A visitor to the studio of KUJH-TV, on the second floor of the Robert Dole Human Development Center at Kansas University, will see what looks like a real television studio.

That’s because it is the real thing. It’s the home base of the student-produced, low-power television station that reaches much of Douglas County over the airwaves on Channel 14 or, for subscribers of Lawrence’s Sunflower Broadband, on Channel 66.

KUJH is no ivory-tower academic exercise, but rather an opportunity for KU journalism students to learn the ropes in broadcasting before going out into the world to find positions at commercial TV stations.

KUJH, which receives no funding from KU’s Student Senate, is an entity of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

The TV station is one of three media operations connected to the School of Journalism, along with the University Daily Kansan and student radio station KJHK-FM 90.7.

The school’s overall curriculum is “converged” meaning that students receive training in aspects of print, broadcast and Web journalism.

Students work at KUJH in conjunction with academic coursework structured under two advanced TV news classes they must take in order to earn their journalism degrees.

Those who are enrolled in the classes typically work at the studio one day a week.

About 100 students, including volunteers, participate in producing newscasts at KUJH.

The station’s broadcasts air at 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and are rebroadcast every hour on the half hour. Broadcasts are taped in advance at 4 p.m.

“Through the station, students get stories they can put on a tape and send out to news directors later. They can say they produced these stories with the same kind of deadline pressure they would face at a regular commercial station,” said Dick Nelson, lecturer and newsroom supervisor for KUJH and KJHK.

County-wide market

Doug Donahoo, a 22-year-old student from Overland Park, is enthusiastic about the time he spends working at KUJH.

“It’s been great a lot of hands-on stuff. You get to report, anchor, share the problems of management, deal with personnel relationships. You deal with the nitty-gritty of the TV station,” he said.

“There are a lot of different aspects of TV broadcasting, and KUJH allows people to experience them all.”

Donahoo, who will be a senior this fall, has worked as a reporter, photographer and technical director at the campus TV station. This coming year, he’ll serve as sports director.

He also has been a reporter and photographer working evenings and weekends on Sunflower Broadband’s 6News since October 2001.

Donahoo believes KUJH is giving him the experience he needs to be prepared for a professional career in broadcast television.

“I think we’re in an even better place to simulate a real-world environment than the UDK, which is written for KU students. We’re reporting and writing for a Douglas County-wide market. You have the same kinds of issues you have in the real world on a daily basis,” he said.

Practical experience

Brooke Wehner, 21, a student from Winfield, is similarly upbeat about her work at KUJH.

Wehner, who will be a senior in the fall, has learned to use the cameras, Teleprompter and the rest of the studio equipment. She has also worked as a reporter on camera.

“We’re really proud of KUJH because it’s completely student-run, with the exception of getting guidance from Dick Nelson and (professor of journalism) John Broholm. Ultimately, most decisions are made by students,” Wehner said.

“It’s good, because we learn how to work not only in the field part of journalism but also the management side. We learn how to produce, direct and assign stories.”

Working at KUJH has been the biggest learning experience of Wehner’s time in college.

“There hasn’t been anything else where I have felt that my thoughts, my opinions and my work mean so much to the final product,” she said.

The degree of student involvement in every aspect of production is what makes KUJH so valuable for young broadcast journalists.

“It’s an opportunity for them to get realistic, practical experience where they can apply the things they learn in class,” Nelson said. “It gives them something to show to prospective employers. And they get viewer response all the time.”