UPTV (University of Pittsburgh Television)
UPTV (University of Pittsburgh Television) is a student television station at the University of Pittsburgh. Its purpose is to provide television and film production training to Pitt students. It provides cameras and other filming equipment, as well as computers to edit and create finished projects. Students may either create their own project or help in the production of a number of shows and films.
The station has an office in the William Pitt Union, next to WPTS-FM. It is unique in that it has no broadcasting facilities; instead it utilizes an MPEG encoding system to send programming as digital files to a remote location, where they are played back for the air. As of November 2015, it is only broadcast to campus dorms on Channel 68.
History
UPTV was started in the Spring of 2000 under the name The Creation Station. It was founded in response to the fact that Pitt's film department offered no production experience. Pitt offered a good theory-only program, but did not provide students the hands-on experience they needed to pursue a career in film or television. There were courses available through Pittsburgh Filmmakers, an outside institution, but entry was severely limited, and the training was technically focused, rather than creative.
- The University of Pittsburgh Honors College and Communications Departments provided much of the support for the set-up of the station, with addition funding from the Pitt Student Government Board. It took two years of fundraising, planning, lobbying, and installation before it went on the air. In the mean time, it functioned off-air as a student activities group, producing original films and offering training programs to students. It finally began broadcasting on 15 March 2002 (on channel 46). It was three years before the University granted it a room, until then it was housed in a small closet offered by the Communications department.
Recent Years
Over the past couple of years, UPTV has put more of a focus on producing web-related content to go on their youtube page. With web series like To Be Human, Real Sorority Girls, and Real Fraternity Brothers, the station has seen a surge in production and activity. By the end of 2015, the station will be back on the broadcasting circuit across the dorms on their new channel, 68.