Your future, our focus
BY TESSA SCHWEIGERT
Powell Tribune Staff Writer
Powell residents can now tune into Northwest College student-produced programs.
NWC-TV is available on channel 69 following the installation of new fiber optic cable connections between the college and Bresnan.
The content is produced by NWC webcasting students and until now was only available online for Powell residents.
"It used to be that we had to tell people to go online," said Sean Ryan, a NWC photography student. "Now you can just turn on your TV."
The NWC station premiered in 2005 on TCT West channel 39, available in Big Horn and Washakie counties as well as Meeteetse.
Programming will be the same on both channels, according to Dennis Davis, station manager and NWC assistant professor of journalism and mass communications.
"We're delighted that the new channel provides an opportunity for an expanded audience to see the work and talents of Northwest College students," Davis said in a release.
NWC-TV features newscasts, weather forecasts and an event calendar, and also includes coverage of campus events such as speakers, interviews, graduation, music performances, sports and a quiz show, "Stumped."
Students produce the programming, which allows them to learn video production skills. "We don't use a textbook," Ryan said. "We get a hands-on experience that a lot of students don't get. I just think it's a great opportunity for students to do editing and TV production."
Ryan, of Thermopolis, said he believes the experience will make him more competitive for employment.
Fellow webcasting student Trent Bateman of Cody said he believes the course will help him pursue a career in sports journalism.
Bateman filmed NWC sports last year, and he joins other students in providing live sports coverage for online and TV.
The channels will provide live broadcasts of all home volleyball matches including those against
Sheridan College on Sept. 18, Casper College on Sept. 25, Laramie County Community College on Oct. 5, Eastern Wyoming College on Oct. 6 and Miles Community College on Oct. 10. The games may also be seen as live webcasts at http://www.northwesttrail/.org. They will be recorded for rebroadcast on cable and archived on the Web site of the Northwest Trail, NWC's student newspaper.
Each in their second years at NWC, Bateman and Ryan have seen the TV station progress, and they expect it to continue. "We'd like to see our coverage make it to Cody," Ryan said.