Sick of all those Student Government Association mailers? Are all the posters stuck to the stairwell walls beginning to look the same? Never fear, there will soon be another source of information when searching for activities on campus.
Next year Saint Louis University students can expect to see a new form of news and entertainment on campus: the Life at SLU Television Network, which will broadcast on KSLU.
Andrew Chappelle, former assistant content editor of the now defunct life.slu.edu, is heading the project, which originally began as an extension of the Web site.
Chapelle, who is president of Life TV, went to Phil Lyons, assistant vice president for Student Life, who approved the idea and offered to chip in $500 from Student Life for a camera to get them started.
“I really liked it,” Lyons said. “Andrew’s [show] was pretty solid.”
Other SLU TV programs were attempted in the past, and failed. The University Broadcast Network (UBN), began in 1995 and was a news program developed by Colin Wellenkamp, a former SLU student. According to Lyons, the program was “labor-intensive” and was only aired about twice a month randomly.
The UBN fell apart when Wellenkamp graduated and was taken over by KSLU in early 2000.
The University had supplied UBN with the equipment needed; however, it was stolen during the summer of 2001. KSLU plans on replacing the insured equipment when it returns to the Busch Student Center this year. Chappelle and his staff would have access to the equipment needed for the show’s production.
Lyons thinks Chappelle has gotten off on the right foot, though warns that he needs to make sure the show is on every week, at regular intervals, with current programs.
The pilot show, which aired this semester, included segments such as “Campus Cribs,” a feature on the life of a SGA presidential candidate and a Blair Witch Project–like trip to the fourth floor of DuBourg Hall.
“I’ve got a lot of great feedback about it,” Chappelle said. “I want to make sure every student at SLU is represented. Deanna [Durrett] told me, ‘Just focus on students, students, students.'”
While Student Life is supplying the money for a camera, Lyons said the members of Life TV will have to prove themselves before they receive more funds or are put on payroll.
Chappelle and technical director Nick Barnes are currently accepting applications for other executive board applications. The applications are due May 2 in the Office of Student Life.
