KSLU, Saint Louis University’s radio station, recently took over the SLU television station.

Previously, the University Broadcast Network produced news programs for SLU.

However, due to internal difficulties with UBN, KSLU has decided to use the television facilities instead.

“Since UBN isn’t using [the facilities] KSLU asked if we could use it. We have been given the opportunity to use the equipment available,” said Brian Suda, promotions director of KSLU.

Various problems have caused UBN to cease broadcasting this year.

“The president of UBN graduated, and the majority of the staff left or went to Spain. There were lots of obstacles in their way,” said Chris Grabau, coordinator of student activities for the Office of Student Life.

Since no one was utilizing the broadcasting equipment, the radio station decided to ask Student Life for permission to use it.

Jason Sengheiser, KSLU general manager said, “The office is right across the hall, and we saw all the equipment wasting away. [With] KSLU using it benefits the university since we have lots of resources including a strong base of DJ’s to work with.”

Grabau said that KSLU is looking to fill a void with entertainment.

“This is an exciting development for KSLU and people interested in television broadcasting,” Grabau said.

However, the type of programming that KSLU will be producing will differ from what has traditionally been seen on Channel 12.

“We want to do entertainment oriented programming. In the past, UBN did a lot of investigative reporting,” Sengheiser said.

Suda concurred: “In previous years it was more news based. We are a radio station, and this is an extension of the entertainment, with music videos, short films. We are open to anything.”

In addition to music videos, KSLU-TV is planning on broadcasting interviews with bands, comedy sketches and a segment on campus topics. “We also want to have a show like Donnybrook with student leaders like Jay Perry and Eddie Holman discussing campus issues,” Sengheiser said.

The students working at the station are a mix of KSLU and non-KSLU students, with various levels of experience with television broadcasting. “Originally we thought it would be solely KSLU people, since we had a solid base of a 100 DJ’s. After we told the DJ’s we opened it up to the general student population, and currently it’s 50 percent KSLU and 50 percent random walkups,” Suda said.

While some of the students have no experience with TV, others have experience from UBN and high school. Another group involved is students with theatre experience who feel comfortable speaking in front of a camera.

The station has a variety of equipment, including several video cameras and editing equipment. The video cameras allow the students to take the cameras out on their own to shoot programs either on campus or off. At present, the show is slated to be an hour long, with 10 to 15 minutes for each segment.

Although the date of the first broadcast is still tentative, Suda hopes it will be in the next few weeks.

“This is still a fairly new venture for KLSU. We have a concrete amount of people. We are open to new ideas and anyone is welcome,” Suda said.

Weekly meetings for the for anyone interested in participating are held every Thursday at 5 p.m. in KSLU, which is located in the lower level of the Busch Memorial Center.