Yalevision: offering empty air?

The seven cable stations Yale bought last year from Comcast are not, in fact, entirely blue. Two of them now carry the international channels SCOLA (1 and 2), while another is used by the language lab to broadcast French and Spanish programs. That leaves four stations owned by Yale —but not by the student body.

Talk stalled by talks

Last September, Dan "DJ Thunderballz" Levy, CC '00, and Bill "Skull" Marino, TC '01, tried to fill some of that dead air. A profile in the Herald told of their efforts to televise their talk show, DJ Thunderballz and Bill (which eventually aired in the Trumbull College Common Room for an audience of 35), on one of the new Yalevision stations. The show featured a dancing orangutan and several other notable guests, and spirits were generally high for a bright and exciting future of Yalevision. An optimistic Marino called televised student programs "the next new wave at Yale."

This September, Marino is not quite as sanguine. "I am irate that no Yale TV got off the ground last year," he said. Levy added, "Yale never let us air the show. This is the excuse we were constantly told: Yale wanted to establish `an advisory board' by which to review programs, and wouldn't ever air unrated projects." Yale, he says, never formed this advisory board, leaving the first and only episode of the show "collecting dust, and our creative juices coagulating, waiting for an outlet that doesn't seem like it's going to open."

In fact, the Yale Administration not only failed to form an advisory board, but also failed to organize the remaining stations at all. When Yale signed the deal with Comcast, Provost Alison Richard appointed a committee of Administration members to decide the fate of the new channels. She decided not to take any action with the channels until they had heard this committee's report. Levy and Marino had contacted a member of this committee, John Schilke, the manager of television services at the Yale audio/visual center. Schilke, along with the majority of the review committee, foresaw a regular slate of student-produced shows on the channels.

The chair of the committee, Dean of Administrative Affairs John Meeske, JE '74, does not deny that it took a long time to deliberate and to come to its final recommendations. Nevertheless, he said that any delay in the report was due only to the large amount of attention given to the many possible uses of the channels. Finally, after an exhaustive investigation, a report was presented to Richard and Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72, who calls his involvement with these issues "fairly tangential." After a period of time in which they considered the report, they issued a formal response to the committee: no.

No, they would not adapt the committee's plans; no, they would not spend any money on the stations; no, they would not use the stations at all. According to Meeske, "They were worried that they would fill up the space for the empty channels, that there would be no room for new technology in the future." The Provost, he says, fears that if Yale gives the stations over to students now, the Administration might have a "political battle" to wage when some new, as-yet-unnamed idea comes along. Instead of enacting at least temporary programs on the channels now, they have decided to "hold off until they get a `critical mass' of good programs" before any decision is made. It seems that the committee's ideas for programming were not sufficient after all. How many programs, then, constitute a "critical mass"? Meeske says Brodhead and Richard have left that part vague.

Although students have not given Meeske many new ideas, he is not surprised: the Administration never announced its final decision, in any way, to the greater student body. Indeed, he said, "there is no real stated procedure on this." It is enough to make one think that the whole process has been run by the registrar's office.

Station to station

Or perhaps Richard knows something that other American universities do not. After all, Tufts, Penn, and Brown have channels which play movies recently released on video. Brown students can tune into Analyze This, Go, and Cruel Intentions at this very second. Meeske said that a proposal to air movies on Yalevision was rejected due to costs. But what about student films? Edward McGurn, ES '00, an officer of the Yale Film Society, is not optimistic."Yale does not have the production infrastructure. I think we'd need a much larger film community. He said, "We'd also need much more money—a ton more—and a studio." Student films like Beau Bauman's, SM '99, Ivy Weeds and Across the Hall, are restricted to smaller viewings.

Even so, student films are regular features on Brown television and even Dartmouth television, which was started last year by a freshman, Oliver Kramer. Although young, the Dartmouth station has a cooking show, a soap opera, a sketch comedy show, and the popular "Couch Talk." In this show, a couch is rolled into the biggest party of the weekend, and guests stop by to be interviewed in some of their more expansive moments. Perhaps the most relevant Dartmouth program for Yale, though, is one that pits students against administrators in roundtable conversations.

After hearing about the plight of Yalevision, Kramer was not surprised. "Across the board, administrations are wary of giving students the loud voice that television provides," he said. The only exception to that rule, Kramer said, was Columbia, which had the best and most independent television station until last year, when its studio building was demolished. Nevertheless, Kramer says, Columbia is considered a model in the field.

Besides films, talk shows, and soap operas, most operating college stations televise sports highlights, if not entire games. Dan Fleschner, CC '01, a sportscaster for WYBC, had never heard of Yale television. Even so, "televising Yale games would be a great asset to the school," he said. "It's pretty clear that the marriage of sports and television has been one of the most successful media endeavors of this century...Yale clearly is lagging behind in that department. With the addition of a TV station televising sports, Yale would not only provide a service for students interested in broadcasting, but would also publicize its athletic department, turning more casual students into fans."

Perhaps Yale's Sports Publicity Office would want to contribute a suggestion to the Dean and Provost's "critical mass." A spokesperson expressed great interest, but has not yet said anything to Meeske. The reason? He had never heard of Yale television. Those with DirectTV can watch the Harvard-Yale football game; the Princeton game will be aired as well. In New Jersey.

Closed circuit?

In the midst of Yalevision's current despair, optimists can look back to 1953, when the first college television station in America began. Although it was a modest broadcast—less than two hours nightly—it did feature dramas, opera, and lectures from professors. This pioneering college was the same one that today denies students programming. Yale television's first and only incarnation closed after one year and financial catastrophe. Perhaps this is the example the Administration fears.

So what can compel Yale to air student programming on its currently dormant stations? Daniel Squadron, CC '02, a WYBC DJ, has an answer: "You know when we'll get programming? Five seconds after Harvard does." Harvard does have a television committee (HRTV), but does not yet have a cable channel. Instead, it shows its programs around campus at scheduled screenings.

With more student awareness, perhaps Yalevision will become more than an administrative time waster. Until then, however, there's still seven channels and nothin' on.

Graphic by Matt Wiegle. Photo by John Yi.

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