Mass communication students to work with ESPN3 next spring

Nicholls State University students of Mass Communication will have the opportunity to work with ESPN through live broadcast of on-campus sporting events starting in the spring of 2017.

After closing a three-year deal with ESPN, Nicholls Athletics and the Department of Mass Communication are jointly organizing a project that will involve student participation.

The project is in the preliminary stages and students are currently being encouraged to fill out an online application in which they can apply for eight different positions for the ESPN3 & Game Day Live Production Team.

Initially, Mass Communication students from all majors can take part in the project. According to Lance Arnold, assistant professor of mass communication and chairman of broadcast communications, the selection will be based on student’s resume and experiences in the field.

“The students can be from any major, but it is recommended that they enrolled in broadcast classes,” Arnold said. “We are going to gear some of the classes towards teaching students to work with production related to that specific project in the future.”

The available positions include producer, tech director, audio controller, camera operator, main replay operator, replay tagger, stage manager and video board operator.

“There are only two positions that won’t be occupied by students,” Arnold said. “Corey O’Quinn will be the director, and Bryant Johnson who is currently the voice of the Colonels will continue doing the voice.”

Students interested in working with ESPN and the Department of Mass Communication can indicate up to three positions choices in the application. About 20 students will be needed to run the operations once the project starts.

“We teach as much as we can about real world situation in the television studio, but unlike KNSU and the Nicholls Worth, the television station is not a real world media outlet,” Arnold said. “The students will get the experience of working with ESPN, within the quality patterns that ESPN demands.”

Guidelines and details for the academic aspects of the deal are still a work in progress, but as of now the students will be working for ESPN.

“I was shocked when I was offered the opportunity to participate in the games’ broadcast with ESPN during the winter,” Erik Vinnet, mass communication major from St. Rose said. “I think it will help me a lot to get experience working behind the scenes with sound and video editing.”

Starting with the coverage of selected basketball games next year, the students will participate in the live coverage of all home conference volleyball and basketball games. The project will further include games from the 2018 football and baseball seasons.

Arnold believes that the ESPN agreement, along with the new television studio and the complete renovation of KNSU radio will help with student recruitment for the Department of Mass Communication.
The NTW television station will be renamed KNSU TV and all athletics venues on campus will be fiber-wired to there.

“KNSU will probably still do some radio portions of the game, and through KNSU TV, we will be able to control the cameras and direct all broadcasts from Talbot hall.”

ESPN3 & Game Day Live Production Team applications can be found on Nicholls website at https://www.nicholls.edu/applyespn3/