LIFESTYLES
WEEKEND, OCTOBER 15-16, 2016
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Eighth-graders Jayden Ray, from left, and Kaylee Young anchor a
news broadcast as Kelsie Schaefer, Daytona Tracy and Annalise
Wright help on the production side as part of the ALTV video produc-
tion class Wednesday at Armand Larive Middle School in Hermiston.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Armand Larive seventh-grader Joana Jimenez operates a camera
while an ALTV crew broadcasts a seventh-grade volleyball game
recently in Hermiston.
Armand Larive Television offers experience to budding journalists
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Every morning at Armand
Larive Middle School a group of
aspiring news anchors and sports
commentators dim the lights in
room 304 and ask for quiet on
the set.
Their live broadcasts of the
school’s morning announce-
ments are a training ground
for Armand Larive Television,
which features regular online
news segments about the school
and livestreamed courtside sports
commentary.
On a recent Wednesday
morning two eighth graders
were taking their turn in front of
the camera while other students
adjusted the lighting, operated
the video equipment, ran the
slideshow of graphics behind the
anchors and kept an eye on the
sound levels.
“Good morning Bullpups, it’s
spirit week and today is tie dye
day,” Herlinda Angel said before
launching into a back-and-forth
report of the weather, the lunch
menu and upcoming activities.
“Sometimes you feel like
you’re gonna mess up,” she said
afterward. “If you do you just
have to go with it ... and try to ix
it.”
Angel serves as one of
ALTV’s
directors,
which
includes organizing reporters,
helping come up with story ideas
during newsroom meetings and
making sure all news segments
are done by deadline.
In addition to the live morning
announcements and longer,
edited news segments posted
online, the ALTV team also
produces livestreamed broad-
casts of middle school sports
games. A volleyball game might
get 30 to 40 live viewers, while
AAU basketball tournaments can
get hundreds.
Eighth grader Tanner Bales,
one of the channel’s sports
anchors, often ends up coming
in before school to help set up
the morning announcements
and staying after school to
commentate games. He said he
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
ALTV teacher Rob Doherty, center right, makes an adjustment to an audio level as Abigail
Findley, Courtney Picard and Hannah Melville carry on with their broadcast at a volleyball
game recently at Armand Larive Middle School in Hermiston.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Eighth-graders Jayden Ray, left, and Kaylee Young anchor
a news broadcast as seen through the monitor of a video
camera Wednesday in the ALTV studio at Armand Larive
Middle School in Hermiston.
follows a script at the beginning
of the sports broadcasts, but
doesn’t ind it too dificult to do
off-the-cuff commentary during
the game itself.
“I know a lot about sports, so I
know what to talk about,” he said.
Of course, there are still
learning moments.
“Once we thought we had cut
the mics but we hadn’t pushed
the right button, so you could
hear what we were saying in the
background,” he said.
Fortunately the crew didn’t
say anything embarrassing, he
said, but it was still a mistake they
have made sure not to repeat.
Daytona Tracy said she prefers
being in front of the camera.
“I’m usually anchoring or
something that involves talking,”
she said. “I like to talk a lot. I
have a good speaking voice and
I’m usually quick on my feet to
think of something to say.”
She said she has learned a lot
about good interviewing tech-
niques, including asking ques-
tions that people can “ramble on
about” instead of answering just
yes or no.
“The hardest part is to get
answers,” she said. “It’s hard to
make it make sense if they don’t
put it into self-sustaining answers
that you can put into a clip.”
Some students prefer to stay
behind the scenes. Avery Tread-
well is a video editor and she
said it’s fun to watch all the raw
footage that comes in. Kaylee
Young, ALTV’s producer, said
she enjoys her leadership role but
also inds it stressful during times
like the incident last year where
the crew was still editing three
days’ worth of video 20 minutes
before a broadcast.
“It’s a lot of stress because you
feel like it’s all on you,” she said.
Several of the students said
they’re interested in doing some
sort of journalism or ilmmaking
for a career, especially after a visit
last year from KNDO/KNDU
news anchor Tracci Dial during a
career day.
Teacher Rob Doherty said
many video production programs
for middle schools and high
schools just focus on ilmmaking
techniques, but he emphasizes
journalistic principles to his
students, too. During sports
broadcasts, for example, they’re
not allowed to show favoritism to
Armand Larive teams.
“They don’t just hook up the
camera and let it run,” he said.
“They have to learn to be fair to
both sides. We actually get a lot
of nice compliments from the
opposite teams’ viewers.”
ALTV started as a closed-cir-
cuit announcement broadcast
system in the old Armand Larive
building in the 1990s, before the
school moved to a new building
and the old equipment failed.
Doherty brought it back in 2012
with just a camera and a micro-
phone, and today it has grown
into a full television studio and an
afiliate of the Student Television
Network. ALTV broadcasts more
than 100 hours of live program-
ming each year.
Last year the studio traveled
to the national Student Televi-
sion Network conference and
competed against middle schools
from around the country. They
came away with third place.
During spring break the group
will travel to Anaheim, Cali-
fornia, to compete again.
“These are kids I can trust,”
Doherty said. “I can send them
out with a camera and crew, and
for things like the live-streaming
with sports, they pretty much run
it on their own.”
To watch previous ALTV
videos or livestream games, visit
corp.esenetworks.com/oregon.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536.