FAMU-TV celebrates 10th homecoming show

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Florida A&M University Homecoming TV show, and the show’s student production crew has been working hard in hopes to premiere the best show possible.

Christina Hordge, 21, a broadcast journalism student from Tampa, has been involved with the production of the show since her freshman year.

Now in her senior year, Hordge had the privilege of being one of the show’s anchors.

“It was something that I’ve been wanting to walk up toward with my involvement since my freshman year,” Hordge said. Hordge said she loves working with the show’s creator, Professor Kenneth Jones, and she is thankful that he gives students a chance to have hands-on experience with the production of the show.

“I created the show to try to provide an outlet for our students to be able to do a quality broadcast show that would air a homecoming special that would help to nurture their talents,” Jones said.

Hordge said she was excited to see the show in its 10th year. She has hopes of the show continuing on as a tradition and wants it to eventually become a household name.

She also added that although many students are not aware that the show has been around for 10 years, it will turn out to be something FAMU looks forward to every year. “I hope that when I come back as an alumna five years from now that people are saying, ‘Oh my God, I remember you; you were on the homecoming show! They’re still doing that!’ ” Hordge said.

Brittany Prince, 21, a senior broadcast journalism student from Birmingham, Ala., had the position of package producer. Prince said her main task was to make sure all the anchors were where they were supposed to be and to keep everything organized. However, Prince emphasized that she wasn’t organizing alone and it was the aid of the production team that helped it all come together.

“We all worked together to organize this show, so it wasn’t like one person was the head honcho,” Prince said. She said that everyone pitching in long, tedious production hours allowed the crew to become more like a family.

Prince said cooperation and people putting their egos aside also helped the production of the show run smoother.

“It takes a lot of effort from everybody to make this show work,” Prince said.

Show producer Rekina LeCount is a veteran of all 10 homecoming shows. LeCount has attended FAMU off and on since the creation of the homecoming show and has participated in its production every year.

LeCount, 28, a graduating senior broadcast journalism student, said she wanted to make the show extra special this year in hopes that the show may win a student Emmy award and recognize Jones’ hard work.

LeCount’s duties this year included writing interesting and entertaining scripts for the anchors to read during the show. She added that she was pleased with the performance of the anchors, and they did everything she was hoping they would. “Watch the show; it’s very good,” LeCount said, excitedly. “I added a little comedy, and you know a lot of the anchors were very good.”

Mahalia Bowman, 21, a senior broadcast journalism student from Orlando, is the editor of the show this year. She said students can look forward to seeing flashback clips of old homecoming shows dating back to 1996.

“We just want them to see the progress that we’ve made and how we want to keep the show going – keep it strong,” Bowman said.

She explained that this year they are trying to incorporate new elements into the show, such as the anchors interacting with the marching band and standing on top of parade floats, in order to grab the audience’s attention.

The show aired Tuesday and will continue to air on FAMU TV-20. Please contact Kenneth Jones at Kenneth.jones@famu.edu for air dates and times.