Station Spotlight: Missouri Southern State University’s KGCS-TV

  Special thanks to Shonte Clay – Senior student worker of KGCS-TV Station at Missouri Southern State University for answering the questions!

Tell me a little history about your station and where your station is now?
Originally, our station was a cable access channel, established in 1984 as a service of the Department of Communications. The station became a broadcast station when KGCS-LP came about in January 1988. In September of 2008, KGCS moved to channel 22 and started broadcasting a digital signal allowing as reach of almost 170,000 households in the region. This was all possible due to the generous donation from the Ruth I. Koplin Foundation. In result, the studio was named Ruth Koplin. KGCS has come a long way over the years as it now produces a weekly news interview show, “Newsmakers,”  Southern Sports Sunday, student made programs, city council meetings and a variety of others. It has expanded in equipment, staff and also programming, nationally and locally. I am very proud to say I am a part of the KGCS broadcast family.

What sets your station apart from other college TV stations?
What sets our station apart from other stations is that our station gives students the access to almost whatever they want to do, hands-on, first-hand experience.  The majority of the programs and athletic events are run by students with assistance from faculty. The students have a lot of control and they are able to get started right away and learn as they go. Our station is surrounded by a lot of large, commercial TV stations as well, and this leads to lots of higher opportunities after graduating and opportunities for internships.

Why did you choose to work at the TV station?
I chose to work at the TV station because I wanted to learn the background of media-broadcast and how to do a variety of things in broadcast and KGCS gave me that opportunity. I was taught a bunch of things along the way and I gained a variety of skills. It’s a very relaxed station that teaches more than criticizes.  Station staff and faculty have lots of ties to other stations outside of the university. Overall, it’s nice to work with great, inspirational and talented people that support you.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for your station?
The craziest thing I’ve done for my station was suspending large, heavy broadcast lights and shields in the Koplin studio. I happened to be walking by the studio and the electronic light men needed a hand hanging the new equipment, so I climbed the 12 foot ladder and did all that I could. I was surprised that they trusted a rookie with such expensive equipment, but I was the only one around at the moment, therefore, they didn’t have many choices. Once it was all over, I was so excited because this was one thing that I never expected to do and I can actually say that I played a fairly significant role in it all.

What’s the best part of college TV? And the hardest part?
The best part of college TV is that you are a part of that great final production that is broken down into several small parts. You feel significant, you work with great people and it’s always exciting. The hardest part is that you don’t have a lot of time to do all that you would like because most of the people that contribute their time and effort are students as well and they can’t focus completely on just the KGCS-TV station. It also takes a lot of patience because there are always inexperienced and new workers that you have to teach and work with because this is not the professional level. Regardless, it’s always enjoyable and great to watch the final production at the end of the day.