The Harrington Broadcast studio continues to evolve in its development. |Photo by Grace DeSanti
Although the new broadcast studio for the Harrington School of Communication and Media was scheduled to open in January 2019, the studio still remains unopen today.
It was not the intention to delay the opening, but as the studio is a $1.25 million project, renovations such as this one can take time to evolve, according to the University of Rhode Island’s Director of Capital Projects, Paul DePace.
“What happened was better for the studio in the long term because we found some ways that could improve the setup so it’s a better studio,” said DePace. “It took time to precure that equipment and get it installed.”
The crew worked with outside contractors which only furthered the delay. Jeff Fountain is the broadcast studio manager and believes that although the delay is not ideal, it is worth it in the long-run.
“We all got together and realized that there were things we could do with the broadcast center that would make it better without costing more money,” said Fountain.
The broadcast studio is located in Chafee Hall right next to the academic testing center, another reason for the delay. “Part of working in the studio space is making sure we’re sensitive to the students in the testing center while doing construction.” said Schane Tallardy, the project manager.
Tallardy adds that with any renovation project, running into issues are inevitable.
“We had some delays in getting permitting and things like that,” Tallardy said. “ It was also important for us to be sensitive to what is going around us in the building.”
With more high tech, current technology, the studio is supposed to be state-of-the-art and cutting edge.
“It has a lot of components specifically customized for URI and the Harrington School that we’ve been waiting on that are getting delivered and have been delivered,” said Adam Roth, the director of the Harrington School.
Roth added that the equipment for the students, that the school wants to train students on, is industry standard. Two classes were supposed to take place in the broadcast studio this semester.
“The team is concerned that the students got disadvantaged,” said DePace.
Once the broadcast studio is open, students who were supposed to have classes there will be offered free workshops next semester, exclusively to them.
For now, in lieu of not being able to use the center, the Introduction to Studio Production class that was supposed to be using the studio has gone on field trips to studios such as CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX and PBS for behind the scenes tours.
“We probably wouldn’t be able to do those trips if the studio was up and running,” said Fountain, who teaches the class. “I think we may make those trips as part of the course.”
Roth adds that the new studio is going to be better than even some of the professional studios that Fountain has been to with his students. The space will have a really high lighting grid and a brand new custom news desk with a set behind it.
“When you go to a local TV station, they have lighting that never changes.” said Fountain. “They just turn on the lights because they eliminated the lighting director position and, really, the entire arena of creative television production because there is just no money for it. How do you get the skills needed for top broadcast studios such as the ones in New York or Los Angeles if local studio studios don’t offer that?”
With the broadcast studio, the Harrington School is moving away from a focus on television to instead focus on multimedia content production that can be distributed to different media platforms.
“Our content will be YouTube ready and that’s why our studio is so complex, it will be able to stream live,” said Fountain.
The Broadcast Studio is now expected to be open by April 6, just in time for URI’s first Welcome Day for prospective students.