Southeastern Louisiana University

Southeastern Channel named finalist for College Broadcasters national awards

Contact: Christina Chapple

10/9/07

Captions …

(1) SPORTS TEAM -- The Southeastern Channel student television play-by-play team of color commentator Allen Waddell, left, of Ponchatoula and play-by-play announcer Chris Coleman, right, of Denham Springs has been named a national finalist for the 2007 College Broadcasters "Best Sports Play By Play" production award for their play-by-play announcing of the Lady Lions vs. Texas-San Antonio basketball broadcast last spring.

(2) COLLEGE NIGHT -- The Southeastern Channel student television entertainment program "College Night" was recently named a national finalist for the 2007 College Broadcasters "Best General Entertainment Program" production award. Student hosts of the nominated episode are  Dustin Thomas, right, of Franklinton, and Natalie Crump, left, of Baton Rouge.

     “College Night,” a 30-minute student entertainment program, and the student play-by-play broadcast of the Southeastern vs. Texas-San Antonio Lady Lions basketball game were honored.

     Both programs aired last spring on the Southeastern Channel, Southeastern Louisiana University’s educational cable access channel airing on Charter Cable Channel 18.

     The programs were selected from 454 entrants in college television nationwide. Other finalists include television program entries from the University of Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota, Kansas State, Colorado State, Washington State, Northwestern (Ill.) and the University of Pittsburgh. Winners will be announced Oct. 26 at the National Student Media Convention in Washington, D.C.

     “We’re pleased that in only our fourth year of existence at the Southeastern Channel, our student productions continue to be recognized as among the best in the nation,” said Rick Settoon, general manager of the Southeastern Channel. “Congratulations are in order for our very talented, yet hard-working students along with our outstanding professional staff, which has trained these students to produce with the highest standards of quality.”

     “College Night,” which features comic vignettes, student videos, and student movie and music critics, was named a finalist for “Best General Entertainment Program.” “College Night” airs on the Southeastern Channel on Thursday and Saturday nights.

     The nominated episode was hosted by students Dustin Thomas of Franklinton and Natalie Crump of Baton Rouge. The co-hosts conducted lighthearted interviews on campus along with bicycling, jogging, weightlifting and playing basketball at the Pennington Activity Center.

     Comic segments included visits to student dormitory rooms as a takeoff on the MTV series “Cribs,” a pair of roommates shopping for low-cost furniture in “Fashion Cents,” and an interview with campus filmmakers Nick Brilleaux and David Starns of Hammond.

     Also featured are a review of reggae music staged at Hammond’s Music Express, an interview with the alternative band “Hello, Stranger” on the rooftop of the Shady Moon in Baton Rouge, a music video of one of the band’s songs, and a movie review of “The Prestige” by student critics Chris Guagliardo and Austen Ledford of Hammond.

     “College Night” is supervised by Josh Kapusinski, an Emmy-winning editor for the Southeastern Channel. Several segments of the “College Night” episode were produced by communication students in his Advanced Video Production class.

     “College Night” is an effective, award-winning program because it contains a great deal of flare, energy and enthusiasm,” Kapusinski said. “The program is a place to showcase topics which are innately stylistic in appearance, such as music and the movies.” 

     The play-by-play broadcast of the Lady Lions’ basketball game, won by Southeastern in overtime, gained finalist recognition for “Best Sports Play-by-Play.” It will be competing against student football broadcasts from Pittsburgh State University and Ithaca College Television.

     The Southeastern broadcasting team included play-by-play announcer Chris Coleman of Denham Springs and color commentator Allen Waddell of Ponchatoula.

     “Chris and Allen are as talented as any student sportscasters in the country,” Settoon said.  “Both have an excellent work ethic, and I’m convinced that both have an extremely bright future in the sports broadcasting industry.”

     In addition to their basketball play-by-play work, both Coleman and Waddell host the Southeastern Channel’s sports magazine show, “The Big Game.” They’ve both anchored episodes of the channel’s sports interview shows, “In the Locker Room” and “Lion Tracks.”

     “It’s great because I’ve been very blessed to know since I was seven years old that I wanted to do play-by-play,” said Coleman. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to gain experience doing this and to have not only my work, but the work of Allen and the entire crew recognized in this way is a great honor.”

     “To be nominated for an award that allows me to do what I love is a very special honor,” Waddell said. “Chris Coleman is very talented, and when you have a great teammate it makes your job that much easier. Chris and I work very hard, so to be thought of as one of the top three student broadcasting teams in the country is very special to us.”

     The Southeastern Channel has won over 40 national and international awards, including an Emmy for the Southeastern student sports program “The Big Game.” It can be seen on Charter Cable Channel 18 in Tangipahoa, St. Tammany and Livingston parishes and on Charter Cable Channel 17 in Washington Parish.  It can be seen online at www.selu.edu/tv.