In the depths of the Student Union, Stefan Fleming gathers his staff of 25 students, a fusion of writers, correspondents, anchors and technical staff.
Producer of Student Association TV's half-hour news program "UB on Air", he has already approved and declined the episode's news, containing world, Buffalo and UB story narratives. Six correspondent scenes were filmed the day before in various places around campus. It is early Saturday afternoon, and his anchors prepare their scripts in front of the green screen, before he yells, "Action!"
Though they are only filming less than 20 minutes, it is early in the evening before he captures what he needs, and dismisses everyone for the day. Early the next morning he is back in the office in front of two computer screens situated side by side, editing so that the episode is ready to air sometime on Tuesday. SATV is finally on-air.
"People have been trying to launch a channel on campus for 10 years now," said Fleming, an intern with SATV, who is juggling the production of a few student-organized half-hour television shows.
"We've been working out the kinks these past few weeks," Fleming continued, with two computer screens behind him in mid-edit, each filled with the faces of UB on Air's co-anchors, Justin Keppler and Rachel Oyama.
Fleming, a senior media studies and political science major, is one of a handful of students working to single-handedly launch SATV channel 46, available to all on-campus residents. A number of original half-hour programs are in the works, which will premier Sept. 18 in the Student Union.
"That gives us a couple of weeks to get everything together," said Joe Mattiello, a senior computer science major and director of SATV. "We don't want to put out garbage.
Aside from "UB on Air," the channel will air "Dorm Raiders," a show similar to MTV's "Room Raiders," as well as "Will UB Mine?" a dating program, both featuring UB students on campus.
There will also be a show titled "SATV Weekend Mixers," an original program completely made up of music, a DJ at a turntable, and psychedelic graphics in the background.
Another program in the works is "Main Street Confessions," candidly capturing UB students on Main Street exiting the bars.
"It's extremely stressful but it's going ok so far," said Mattiello. "We're trying to get as much out as possible, which is difficult to do."
"One of our goals this semester is to get a general schedule," Mattiello continued. "We don't have the equipment or manpower to get something out at a set time right now."
According to Tyler Bennett, the station manager of SATV and a 2005 UB graduate with a degree in video productions, SA obtained the campus television station, channel 46, from Tony Conrad, a professor in the media studies department.
Bennett said Conrad purchased the rights for it with plans to generate live broadcasts from within a studio in the Center for the Arts.
"It wasn't being used, and I went to Tony and asked him if the SA could use it," Bennett said.
Conrad consented, donating the channel's frequency to the SA.
Aside from original programming, SATV has purchased licensing for several movies. "Goodfellas" is the current feature. In the future, they also hope to air original student productions.
For now, production subsists on the aid of student volunteers like Jeff Bistrong, a freshman media studies major with editing experience from his high school days.
"I just showed up one day and started helping out," he said. "It's my fourth day here."
Volunteers can receive media studies, English, or possibly in the future, communications credit.
Mattiello said the experience is a great r?(c)sum?(c) builder.
"We're students, and hopefully other students will recognize that, and see that we are trying to get things out there that they will like," he said. "It's kind of scary right now, because if it flops, it's something that we've put a lot of time into."
More information about SATV can be accessed from SA's Web site and ubsatv.com.
"It's overwhelming, but it's definitely exciting," Fleming said. "I love to do this. This is why I became a media studies major."
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
