Blakely Production Studio (BPS) is a student-run club that is in charge of creating and presenting video and audio productions on Channel 6. However, Channel 6 has had a nearly empty programming schedule in recent years. “They cycled through some jazz combos for about a month and then we never watched it again,” Miryam Farrar ’05 said. BPS receives limited funds from Macalester College Student Government (MCSG), but it is unclear where these funds are being directed within the organization.

“Last year’s co-chair only requested funding for posters and food for the first and last meetings,” BPS co-chair Damion Rhudd said. “We are submitting for additional allocation funds this year through FAC. MCSG has committed to helping the TV station get on the move and running and working really well.”

The studio, and nearly all the equipment that BPS utilizes, are owned by the school. All BPS owns is a digital camera and the video recordings of previous broadcasts.

BPS’s main duty is to provide opportunities for students who have an interest in media productions, not to produce television shows for Channel 6, which happens to be the campus-wide network that Macalester provides. There is nothing in the BPS charter that states it is their duty to provide regular television programming for campus viewers. Chas Conway, the current co-chair of BPS, has been doing digital videos for a few years and hopes to be airing some of his short movies over Channel 6 sometime this year

Conway was unable to provide specific data concerning the number of current BPS members.

One of BPS’s concerns is that few members have the time to devote to creating new television shows. Of these concerns, Rhudd said “As of now, the member base isn’t very large. We are currently doing a membership drive.”

Anyone with extra time and some creativity can show productions on Channel 6 without being a member of BPS. There are many people interested in drama, and Conway believes that “it would be great to give them an outlet.”

BPS and Media Services even have the technology to run a campus-wide information network on which organizations could make announcements. The idea for the network was pitched recently, but few people expressed interest in the idea. Additionally, with the equipment they have available, it is possible for BPS to tape band performances, dances, live shows for broadcast. Last year, members volunteered their time to tape a Flying Fingers concert and several other campus events. Conway would love to have regular programming on Channel 6, but as of yet nobody has expressed interest in leading a project.

“We want to broadcast all the cultural shows on campus and all on-campus activities,” Rhudd said. “Media services does a lot of taping on campus and we will be accessing those tapes from their library and broadcasting it very soon.”

Anybody interested in any aspect of media production, such as making costumes, composing music, creating sets or working with lighting should sign up for the mailing list. The studio is filled with high quality equipment which Conway would “really like to see get used.” BPS’s website is www.macalester.edu/~bps. Students should check for announcements about BPS on the tables at Café Mac.