A lot can change in ten years — especially in the world of media and communication, when trends and technology can determine whether careers, shows and even entire companies sink or swim. Knowing how difficult it can be to maintain a relevant and thoughtful media station over the course of a decade makes TUTV even more spectacular, as Temple University Television (TUTV), Temple University’s digital cable station, reached that milestone by celebrating ten years on the air on October 1, 2020.
TUTV was made possible by a $1.2 million donation from the Kal and Lucille Rudman Foundation to Klein College of Media and Communication in May of 2010. In just five months, the station was up and running, serving as a launching point for generations of students to pass through on their way to thriving careers in television, broadcast, production and so many other opportunities unfathomable at the start of it all.
“When we clicked the mouse on a computer in our TUTV master control a decade ago, launching our citywide cable channel, I had no idea of how many talented, smart students would come forward to work on the engaging and entertaining programs that have populated our broadcast schedule over these years,” says Paul Gluck, TUTV’s general manager and associate professor of practice in the Department of Media Studies and Production at Klein.
The station broadcasts within the City of Philadelphia on Comcast digital cable channel 50 and Verizon channel 45. Over the years, it has been the home of Temple-related news, sports and informational programs; culture and lifestyle talk shows; educational material and movies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, TUTV launched the Temple TV Kid's Club, a children's block of educational content and segments for parents meant to help local families manage virtual learning. In 2020, they added Temple Moment, an all-Mandarin newsbrief, to Temple Update, allowing students to now broadcast the news in three languages. For its variety of innovative content, TUTV received 16 nominations in the college/university production category at the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmys.
“Seeing so many of them earn their place among the next generation of media professionals has been my privilege and my pleasure,” says Gluck. “I am always reminded that the most important thing we offer to students at TUTV is opportunity. Watching them seize the moment and succeeding is electrifying.”
TUTV students and alumni have gone on to do amazing things during their time at Klein and beyond. For instance, junior media studies and production major Nic Uff is currently a booking intern at CBS This Morning, where he secures interviews and hunts down stories for the show.
“TUTV has not only given me the skills to go on and get competitive, network internships at CBS News, but it has given me a second family. The professors, the students, the engineers — everyone at TUTV is here to help each other and learn from each other,” Uff says. “Out of everything that I have been involved with during my time at Temple, some of my fondest memories made in college are from TUTV.”
It has seen students such as Kevin Otte, KLN '15, and Chase Senior, KLN '15, who recently worked together on an episode of Netflix original documentary series The Playbook about NBA coach Doc Rivers. Otte worked on the series as a first assistant editor and Senior provided a voiceover, and the two have been working together ever since their days at TUTV. Like Otte and Senior, so many Klein students have launched their careers from this very same studio over the past decade.
“From the moment I stepped foot into the studio freshman year, I was able to get my hands on equipment right away and begin learning what it takes to do broadcast news,” said senior journalism major Lianna Golden. “Since then, I've had two internships at both CBS News and News 12 Long Island, where I was able to enhance the skills TUTV had already taught me.”
Klein senior journalism major Victoria Lucas agrees. “TUTV has provided me with the tools I need to advance in my career,” she said. “I haven’t even graduated yet and TUTV has taught me how to be an efficient storyteller.”
This sentiment seems to be a tradition, and given its current rate of success, we’re willing to bet that TUTV will be around for many more decades to come.