By Shannon O’Leary

WORKING HARD

By Shannon O’Leary

Riverside Community College’s television program brings local news, and more, right into your living rooms.

Inland Valley News is RCC’s half hour broadcast news show that covers all of the Inland Empire. Approximately eight to 12 news stories air in the 30-minute time frame, which acts as a regular newscast.

LaSharon Perez is Instructional Assistant for Inland Valley Magazine. She has been working with Inland Valley News and Inland Valley Magazine for five years.

“I love it; it keeps me coming back,” Perez said.

When she first started this class she wasn’t planning to finish college, but now she is getting ready to go to graduate school.

“This class is really what got me going,” Perez said.

She attends the University of California, Riverside and takes a telecommunications class at RCC.

Part of the charm of Inland Valley News is that it is small, so the students are working the equipment and getting hands-on experience.

Perez said that if students took a similar class at the university level they wouldn’t get to handle the equipment.

This course gives those students looking to further their education in the television and film industry a better chance of getting accepted in graduate programs. It gives them hands-on experience that they would otherwise not get until graduate school. Many students involved in Inland Valley News get internships with local stations and go on to work in the entertainment industry.

Not only are the students dedicated to the production but the advisers are as well.

“They think television and film is fun and exciting,” said Allan Lovelace, an adviser for Inland Valley News.

Tyrone Davis, who has been working on Inland Valley News since the beginning of the semester, agrees with that.

“The thought of being on television, period, is always interesting,” said Davis.

Davis is a reporter for the Inland Valley News and a host for Inland Valley Magazine.

“It brings out a different person in me,” Davis said.

The students who are in the class come up with their own story ideas, take them out to the public and bring their stories together.

“I like going out and getting the stories and talking to people,” Davis said.

Inland Valley News won first and second place in the Broadcast Video Journalism category at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges SoCal Conference this year.

Inland Valley News airs on Charter Cable in Riverside on Channel 94 and on Adelphia Cable in Moreno Valley on Channel 17.

Bud Tedesco, who runs and set up the program, is attempting to put Inland Valley News on satellite TV which would make the broadcast seen statewide and also on the Internet where it would be seen worldwide.

“There are a lot of people who don’t know what direction they’re headed in,” Tedesco said. “I know there are a lot of people that don’t know about this class…It leads to a lot of internships at radio and broadcast stations. If you are looking to get into the entertainment industry this is a good place to start.”

ON TV