Students Learn New Lessons Working Live Red Hawk Sports Network Broadcast

The beauty of live television and streaming broadcasts is that there is always something to learn and no two productions are ever the same. During last year’s live homecoming broadcast, the Red Hawk Sports Network (RHSN) team faced torrential downpours throughout the day and during the football game, leading to valuable lessons for the student-led crew. 

This year, the weather for homecoming was just the opposite, as sunny skies and warm temperatures made things much easier for the team of 40 students that produced a five-hour live pregame show leading up to the football team’s game vs. Wilkes University. 

Although there isn’t much a production team can do to simulate bad weather other than to experience it, the students were able to focus on other aspects of the broadcast this year. The key lesson students learned this fall after last year’s challenging experience? Preparation is key. 

Junior production intern Phil Ehlers, directing his first broadcast after two years on the crew, said “It was almost confusing and a little unnerving how prepared we were. No rushed edits or major fire drills in the days and hours leading up to the game. We had plenty of practice and that showed in the product,” said Ehlers. The crew began preparing for the show in July, which featured nine cameras, a full control room with EVS systems, and multiple live segments. 

Senior Heidy Carranza Alvarado said that the opportunity to work with professional-grade equipment through Montclair’s partnership with Sony and its EVS cameras (the industry standard for live sports broadcasts) made the experience even more valuable. “It was a surreal experience, as my EVS team and I were able to not only improve on our skills but also learn different ways of using live action replay on the spot,” said Alvarado. 

Professor Stacy Gitlin, coordinating producer of the RHSN for the fifth year, said with many students now in their second or third year on the event and her own hands-on experience working with the University’s Broadcast Media and Operations team of engineers, she was able to provide strong guidance to the students. “The experience and peer leadership have grown the event into a professional product,” said Gitlin. “Students who work on this broadcast and other RHSN games are better equipped to land an internship or job in whatever they want to do, whether it’s play-by-play, camera work, lighting, graphics or producing.”

This is the third straight year RHSN students have produced a live, “Game Day” style broadcast modeled after the popular ESPN program that airs live every Saturday during college football season. In addition to the direction provided by Professor Gitlin, Professor Vernard Gantt, Professor Bryan DeNovellis and Professor Kelly Whiteside mentored the team before and during the broadcast. 

The next live show the RHSN crew produces will be a historical one, as the team is planning a pre-game show before a Women’s Flag Football game in the spring. Women’s Flag Football, which is rising in popularity with backing from the NFL and is set to become an Olympic Sport in 2028, is Montclair’s 19th varsity team. 

Story by: Amanda Saintina

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About the College of Communication and Media: The College of Communication and Media (CCOM) offers a range of dynamic programs to a talented and diverse student population of over 2,000. Offering degrees in advertising, animation and visual effects, communication and media studies, film and television, journalism and digital media, social media and public relations, sports communication and an online, asynchronous MA devoted to strategic communication and media, the College prepares the next generation of communication and media practitioners and leaders. Founded in 2012 and housed in world-class, state-of-the-art facilities just 12 miles from New York City, the College is the only program in the country that offers the following opportunities for students: a radio station (WMSC), newspaper (The Montclarion), strategic communications agency (Hawk Communications), sports network (Red Hawk Sports Network) streaming platform (Hawk+), digital newsroom (News Lab) and studio, and a social media listening center (Joetta DiBella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication). The College also has a Career Services team dedicated to preparing students for the internship and job search process. Student projects and programs have recently received national recognition from PRSSA’s Bateman Competition, an Edward R. Murrow Award, several Marconi Award nominations, and College Television Awards (“Student Emmy” awards) from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The College is also home to the Center for Cooperative Media, which serves the public by working to grow and strengthen local journalism and media. Through $7.1M in grants awarded over the last five years, the Center focuses on collaboration in journalism, media equity, media coaching and training, civic science and research. The Center is also home to the NJ Civic Information Consortium, the largest funder of media and journalism in  New Jersey, granting more than $10M over the last five years to support independent local media, journalism and training initiatives.