WMJF-LP

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WMJF-LP
"(a Class-A station)"
station_
station_slogan = We Make TV Happen
station_branding = "Towson's Student Run Television Station"
analog = 16 (UHF)
digital = no
affiliations = Independent station / MTV2
founded = March 15, 1991
location = Towson / Baltimore, Maryland
callsign_meaning = Michigan J. Frog (from its days as a WB affiliate)
owner = Towson University
former_affiliations = The WB, America One, N1
homepage = [http://www.towson.edu/wmjf www.towson.edu/wmjf]

WMJF-LP is low powered terrestrial television station broadcasting on channel 16 UHF in the Baltimore, Maryland area. Although it bears the legal "-LP" suffix in its call letters, it is a Class A television station, a slight upgrade from low-power status. The station is owned and operated by Towson University. It became the last station in Baltimore to sign on, when it did in 1991.

In the mid-1990s the station served as the local affiliate for The WB, until its move to WNUV in January 1998. After a brief stint as an America One affiliate, WMJF flipped to MTV2 in 2004. WMJF is also a CNN student bureau and is one of only two in the country.

WMJF-produced programming is generally seen weekday evenings from 5PM to 6PM, and Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights from 9PM to 12 Midnight. Syndicated shows are seen weekdays from 5PM to 7:30PM, with the actual times pending on student-produced programs scheduled; syndicated programming includes a National Lampoon hour block of programming three times a week, and federally-mandated Educational / Informational (E/I) programming for children. All other times are filled with MTV2 programming, especially on weekends and student holidays. A full schedule is found on the station's website.

On the Screen

WMJF currently runs a wide variety of programming. News, Sports, and Entertainment are the three main categories of WMJF programming.

News

*16News- WMJF's weekly news program bringing students campus, local, national, and international news that matters to them.

ports

*Towson Sports Weekly- A weekly roundup of all things sports at Towson.
*Towson Gameday- A show focusing on the ins and outs of Towson football.
*Full Court Press- Basketball is the focus here with full analysis of every game and previews of the upcoming game.
*Face Off- Argument gets ugly as campus sports analyists debate local and national sport topics
*Heatin it Up- WMJF's own Daniel Abraham talks to Towson's sports' all stars and what is heatin him up.

Entertainment

*Towson Exposure- Student made film and video projects take center stage in this hour long program showcasing Towson's best and brightest
*News from the Fringe- "When news breaks, we blame the other guy" in this political and news satire show.
*Civil Disobedience- No one is safe from this brand of sketch comedy
*College Night- Leno, O'Brien, Letterman; They've got nothing Phil Kessell, Towson's own late night host.
*Film School - WMJF's first continuous sitcom about the lives of film students.
*Press Start - Video game review show for the new generation.
*At the Movies - Movie reviews for the college student.
*A.R.G. (Alternate Reality Game)- Narrative based show chronicling the mystery behind an ARG that is brought to campus. "It's more fun when it starts feeling realer than real."

Behind the Scenes

WMJF is a 90% student run organization. Under the tutelage of faculty advisors, Dr. John MacKerron and Dr. David Reiss, Towson University students experience not only the production aspects of a television station, but also the day-to-day experiences that running one brings with it.

The Executive Board

The student leaders of WMJF are the people who are in charge of making station wide decisions to hopefully better the station as a whole. The executive board consists of five elected positions and any other appointed positions that the original five deem necessary to help run the station.

The 2006-2007 Executive Board
*General Manager: Dr. John MacKerron
*Technical Advisor: Dr. David Reiss
*President (Asst General Manager): Christopher Taydus
*VP of Production: Diego Torres
*VP of Programming: Phillip Kessell
*VP of Human Relations/Resources: Lia Zervos
*Treasurer: Ryan DooleyAppointed Positions
*Co-Directors of Marketing: Allison Dobyns, Mike Laidley, and Sarah Craft (Under the supervision of Alumni Advisor Jennifer Andus)
*Co-Directors of Creative Services: Steve Kleuver (Under the supervision of Alumni Advisor Joe Achard)
*Interoffice Manager: Rachel Stevenson
*Live Broadcast Chief: Ryan Dooley

2007-2008 Executive Board

Following an election on March 14, 2007 and a subsequent run-off election on March 28, 2007, a new executive board for the 2007-2008 school year was chosen. These new officers will technically take control of the station after WMJF's annual gala on May 12, 2007.

*President (Assistant General Manager): Fernando Madrigal
*VP of Production: Steven Kleuver (decided via 3/28/2007 run-off election)
*VP of Programming: Milous Mayes Jr.
*VP of Human Relations/Resources: Sara Brutto
*Treasurer: Jessi Baroody

Equipment Used

WMJF, while more of a student organization then an actual television, does have some equipment that might rival that of professional affiliate television stations.

Editing Equipment

*Two iMac G5 computers each running a copy of Avid Express Pro
*One Mac G5 Tower running a copy of Avid Express Pro
*One Mac G3 Tower running a copy of Media100

Camera Equipment

*2 Canon XL-1 Cameras equipped with professional audio (XLR) shoulder mounts
*1 Panasonic DVX100A 24P Camera
*2 Panasonic DVX100B 24P Cameras
*2 JVC GY-DV500 Cameras

WMJFNow

WMJFNow was launched in August 2006, after a beta run the previous spring. The program is run using Google's Video feature to host the videos. WMJFNow is the creation of webmaster and station president, Christopher Taydus with help from many station members including Josh Eisenberg, Joe Achard, and Diego Torres. It was created to help find a new audience for the station. Taydus was quoted as saying, "I have a friend who goes to Northeastern who has been watching our sitcom 'Film School. We've even had guys from other countries watching." When asked about the numbers that some shows were receiving, Josh Eisenberg said, "In the college television market those are incredible numbers to be receiving. It used to be just a five-mile radius, and now anyone can see it." cite web
url = http://www.thetowerlight.com/media/storage/paper957/news/2006/11/16/Technology/Technology.Briefs-2463210.shtml?norewrite200612131158&sourcedomain=www.thetowerlight.com
title = Technology Briefs
accessdate = 2006-12-13
date = November 16, 2006
publisher = The Towerlight]

Half-Way There Festival

The Half-Way There Festival is an annual film festival sponsored and hosted by WMJF. It was created by Josh Eisenberg with help from Christopher Taydus and Profesor Greg Faller. It is held December of every year and gets its name from the fact that it's held half way between the previous and the next Media Arts Festival (Towson University's Electronic Media and Film Department's Annual Film Festival). In a twist on traditional media festival formats, WMJF-TV lets the audience vote to choose the winners at the Half Way There Festival.

2006 Half-Way There Festival Winners

Best Narrative and Best in Show"Boom"from Daniel Tayag, Christopher Taydus, Gregory Sahadachny, and Chris Hanyok

Best Short/Animation"The Cleaner"from Diego Torres and James M. Gullard

Best Documentary"The International Festival"from Xiao Xin Chong, Koji Oishi, and Lia Zervos

Best Experimental"Chicken Necker"from Ethan Meyer

Worst TV Show"Civil Disobedience"from Josh Eisenberg and Noah Belt

Award and Prize declined, so Best TV Show award went to...

"Film School"from Mike Barroga

Notable Graduates of WMJF-TV

*Darnay Tripp - Sport Anchor/Reporter for KCFW.
*Ryan Dooley - Sales & Marketing Executive for WMAR-TV.
*Samantha Heringer - Associate Producer for Retirement Living Television.
*Dana Kratchman - Production Assistant for Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia.
*Daniel Tayag - Producer for Legal New TV.
*Bob Castrone - Co-Producer of The Post Show
*Don Champion - Reporter and Weekend Anchor for WAPT and former Reporter and Weekend Anchor KSNT.
*Jenelle [Bosler] Smith - Anchor/Reporter for WHTM in Harrisburg, PA.
*Meagan Farley - Anchor/Reporter for KSNT.
*Sean Kobrin - Supervisor of Video Production for SIMmersion, LLC.
*Dave Lundin - Executive Producer, Scoreboard Operations for Washington Nationals
*Dan McPartland - NBA TV
*Derrick Rose - Morning Reporter for WAVY-TV and former Reporter/Anchor for WJTV.
*Mark Smith - Video Specialist for SIMmersion, LLC.
*Michele Meyd - Senior Producer for The People's Court of Ralph Edwards / Stu Billett Productions .
*David Brown - Host of the [http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drblogstein Radio Happy Hour]
*Pablo Sainz - Technical Director/Technician for WBAL-TV in Baltimore, MD. A NBC affiliate.
*Chris Datres - Associate Producer, Golf Central, Golf Channel
*Chris Resnick - Senior Video Editor / Entertainment Producer, WBFF-TV

External links

* [http://www.towson.edu/wmjf/ WMJF website]
*TVQ|WMJF-LP

References