These days, when Pete Troost, a 21-year veteran and manager of technical operations and production at Rutgers’ iTV Studio, gets a call from a Rutgers faculty or staff member seeking the studio’s services, most likely he’ll hear one of two comments: “It’s been hard to track you down” or “I didn’t think this place was still around.”
Admittedly difficult to find, the iTV Studio – the “i” stands for instruction, interactive, and innovative – is nonetheless alive and well at 14 Berrue Circle on the Livingston Campus, its home for 40 years. And although the name has changed many times, the studio’s mission remains the same: to provide professional expertise and production resources to the Rutgers community.Started as a black-and-white broadcast television studio in the days of Howdy Doody and The Jackie Gleason Show, today iTV is high tech. The facility is equipped with the latest multimedia and digital communications technology: full broadcast national and international fiber and satellite transmission services, ISDN audio/radio access, DVD authoring, Avid, and Final Cut Pro Editing, and the latest in Blu-ray Disc technology. It also has staff who can explain what this all means as well as freelance professionals from local broadcast outlets.
“Rutgers is moving forward with a comprehensive marketing and identity plan, so it is important that a leading research institution maintain a communications hub, like the iTV Studio, to reach the outside world,” Troost said. “With our many access points, we get the message out on a daily basis.”
Whether you’re a faculty member in search of an on-location camera setup for a television interview or a department administrator who needs help scripting a documentary or videotaping a conference, the iTV’s production team can help. The facility’s three-camera studio includes a professional set and specialized lighting. The experienced crew – skilled in scripting, documentary field production, and nonlinear video editing – can provide assistance for newcomers to broadcast TV or radio interviews.
The facility also has remote camera capabilities. When Greg Schiano declared his commitment to stay at Rutgers last fall, he did it from the Hale Center. The interviews were made possible by a collaboration between Rutgers’ Office of Information Technology, RU-tv, the athletics department, and the iTV Studio through a direct fiber connection, which allowed the event to be broadcast nationwide.
The studio has operated out of the Camp Kilmer army barracks on the Livingston Campus under various banners since 1965, except for a brief hiatus in 2004 when funding difficulties temporarily put the studio out of business. Rutgers’ Division of Continuous Education and Outreach took over the facility in August of 2004.
“We have tremendous digital and professional production capabilities; the challenge is getting the word out,” Troost said. iTV staff members offer faculty, students, and others on-camera media training as well as behind-the-scenes technical instruction. For Rutgers clients, studio fees are well below market value, but the services are equivalent in quality and standards. While the studio’s primary clients are Rutgers’ schools, departments, and affiliated organizations, the studio also provides services to other universities, educators, and public and commercial broadcast outlets (PBS, CNN, NPR, and the Research Channel) within New Jersey and around the globe.
Among iTV Studio’s clients is Hooshang Amirahmadi, director of Rutgers’ Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He was in high demand by the media during his candidacy in the 2005 Iranian presidential election. Mason Gross School of the Arts’ MFA acting program has used the iTV Studio to record and critique students’ performances. Beth Wicke, a Mason Gross instructor, has been bringing her students to the studio for more than 15 years to be exposed to a professional television studio environment.