Visit the D.P. Culp Student Center, and make sure you stop by the Student Media Center on the second floor in suite 240. I’m biased because the East Tennessean is now located in the center, but I think our new location will benefit the whole campus.
The Student Media Center is open to everyone in the ETSU community. We have people ready to help with digital media projects, including video, photo and audio. While we’re waiting on some of the technology, eventually we’ll also have a green screen room and an editing lab. Additionally, the space is a great spot to sit, charge your laptop and hang out between classes.
As I said, our newspaper is already cranking out the written word twice a week in the space, but our friends at The Edge 89.5 HD4, our student radio station, are targeted to join us in the fall. The radio will have two studio spaces, which everyone will be able to view through glass windows or by touring the center. For now, The Edge 89.5 HD4 is played in our lobby area.
Our new location, for the East Tennessean and student media in general, will have a significant impact on ETSU. Before renovations, the East Tennessean was located in the Culp, but we were in an outside-facing office. Students in the Culp really did not get a look into what we are doing. Then we moved to the CPA during renovations, and I would guess that many students did not know we were located there.
Now we are visible to the student body. People can drop in and hang out. If they’re interested in joining the newspaper, they can actually find our office easily and meet our staff. Our production space has a wall that is completely glass, so people can see us designing the paper every Wednesday and Sunday.
Additionally, I’m excited for The Edge 89.5 HD4 to move in. Though you cannot tell right now, their space will also have glass walls, making it possible to see DJs live on the air. It will also make our news collaboration, The ET Echo, that much easier to record.
Finally, it’s vital for student media to be housed at the heart of campus. We need to be central to campus events. We need to be somewhere that students can find us and give us news tips. We need people to realize student media is beneficial to the campus.
If you’re in the Culp, please come explore the Student Media Center. We’re extraordinarily proud of it, and I think I speak for every East Tennessean staff member past and present when I say we needed this space.
