WVTV (Villanova)

VTV
Villanova, Pennsylvania
Branding Villanova Television
Channels Analog: 17 (Villanova Cable Network)
Owner Villanova University
Founded 1999
Website www3.villanova.edu/wvtv/

Villanova Television (VTV) is a Student television station within Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The channel is only available through the on campus cable TV network.

VTV provides coverage of campus events, news, political debates and discussion, short films, and original drama to students and faculty. The station also creates a new orientation video each year, which has become a focal point of annual freshman orientation.

History

In the fall semester of 1999, a group of students met in the commuter lounge of the Connelly Center for the regular meeting of the Villanova TV Production Club, which had officially been in existence for about a year. The club had a small office which housed its mediocre equipment. Programming could be viewed on the closed-circuit university cable system, but there was no means for programming to be played through the transmitter.

New equipment was purchased and the group reorganized to give members more creative freedom. An executive board was elected, and the club's name was officially changed to VTV. In 2000, the name of the station changed to WVTV, although the original logo with VTV remained. That fall, the official name of the station was changed to WVTV.

WVTV expanded in 2002 into a larger studio/editing space. A political debate show,The Villa-No Spin Zone, was introduced and became a staple of WVTV programming. In 2003, the station acquired a new digital editing system and produced its first DVD, an orientation video for freshmen. Other projects were created to take advantage of the modern technology. During the 2004-2005 school year, the station moved twice before taking up its current studio.

2006 brought equipment failures, including old broadcast hardware, which crippled WVTV's ability to generate good programming. The breakdown led to a drop in student participation, and only the most committed members remained by the end of the academic year. Those students became the nucleus of the current executive board, who are working to restore the station to its place as a campus mainstay. New broadcast equipment was installed in September 2007, and in November 2007 the group purchased a new Mac Pro editing suite, complete with Final Cut Studio 2.

A campaign began in 2008 to revive WVTV, and within two weeks of beginning this campaign, membership increased to over twenty people. With a new Executive Board in place, VTV restructured many of the elements of station, creating a more stable and productive organization. Currently, VTV is expanding its programming with a variety of new shows in many genres, including cooking, news talk and opinion, and sci-fi, along with a series of short films.

Programming history

Archived programming

Current programming

Current shows

General managers

See also