By Ryan Quinn
“Fordham Nightly News” (FNN), the university’s embattled student-run broadcast organization that produced several on-and-off-air professional talents, has been permanently pulled from the air. A lack of manpower and scheduling conflicts between the organization and the Electronic Information Center in Walsh Library, where FNN was housed, caused the student leaders to vote to terminate the program, according to Lexy Leeds, FCRH ’18 who was the technical director of FNN.
The decision has seriously altered the trajectory of the communication and media studies departments brand new FNN course, taught by Ann Westerby, a professor of television journalism, which is designed to teach students in the ins and outs of broadcast. Students who registered for the class are now operating in a makeshift studio in the Walsh lab in Faculty Memorial Hall, recording unaired content for their reels.
“We used a recycled table as our news desk and a consignment shop bed sheet as our backdrop… it’s not ideal, but it’s something,” said Leeds.
The non-OrgSync official club has faced serious setbacks since September 2015, when former president Dan Grbic, FCRH ’16, received notice from FNN’s production manager and Rose Hill professor Mat Schottenfeld that the studios were “retooling” to better accommodate a new journalism major. Schottenfeld informed him that those at the helm of the studio were evaluating the “cancelling [sic] of all broadcasts for the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semesters.” Grbic was consequently locked out of the FNN email account.
The following month-long hiatus was broken when the Communication and Media Studies department advocated on behalf of FNN, and the club resumed operation airing one less day a week.
“With a lot of effort on the part of last year’s seniors, we were able to get back in the studio by October and produce shows for the rest of the year,” said Leeds.
This time, the organization will not be revived. Michael Considine, director of the Information Technology Services at the Electronic Information Center (EIC), attributed his department’s difficulty in working with FNN to the loss of a full time library staff member in April 2015, who was never replaced. The absence left only Schottenfeld to run the studio and provide necessary services, and the likelihood that the Center will fill the position any time soon looks “remote”, said Considine.
“We just don’t have the manpower…[it] made it difficult to support Fordham Nightly News,” Considine said.
When asked for comment for this article, Schottenfeld referred to a new film and television major designed to help students attain broadcasting skills.
The organization formed when members of Schottenfeld’s BronxNet course expressed interest in continuing airing news on a volunteer basis. Using equipment already owned by the library, between 12 and 18 students would air morning content four days a week.
Leeds and her colleagues, Tyler Bailey, FCRH ’18, and Kyle Morton, FCRH ’18, are reluctant to see Fordham lose its television broadcast training. To replace FNN, the students are drafting a proposal to the communications department for a new televised broadcast show, and a new studio to work in, tentatively named “FordhamLive.”
Leeds said that working with the communications and media studies department will provide the program with the autonomy that they could not get when recording in the EIC and that students would have more freedom to film shows that are not necessarily news related, such as sports shows or comedy shows.
Considine agreed that a direct relationship with CMS is “more appropriate.”
Whether a new show will be able to recreate the experience that FNN provided for students remains to be seen, according to Leeds.
“The magic of FNN was in the camaraderie of creating something with your friends, and the comfort of being able to make mistakes in an environment where you’re not getting a grade at the end of every show,” she said.
The students are hopeful that the new show will be on the air by the start of next semester.
Students formerly involved in FNN often landed prestigious internships and jobs. Vanessa Tatulli, FCRH ’17, interned at “The Tonight Show,” and currently interns at “Late Night.” Gino Siniscalchi, FCRH ’16, interned and now works at CNBC. Evelyn No, FCRH ’16, interned at “The Today Show” and “Live with Kelly and Michael.”
Former member Ann Pierret, FCRH ’14, attributed her success in television to FNN. Pierret currently works in Michigan as a reporter at WJRT- TV, which is ABC12 in the Flint/Saginaw/Bay City market.
“The hands on experience and opportunity to get a feel for broadcast journalism [at FNN] confirmed my passion,” said Pierret. “I got a job in my field when I graduated and almost three years later, I’m still doing what I love. FNN set the foundation. I’m forever grateful.”
ever grateful.”
