pressure of the class is the most frustrating element of the program.

Ann Scott, a junior, added, "I really get scared because I'll be messing with equipment I know that's pretty expensive, and I'm always afraid I'm going to push the wrong button, or something is going to go wrong."

Shannon said, "You want to get it perfect because you know this is something you want to do and you want to get it perfect and you can't."

She explained that her most embarrassing moment came when she was reading a serious news story.

"(I was reading) about this guy (from) New Jersey, and his parents are buried in an Indianapolis mausoleum," Shannon said. "They were leaking out of their caskets, and I had to read this (story).

"I got to `He's suing the company because his parents are leaking out of their caskets.' I broke up over the air. My parents called in. They said, `We didn't exactly hear that, can you please repeat it.' So I had to repeat it over again. . . . I did it twice, I cracked up twice."

Sometimes being a DJ comes in handy.

"I dedicated a song to my mom," Shannon said. "She thought it was really neat. She let me off ground- ing. . . . If you get a big name on a radio station, you can influence so many people."

Ann's reward is seeing her final product on TV.

"We were flipping through the channels the other day and we came to the cable station that we have, The Panther Connection (the radio and TV classes' sports program, carried by Comcast and American Cablevision)," she said. "I saw myself and I saw all my friends talking. We were on TV and it was just really neat to see that."

Washington Township Magazine is the other TV program produced by the radio and TV students. (The program airs three times a week on the educational cable channel.) It focuses on issues and events in Washington Township.

One thing that makes this radio and TV class unique is that besides having a radio station and a cable TV program, the students film and produce North Central home football and basketball games for WAR27 (Channel 27).

Channel 27 is a low-power TV station owned by WTHR (Channel 13).

"While we were looking for programming, we thought there was a need to do high school sports on television," said Debbie Wilson, a producer for WTHR and program coordinator for Channel 27. "We approached North Central and the J. Everett Light Career Center because we thought (TV) would be a great educational tool . . . if the students actually did all the work for it."

Kids do everything

John King, one of the two teachers of the radio and TV classes, explained what the students do when they cover a game: "When we do the Channel 27 telecast, we have a crew. We'd have 10 or 12 kids, and that's enough to run four cameras, hold microphones, string cables and work the truck."

"Whenever we go on a remote shoot," says Wilson, "like football games, we tape it. But to power all the equipment and to get it actually recorded, you need this (WTHR) production truck that we operate out of."

"It's a whole TV control room put into a truck so all the TV cameras are connected into the truck with a long, long, long cable," said King. The cables provide power and the signal.

The experience that the radio and TV students gain from having their own radio and TV programs gives them an advantage over their peers when they get to college.

The advantage that radio and TV students have carries on to their careers. King has former students working for WIBC-AM, WNAP-FM, WTHR-13, WISH-8 (all local radio and TV stations), ABC in Los Angeles and NBC in New York.

Learning to communicaate

King says his radio and TV students learn how to put a newscast on the radio and how to talk when there are no notes in front of them.

"They know how to make sense and communicate with an audience, and they also know how to take a camera and hold it on their shoulder steadily, and how to create a visual story with it. And that is important," he said.

"And our kids, when they leave our program, if they've had only one year with us or two years with us, they are usually two years ahead of their other classmates when they get to college and start majoring in radio/TV."

FOR INFORMATION

Call the J. Everett Light Career Center, (317) 259-5265. Any junior or senior attending high schools in Carmel, Eagle Union, Hamilton Heights, Hamilton Southeastern, Lebanon, Marion Adams, Pike Township, Washington Township, Noblesville, Western Boone and Westfield-Washington may attend the first-year radio and TV class.

Students wanting to take two years of the class must get permission from their instructors. Lebanon provides a bus; the rest of the kids must get to J. Everett Light on their own.