PSTV (SUNY Plattsburgh)

Plattsburgh State Television, known as PSTV, is a college television station on the campus of SUNY Plattsburgh in Plattsburgh, New York. The station is completely student run and features only student-produced programming. PSTV is broadcast throughout the campus of SUNY Plattsburgh via CATV on channel 10 and on local Charter Cable on channel 17. Plattsburgh State Television features a management team of more than 20 students, a production crew consisting of over 60 students, and an air schedule of nearly a dozen student produced shows.

History

Student produced television at SUNY Plattsburgh dates back many years earlier, however Plattsburgh State Television officially went on-air in 1978. WCFE, the local PBS station, had been founded just one year earlier and was already operating out of Yokum Hall’s large Studio B, Control Room B, and Master Control. PSTV began its operations with only the smaller Studio A and Control Room A, with Anne Pliscoff as Faculty Advisor and Frank Sorrell as studio manager. Phil Reines and Al Montanaro were also essential in the program’s early development.

To supplement the original broadcasting equipment, second hand equipment was donated from WPTZ in Plattsburgh and New York Network in Albany. Then in the early 1980’s, State Senator Ron Stafford helped PSUC secure a grant of $800,000 from New York State. This was a tremendous boost which drastically improved the program and allowed the department to fully refurbish the entire television facility.

In 1987, WCFE relocated to new broadcast facilities off-campus, allowing PSTV to acquire the larger studio, control room, and master control. This expansion more than doubled PSTV’s broadcast facilities.

In 2003 SUNY Plattsburgh approved an arrangement in which Cardinal Hockey games produced by PSTV students would be broadcast on WCFE. This marked the first over-air broadcasting of PSTV produced programming. With WCFE’s strong signal, PSTV production could be seen by over four million households in New York, Vermont, Quebec, and Ontario.

2005 was another milestone year for the communications department. The year began with SUNY Plattsburgh allocating a $600,000 grant for a long overdue renovation of the television facilities. Immediately after, the State University of New York approved plans to merge the Mass Communication and Speech Communication departments into a new Center of Communication. Plattsburgh would now offer four distinct majors for communication students to specialize in. This was the first program of its kind in New York. Then later in the year Court TV donated more than $100,000 worth of additional equipment to PSTV and the newly formed Center of Communication.

In 2006, PSTV began repurposing its programming on the internet via Google Video.

Alumni

The majority of PSTV students go on to a career behind the scenes, , but many become anchors, reporters, meteorologists, and sportscasters.

Some famous alumni include:
* Dave Annable - Television actor.
* Owen Benjamin - Comedian and actor. Class of (2003). [cite news | last = Gosek | first = Chris | title = Oswego native strikes funny bone in H’wood | publisher = The Palladium-Times | date = April 13, 2008 | url = http://www.palltimes.com/entertainment/x681527682 | accessdate = 2008-10-02] [cite web | title = Owen Benjamin Bio | publisher = Hollywood California Improv | url = http://www.symfonee.com/Improv/hollywood/comedians/Bio.aspx?Uid={7da0c778-c1bb-49ce-9e41-9ff944ab4a51} | accessdate = 2008-10-02 ]
* Stacy Clark - Singer/Songwriter. Class of (2002).
* Dawn Fratangelo - NBC News Correspondent. Class of (1982).
* Tim Singer - Network sports announcer. Class of (1982).

ee also

WQKE A student run FM radio at SUNY Plattsburgh

External links

* [http://www.pstv1017.tv/ Plattsburgh State Television]
* [http://www.plattsburgh.edu/ SUNY Plattsburgh]
* [http://www.pstvalumni.com/ PSTV Alumni]