WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., March 6, 2017 — The Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament won by the Hilltoppers yesterday in a thrilling final game against Fairmont, not only offers athletes a chance to shine, it offers students in the WLU-TV14 production crew a chance to up their professional game.
Marty Engle, Kyle Lindsey, Trent Nicholson and Chad Richards were the four students hired by Metro News, which was in charge of the media production for the MEC Tournament, held at the Charleston Civic Center from Wednesday through Sunday, March 1 – 5, 2017.
“This was wonderful experience for our students. Each of them were excited to have a chance to work this professional tournament and learned so much. It is invaluable for them,” said Theresa Gretchen, executive director of WLU-TV. “We are grateful to MEC Commissioner Reid Amos and all the professionals at Metro News for using our students and providing them with this important opportunity.”
Some of the duties the students performed include running stats, filming the games, organizing broadcast elements, assisting at all press conferences and performing social media duties.
Senior Trent Nicholson worked for Metro News during the weekend schedule that included 20 teams and 18 games total. Both the top 10 men’s and top 10 women’s teams competed during the five day competition.
“This was an unbelievable experience for me as a student to get to work with a professional production company like MetroNews. It is more than rewarding to see my work on live TV at this level,” said Nicholson.
Chad Richards, sophomore from Parkersburg, W.Va., said that most of his duties included helping with press conferences, running stats to coaches during game media time outs and filming the game.
“I think the best moment was during the championship game as I ran stats at media time-outs, to be that close to the action was amazing. I know I can apply these skills to wherever my career takes me. It was a great experience,” Richards said. He hopes to go into sports production at the college level.
Junior Marty Engle expressed his thrill at working the competition by saying, “It was so important to have this chance and to work in a professional setting for a large tournament event. I am grateful to the MEC management for using us.”
Senior Kyle Lindsey had the chance to work the conference tournament once before and agreed, “It’s an amazing opportunity. I learned so much and enjoyed seeing how things have changed and grown since my last time being there.”
Gretchen and Senior Producer/Engineer Jared Thompson, both WLU graduates, work full-time as the staff members of WLTV and mentor the broadcast students throughout their college careers.
Besides the television studio located in the WLU Media Arts Center, WLU-TV 14 also includes a full high definition production studio truck for travel.
WLU-TV 14 is part of the College of Arts and Communication and offers five communication majors and two minors. For more information on WLU, please call 1.866.WESTLIB or visit westliberty.edu.