WMJF-LP

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WMJF-LP
(a Class-A station)
Image:Wmjflogo.jpg
Towson / Baltimore, Maryland
Branding Towson's Student Run Television Station
Slogan We Make TV Happen
Channels 16 (UHF) analog,
no digital
Affiliations Independent station / MTV2
Owner Towson University
Founded March 15, 1991
Call letters meaning Michigan J. Frog (from its days as a WB affiliate)
Former affiliations The WB, America One, N1
Website www.towson.edu/wmjf

WMJF-LP is low powered terrestrial television station broadcasting on channel 16 UHF in the Baltimore, Maryland area. Although it bears the legal -LP suffix in its call letters, it is a Class A television station, a slight upgrade from low-power status. The station is owned and operated by Towson University.

In the mid-1990s the station served as the local affiliate for The WB, prior to its move to its current affiliate WNUV. After a brief stint as an America One affiliate, WMJF flipped to MTV2 in 2004. WMJF is also a CNN student bureau and is one of only two in the country.

WMJF-produced programming is generally seen weekday evenings from 5PM to 6PM, and Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights from 9PM to 12 Midnight. Syndicated shows are seen weekdays from 5PM to 7:30PM, with the actual times pending on student-produced programs scheduled; syndicated programming includes a National Lampoon hour block of programming three times a week, and federally-mandated Educational / Informational (E/I) programming for children. All other times are filled with MTV2 programming, especially on weekends and student holidays. A full schedule is found on the station's website.

Contents

[edit] On the Screen

WMJF currently runs a wide variety of programming. News, Sports, and Entertainment are the three main categories of WMJF programming.

[edit] News

  • 16News- WMJF's weekly news program bringing students campus, local, national, and international news that matters to them.

[edit] Sports

  • Towson Sports Weekly- A weekly roundup of all things sports at Towson.
  • Towson Gameday- A show focusing on the ins and outs of Towson football.
  • Full Court Press- Basketball is the focus here with full analysis of every game and previews of the upcoming game.
  • Face Off- Argument gets ugly as campus sports analyists debate local and national sport topics
  • Heatin it Up- WMJF's own Daniel Abraham talks to Towson's sports' all stars and what is heatin him up.

[edit] Entertainment

  • Towson Exposure- Student made film and video projects take center stage in this hour long program showcasing Towson's best and brightest
  • News from the Fringe (On Hiatus)- "When news breaks, we blame the other guy" in this political and news satire show.
  • Civil Disobedience- No one is safe from this brand of sketch comedy
  • College Night- Leno, O'Brien, Letterman; They've got nothing Phil Kessell, Towson's own late night host.
  • Film School - WMJF's first continuous sitcom about the lives of film students.
  • Press Start - Video game review show for the new generation.
  • At the Movies - Movie reviews for the college student.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

WMJF is a 90% student run organization. Under the tutelage of faculty advisors, Dr. John MacKerron and Dr. David Reiss, Towson University students experience not only the production aspects of a television station, but also the day-to-day experiences that running one brings with it.

[edit] The Executive Board

The student leaders of WMJF are the people who are in charge of making station wide decisions to hopefully better the station as a whole. The executive board consists of five elected positions and any other appointed positions that the original five deem necessary to help run the station.

The 2006-2007 Executive Board

  • General Manager: Dr. John MacKerron
  • President (Asst General Manager): Christopher Taydus
  • VP of Production: Diego Torres
  • VP of Programming: Phillip Kessell
  • VP of Human Relations/Resources: Lia Zervos
  • Treasurer: Ryan Dooley

Appointed Positions

  • Director of Marketing: Jennifer Andus
  • Director of Creative Services: Joe Achard
  • Interoffice Manager: Rachel Stevenson
  • Live Broadcast Chief: Joe Achard
WMJF Studio One in the Media Center on the campus of Towson University.
Enlarge
WMJF Studio One in the Media Center on the campus of Towson University.

[edit] Equipment Used

WMJF, while more of a student organization then an actual television, does have some equipment that might rival that of professional affiliate television stations.

[edit] Editing Equipment

  • Two iMac G5 computers each running a copy of Avid Express Pro
  • One Mac G5 Tower running a copy of Avid Express Pro
  • One Mac G3 Tower running a copy of Media100

[edit] Camera Equipment

  • 2 Canon XL-1 Cameras equipped with professional audio (XLR) shoulder mounts
  • 1 Panasonic DVX100A 24P Camera
  • 2 Panasonic DVX100B 24P Cameras
  • 2 JVC GY-DV500 Cameras

[edit] WMJFNow

WMJFNow was launched in August 2006, after a beta run the previous spring. The program is run using Google's Video feature to host the videos. WMJFNow is the creation of webmaster and station president, Christopher Taydus with help from many station members including Josh Eisenberg, Joe Achard, and Diego Torres. It was created to help find a new audience for the station. Taydus was quoted as saying, "I have a friend who goes to Northeastern who has been watching our sitcom 'Film School. We've even had guys from other countries watching."[1] When asked about the numbers that some shows were receiving, Josh Eisenberg said, "In the college television market those are incredible numbers to be receiving. It used to be just a five-mile radius, and now anyone can see it." [1]

[edit] Half-Way There Festival

The Half-Way There Festival is an annual film festival sponsored and hosted by WMJF. It was created by Josh Eisenberg with help from Profesor Greg Faller and Christopher Taydus. It is held December of every year and gets its name from the fact that it's held half way between the previous and the next Media Arts Festival (Towson University's Electronic Media and Film Departments's Annual Film Festival). In a twist on traditional media festival formats, WMJF-TV lets the audience vote to choose the winners at the Half Way There Festival.

[edit] 2006 Half-Way There Festival Winners

Best Narrative and Best in Show Boom from Daniel Tayag, Christopher Taydus, Gregory Sahadachny, and Chris Hanyok

Best Short/Animation The Cleaner from Diego Torres and James M. Gullard

Best Documentary The International Festival from Xiao Xin Chong, Koji Oishi, and Lia Zervos

Best Experimental Chicken Necker from Ethan Meyer

Best TV Show Civil Disobedience from Josh Eisenberg and Noah Belt

Award and Prize declined, so Best TV Show award went to...

Film School from Mike Barroga

[edit] Famous Graduates of WMJF-TV

  • Don Champion- Reporter and Weekend Anchor for WAPT and former Reporter and Weekend Anchor KSNT.
  • Meagan Farley- Producer and Reporter for KSNT.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Technology Briefs. The Towerlight (November 16, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-13.



Broadcast television in the Baltimore market  (Nielsen DMA #24)

WMAR 2 (ABC) - WBAL 11 (NBC) - WJZ 13 (CBS) - WMJF 16 (Ind/MTV2) - WMPT 22 / WMPB 67 (PBS/MPB) - WUTB 24 (MNTV) - WBFF 45 (Fox) - WNUV 54 (The CW)(The Tube on DT2)
Other Television Stations in the state of Maryland

WMJF 16 (Towson, Ind./MTV2) - WJAL 68 (Hagerstown, Ind.)
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, and PBS stations in Maryland
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