Liberty University’s School of Communication & the Arts is adding a new control room for Digital Media & Journalism students in Green Hall.
John Rost, department chair of Digital Media & Journalism, is overseeing this new project which will directly benefit students in classes such as DIGI 310, The Digital Producer, and DIGI 370, Studio Production.
These courses provide students with the opportunity to learn and practice their skills in live studio broadcasting. The addition of a new control room is expected to elevate those opportunities.
“(At the) end of 2024, we put in a very large LED wall into our studio A. This is used for virtual production, XR production, pretty much any kind of production that we want to do, whether it’s a news desk or an interview set or even a camping scene like we did over the summer with our MFA students,” Rost said.
Control rooms are a crucial component of the live production process, as they are a place where important technical decisions are made. Control rooms are made up of audio, video, graphics, a technical director, a director and a producer to ensure a seamless workflow and clean broadcast.
“We did those upgrades in the studio, and so this control room matches what we did in the studio by having an Ultra HD control room. It allows us to handle different workflows … It really gives us the flexibility that a typical broadcast control room may not,” Rost said.
When construction on the room is completed, it will not only help the students in the Digital Media & Journalism degree program but also bolster the Liberty Broadcast Experience (LBX). LBX provides hands-on experience for students, no matter their degree, with live sports broadcasts.
New custom-built desks are one of the biggest additions being made to the control room. This advancement will provide students with an industry standard environment and allow them to grow in their professional careers.
“We wanted to have a space that that works differently. … These desks are custom in the sense that we can raise and lower them to whatever height the user needs to be sitting at or standing,” Rost said. “So, we can better support … long times of broadcasting by giving the user the flexibility to be comfortable in their space.”
The studio provides the students with high-tech broadcast tools for each individual position during a live broadcast. This improvement will give the students the opportunity to add important, field-relevant skills to their resumes. The department plans to have the new control room finished for when students come back to campus after fall break.
Cuthrell and Bingaman are news writers for the Liberty Champion.