TV Grows Up Fast at UMBC
“Quiet on the set, please!” will soon be a familiar refrain at UMBC. Retirement Living Television (RLTV), America’s first network devoted exclusively to people age 55 and over, recently gave the University’s on-campus TV studio a $1.3 million dollar upgrade and has begun offering students hands-on experience behind the scenes of nationally broadcast programs.
RLTV began as a media offshoot of Erickson Retirement Communities and has since grown to reach over 26 million U.S. households through DirecTV and Comcast. RLTV produces two of its programs – “The Voice” and a yet-to-be-named advocacy show – at the revamped UMBC studio. The network will eventually broadcast from a new $20 million TV production and information technology facility at bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park.
The campus community is invited to celebrate UMBC’s partnership with RLTV on Friday Feb. 16 from noon to 2 p.m. at a studio open house featuring UMBC president Freeman Hrabowski, Erickson founder and CEO John Erickson and RLTV president Brad Knight. UMBC communication faculty and students will be on hand as RLTV production staff demonstrate the studio’s capabilities and discuss the programs produced there. The studios are located on the second and third floors of Academic IV, A Wing.
“The new studio and the new relationship with RLTV are already creating amazing opportunities for students studying media and communication to do hands-on creative and technical work in the field,” said Jason Loviglio, associate professor of American studies and coordinator of media and communication initiatives. “We’re lucky to have this exciting new resource right here on campus.”
The first crop of UMBC student interns is eager to get to work. For sophomore English/political science major and Humanities Scholar Adrienne Hawkins, the RLTV studio offers a chance to expand communication skills she developed through her high school’s TV program and as a writer for The Retriever Weekly student newspaper. “I would like to eventually run a successful television show, and this internship would be a step in the right direction,” she said.
“The RLTV staff always welcomes those eager to learn and help in the process,” said RLTV studio engineer Sophia Manos. “We hope it turns into a symbiotic relationship for RLTV, the Erickson communities and the UMBC media programs,” she said.
Cathryna Brown, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, is also looking forward to connecting with RLTV. Both Brown and Hawkins are working towards completion of the certificate in Communication and Media Studies.
Brown and other students recently worked with UMBC’s New Media Studio to create digital video illustrations of stories told by residents of Charlestown, an Erickson Retirement Community located near UMBC.
“The Digital Stories project allowed us to come together and communicate on a level that’s rare in today’s world,” said Bill Shewbridge, manager/producer of the New Media Studio. “Several students have described the relationships they have built with the residents as ‘timeless,’ which sums up the spirit of the project well.”
“I’m very excited to be a part of programming that will potentially bridge the gap between children, their parents and grandparents,” said Brown.
For more information on the RLTV Studio or the open house event, please contact Kathy Raab at 443-610-0028 or kraab@rl.tv.
(2/9/07)
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