GHS-TV Studio Photo Tour

GHS-TV is a student-run television station located on the campus of Germantown High School. GHS is part of the Shelby County Schools Optional Program. Germantown High features the area’s first and most successful International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. It is regularly named one of “America’s Best High Schools” by Newsweek.

Guests for one of our six monthly access shows, weekly student-hosted talk show, live specialty programs and most other productions are greeted in our lobby. Students are eager to show off the regional and national “Student Emmy” awards surrounding the lobby television. Guests can learn quite a bit about the station’s history just by reading the newspaper articles on the lobby wall chronicling our students’ successes since 1982.

GHS-TV students have full access to five iMacs, two PCs, a disc duplication station, labeling hardware, a printer and a copier in our newsroom. Each newsroom iMac is networked to our newsroom computer system, EZNews. While most of the work done here is TV related, students also use the newsroom hardware to study and complete work for other classes. 

From the ¾-inch tapes that contain our first shows in 1982 to the XDCAM discs we use today, our tape library houses well over 1,000 tapes. Our student tape librarians manage this collection of history that includes original GHS-TV productions as well as movies and classic television series we have acquired over the years. 

A number of our shows tape during the lunch hour here at GHS. Our conference room doubles as a lunch area for students in our program who miss their normal lunch due to a taping or project. GHS-TV students have full access to a refrigerator, microwave, dishes and a sink. This room also comes in handy during GHS-TV events that take place after school and on the weekends.

Our main hallway is lined with national awards as well as reminders of the professional accomplishments of our many prominent graduates. There are more than 140 first-place honors from the Alliance for Community Media. You’ll also find autographed movie posters and newspaper articles touting the success of GHS-TV alum. Aside from the rooms featured in this tour, the main hallway leads to a studio restroom, make-up room, engineer’s workshop and two viewing rooms.

The GHS-TV equipment room houses almost any piece of gear our students need for their various in-studio and field productions. Students have full access to our equipment, from our high definition field cameras and lighting kits to our sound gear and communication headsets. 

GHS-TV's five editing suites are equipped with programs used by professionals in television, film and digital media. Students have access to the latest version of Avid Media Composer, as well as Avid Pro Tools, Adobe Creative Suite and other industry standards. Our editing suite computers are also used to distribute student-produced content through our various online platforms.

This is where all the behind-the-scenes magic takes place during our studio tapings and live productions. Students handle every position down the line: producer, director, switcher, audio, graphics, CCU, teleprompter and tape operator. 

The audio room is located next to the control room and houses the sound board used by students during our studio tapings. The audio room also contains one of the studio's five Avid Media Composers.

While the dub rack may not be as visually appealing as some of the studio's more high tech toys, it is one of the most important pieces of equipment in the studio. Our student dub chairmen spend many of their days making DVD copies of past programs for various community members and guests. Our dub rack is equipped with playback devices for DVC Pro, DVD, VHS, Beta and 3/4 inch tapes. The dub rack is also used to control our satelite dish, enabling us to receive content from around the globe. This room also contains an Avid Media Composer editing system.

Our facility contains two studios that allow for a variety of looks for our productions. Both studios went through an extensive renovation during the summer of 2013. Studio A houses two distinct sets, a black wall curtain and a green screen. Set A features a more modern look. Set B is actually two sets in one. The wooden panel wall you see on the right of this picture can be rotated to reveal bookshelves. 

After the 2013 renovation, Studio B became the set for our award-winning newscast, Wake Up, Germantown!. Aside from the campus newscast, this studio is used for our academic game show, Cable Quiz, and for our live coverage of Election Night. The news desk can sit seven people and contains high definition monitors on the front of each desk panel.