The campus recreational TV channel has been operational for the last three months at the Hansel E. Tookes Sr. Student Recreation Center on the corner of Wahnish Way and Osceola Street.
Campus Rec TV, as it called, offers Florida A&M students an opportunity to learn how to record and produce their own videos. The channel provides coverage for every intramural game and other events in the recreational center.
The Department of Campus Recreation offers several programs and services that provide socialization for FAMU and the community. The rec center offers recreational, leisure and fitness activities and is comprised of intramural sports, fitness and aerobics, and outdoor adventures.
Roger Chantrielle, a FAMU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in architecture, supervises the channel. He has worked with the recreation center since 1995 and has served as head of communications.
“I am very excited about what we have been able to do with Campus Rec TV,” Chantrielle said. “This gives students another positive outlet. Campus Rec TV has helped us build bridges within the university.”
Robert “Bob” Carroll, the director of campus recreation, developed the concept. He said he wanted an audio/video (A/V) department 15 years prior to the channel’s creation.
Carroll’s dream came into fruition in January when the channel first began to produce shows.
Campus Rec TV can be viewed on channel 72, which is a campus-wide channel used exclusively to broadcast its productions. The time span of the initial productions ranged between 30 minutes to an hour, but they have since been reduced to eight to 10 minutes long.
Campus Rec TV has its own logo, and it is beginning to brand itself. When the table tennis team participated in a tournament earlier this month, they filmed the tournament and sent DVDs to other participating teams.
Student volunteers are in charge of operating the channel. Several students have volunteered for the project, including business administration, journalism and pharmacy students.
Even Fred Johnson, Mr. FAMU, has volunteered in this department. Recreation center administration asks students to volunteer at least 10 hours a week. They are also required to take 100 hours of training to use the recording and editing equipment.
Eric Spears, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Tampa, is a volunteer for Campus Rec TV. He said he has benefited from his time with the channel. He also said the Campus Rec TV volunteers have developed a family-like bond.
“Campus Rec TV has helped me meet my community service requirement for my major, and it has also helped me to meet a lot of people around campus,” Spears said.
Campus Rec TV has benefitted the university as well. FAMU now uses it as a recruiting tool.