Tuesday, April 7, will be a lucky day for the students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder. It聮s the day KCNC-Channel 4 in Denver will deliver equipment worth a half-million dollars to the school.
NEWS 4 is placing six cameras with lenses and recorders and 11 editing decks on permanent loan to the journalism school in Macky Auditorium.
"This means our students will have access to equipment they聮ll be using in the field. It means they聮ll hit the ground running when they step into a career at a station," said Stephen Jones, assistant dean.
"There has always been a special relationship between NEWS 4 and the University of Colorado School of Journalism. We are very pleased to be able to make this equipment available to the future broadcasters at CU," said KCNC general manager Marv Rockford.
Channel 4 personalities Larry Green and Bill Stuart will be among the journalists from the station delivering equipment to CU-Boulder at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, just after the NewsTeam Boulder broadcast. CU President John Buechner and Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny also will attend.
The broadcast-quality equipment will be used by students in the school who work on the twice-weekly newscast and weekly cable magazine show on Boulder Cable Channel 55. There are 150 undergraduate and graduate students studying broadcasting at CU.
"This equipment loan is a continuation of the commitment and generosity of NEWS 4 to the university," said Jones. Last summer, the station helped to create a $150,000 endowed scholarship to honor retiring news anchor Bob Palmer.
"Equipment has been the only weakness in the program," said Tanya Chattman, a broadcast graduate student who lives in Westminster. "And Channel 4 is solving that problem. It聮s going to make a difference for students in the quality of material they聮re able to create," said Chattman, who will graduate with a master of arts degree in May.
The KCNC gift also will help the journalism school upgrade its broadcast coursework for students as part of President Buechner聮s Total Learning Environment initiative.
NOTE: The equipment exchange will take place on the east lawn of Macky Auditorium on the CU-Boulder campus at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held in Folsom Stadium, Gate 7.