MUTV's Growth Since My Freshman Year

In Chapter 2 of Imperial Purple by Edgar Saltus, Augustus Caesar is quoted as saying, "I received Rome in brick, and shall leave it in marble."

As Marquette Madness approaches, I sat back and thought about what a huge undertaking this remote broadcast is. While I do not quite share the extreme view of my contributions to MUTV as Caesar did to Rome, his quote made me think about the advances that MUTV has gone through over my years at the station. When I first joined as a freshman in the Fall of 2005 it was technologically impossible to broadcast live events from the AL. During that year MUTV was also completely reliant on tape-to-tape editing. Furthermore, the Sports Department did not have direct access to Marquette Athletes.

Now it is the Fall of 2008 and I am in my senior year. I like to think that I have grown at least a little wiser, but I know that MUTV has grown exponentially. The Madness broadcast on Saturday will be our third live broadcast from the AL this year alone (last year we had 8). MUTV is now almost completely digital, creates 12 new shows every week and streams many live broadcasts every semester. And every Wednesday we work with the Athletic Department to schedule four to six athletes to come to studio 7 in Johnston Hall for MUTV Sports: Sit down with a Marquette Athlete, which can be seen on this blog, gomarquette.com and muscoop.com.

But the advances don't end there. The Madness broadcast has grown in leaps and bounds. When MUTV first attempted to broadcast the event, only a two man crew provided audio to one camera that was focused on the floor of the AL. When viewers go to Madness this Saturday, they will see a crew of nearly 30 students, with 5 cameras, technical crews in 3 different locations, and a 4 seat set next to the court for interviews with athletes, coaches and beat writers. If you can't make it to the AL, and will be watching on gomarquette.com, you will see a broadcast with the most video footage and graphics that have ever been used in a live remote broadcast at MUTV.

The Madness broadcast has taken on a life of its own at MUTV as I'm sure it has within the Marquette Basketball community. We at MUTV hope that you enjoy the broadcast this Saturday, but we also hope you appreciate the tireless efforts that so many people at MUTV have gone through over the years to make this possible.

Ritchie Donnelly
MUTV Sports Director