National Student Television Association

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National Student Television Association
Image:NaSTA Logo.gif
Type National student organisation
Founded 1970s
Headquarters Flag of United Kingdom University of Warwick (2006/7)
Industry Media
Products Broadcasting
Website NaSTA 2007 site

The National Student Television Association or NaSTA is an organisation composed of British student television stations. NaSTA exists to foster communication and collaboration between its member stations, offer support and advice to new stations, and raise the profile of student TV in the UK. It acts as both a hub for the UK student TV community, and as an interface between student TV and the wider broadcast industry.

Contents

[edit] UK Student TV

Student television stations in the UK vary widely in their organisation and makeup. Larger stations own their own studios, whilst some broadcast with little more than a camcorder and a laptop. Some broadcast directly into their university Halls of Residence, many broadcast onto screens in the student union (often strategically located in the bar), and some broadcast exclusively online. NaSTA accommodates stations of all sizes, outputs and budgets in its remit.

[edit] Organisational structure

Every year one of the affiliated stations volunteers to host the awards and takes over the role of administering NaSTA - they take over handling of the finances, communications and promotion for the entire organisation. Currently (2006/7) the host stations are WTV, (Warwick University,) and Guild Television, (Birmingham University.) Since the 2006 conference NaSTA has had a written constitution detailing the responsibilites of the host stations and scope of the organisation.

[edit] Conference and NaSTA awards

NaSTA holds an annual two or three day conference which allows most of the student TV contributors in the UK to get to know each other and learn more about TV production. The conference is composed of talks from industry professionals, seminars on student TV production, and an improvised short film competition known as 'The Golden Bodge'. It culminates in the NaSTA awards dinner.

The NaSTA Awards are judged by industry professionals. Long-standing categories include News and Current Affairs, Light Entertainment, Drama and Video to Music. The award for Best Broadcaster is the premier accolade for a UK student TV station, and competition for the trophy is fierce. Its presentation is the highlight of the conference.

The current judging system replaced the previous academy style system, where NaSTA members would vote amongst themselves for the winner.

[edit] History

Records of the formation of NaSTA are hazy, but the association is thought to have come into being in the 1970s when a conference was held in Plymouth. Early NaSTA conferences were very informal, and the awards were judged through a vote amongst the member stations.

The earliest web-based records of a NaSTA conference date from the 1995 conference, when the member stations were, BTV, CTV, GUST, GTV, LUST, Nexus, STOIC and YSTV.

Since the mid-90's the number of member stations has steadily increased as low-cost digital video equipment has made producing student television far easier. The 2000 NaSTA conference, hosted by Bournemouth, set the template for modern conferences with professional judging and contributions from the industry.

[edit] Member Stations

Most stations broadcast somewhere on their own university campus and most broadcast online as well, either via in-house streaming or by online video hosting sites, such as YouTube. Below are details of every affiliate station. Most stations focus on magazine style review and news programming, whilst relatively few produce scripted comedy or drama.

[edit] GUST

GUST is the station of the University of Glasgow and the only Nasta affiliate based in Scotland. GUST is the oldest of the Nasta stations and its founding actually predates several national tv stations.[1] GUST effectively ran Nasta when many other stations collapsed during the 1980s[citation needed]. It has several long established programmes, which are the core of its schedule, and uses studio facilities at Glasgow University Media Services.

[edit] LS:TV

LS:TV is based at the University of Leeds, and is one of the newer stations in NaSTA. The station broadcasts a diverse range of programming having one of the largest outputs of any NaSTA Station. The station has enjoyed considerable success at the NaSTA awards with its scripted comedy.

[edit] LSUTV

LSUTV is the station of Loughborough University. The University's strong media background has allowed this station to grow quickly and LSUTV have already established a relatively diverse range of programming. Amongst its most popular shows are light entertainment programmes based around the union club nights, the leading amongst these being 'Totty TV'.

[edit] LUST

LUST is the student TV station of the University of Leicester which, like De Montfort University's Demon TV, is based in Leicester. LUST prides itself on being 'nights out specialists', producing series such as 'Shag TV' (ULSU's official club night every Monday at Zanzibar), and it's award winning 'FerretVision' (coverage of Friday nights 'Madfer-it' at the ULSU). They also cover a range of union events, that have worked closely with RAG to raise money for charity and plan future events.

[edit] Matt'N'Ian TV

Matt'N'Ian TV is a Bournemouth based television station focused around Matthew Waite and Ian Roe. Matt'N'Ian TV joined NaSTA for the 2007 conference, and was formally Titled BuffTV until December 2006. The station broadcasts via the internet using custom software titled the BuffTV Media Encoder and programming is comedy centric. Matt'N'Ian TV is broadcast live from the pairs flat and it is not unusual for them to receive 200-700 live viewers per episode. This station uses the least amount of physical hardware with most of the technology software based. The station is also noted for having the least amount of members - just two.

[edit] Nerve* Television

Nerve* Television is the station of the Students' Union Bournemouth University. Its programming is based around a fortnightly live studio show, 'Top of the Pile', a fun packed game show also showing the latest student films. Other programmes include CSI:BU, Nerve*Cast, and Nerve* Centre. Nerve* Televisions main output is through a network of TV's on campus and halls, and also through podcasting.

[edit] Nexus UTV

Based at the University of East Anglia, Nexus was founded in 1969 using resources from the University's (then) new Audio Visual Centre. Programming includes music and magazine-style shows, comedy and a weekly news show.

[edit] Stoic TV

Imperial College plays host to STOIC (Student Television Of Imperial College), who broadcast on the South Kensington campus. Stoic's output is wide-ranging (though total output is no greater than most NaSTA stations), including comedy, news, entertainment and events coverage.

[edit] Warwick Television

Warwick Television is the station of University of Warwick. WTV, similarly to LS:TV, has put a strong focus on scripted programming, its flagship programme being Saved. Similarly to LS:TV, this station has one of the larger outputs of a NaSTA station. WTV is the co-host station of the Nasta conference this year, building upon its involvement with the Warwick Student Arts Festivals.

[edit] XTV

XTV (recently rebranded 'xtvonline') is the station at the University of Exeter. Founded in 1990, it broadcasts in the Student's Union on the university's Streatham campus. In the past few years it has placed emphasis on building a strong web presence, and all programmes are broadcast online. Programming is currently geared towards magazine-style and entertainment shows, but in previous years a few comedy and drama programmes have been made.

[edit] YSTV

YSTV (York Student Television) is the station of University of York. YSTV has a strong technical background compared to the other NaSTA stations. This technical proficiency has seen YSTV become the first NaSTA station to stream their content online[2] and Produce animated shorts.

[edit] Other affiliated stations

[edit] Non-affiliated student TV stations

The stations below are run by students, but not affiliated to NaSTA.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Guardian University Guide, October 2006,
  2. ^ BBC News article, January 2006

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../n/a/t/National_Student_Television_Association_b887.html"