By Scott Atwell
FSU Communications Group
You could call it a cross between MTV and C-Span.
Since FSU's educational access channel premiered in February on Comcast
Cable outlets in North Florida, viewers have been watching everything from
live broadcasts of the Florida Legislature to alumni features, campus dedications
and even an FSU baseball game.
Located on Comcast's channel 47, a reference to FSU's founding in 1947,
the new channel is called "Class at 47."
"We use the word class in the title not only as a definition of the
kind of programming we will feature, but also the quality," said FSU
President Sandy D'Alemberte.
The university has become a partner in providing statewide, gavel-to-gavel
coverage of the 1996 legislative session, with "Class at 47" serving
as master control and as the only place to watch the Legislature live in
Tallahassee.
When the Legislature is not in session, daytime hours are filled with Public
Broadcasting System (PBS) programs. Local programs, some produced by communication
students, will be shown in the evenings.
"We really see this channel as a learning laboratory for our students,"
says channel manager Donna Gabrielle, a 1990 FSU graduate. "Communications
students will be counted on to work every area of the channel, from master
control to field and studio production."
The College of Communication has created a new faculty position to supervise
the students' projects, which will range from call-in shows to drama. With
most of the campus linked by fiber-optic cable to the cable channel's control
room at WFSU-TV, programs have the potential to be carried live. By fall,
meteorology students could be providing nightly weathercasts from their
studio in the Love Building.
"Class at 47" is part of FSU's quest to become a leader in distance
learning.
"What has really interested the viewers is the potential for taking
for-credit courses in their living rooms," says Gabrielle, who is completing
her master's thesis in distance learning.