<bt>“Open.tv” (pronounced open dot TV) is a professional tech and entertainment program showcasing and discussing the latest trends and events in electronics, movies, music and more. Rather than a crew of degree-holding professionals, “open.tv” is run almost entirely by area high-school and college students working at a studio in Merrifield.
Broadcast by Mhz Networks, “open.tv” premiered last fall under a grant by the Department of Education to give younger people the opportunity to work on a nationally broadcast television program and become more involved with production than interns usually are, according to intern and cast member Kate Ryan of Annandale, who graduated from Woodson High School.
“The coolest thing about being an intern here is you do a lot more than get coffee and make copies,” Ryan said. Attending Florida State University this fall, Ryan is one of a number of interns who have used their experience and demo tapes of the show to help them get into college.
THE HOUR-LONG program, aimed at teen-agers, is broadcast live every day during the season (which begins Sept. 8) from 4-5 p.m. A handful of the 60 planned upcoming shows this fall will tackle topics ranging from comic books to fashion technology to digital video. Due to the first season’s success, the show will make the jump from Mhz2 to the more widely broadcast Mhz this fall and will broadcast from the national station, Colors TV.
The first half of each show is often educational and demonstration-based around the episode’s focal issue, with the second half geared more toward segments, games and interactive polls for viewers.
“The real-time polls really bring the interactivity of the show together,” said director and senior producer Mike Khatcheressian. Viewers can also instant-message the show from their computers with questions that are put to the hosts and guests in the studio mid-show in an attempt to personalize the experience of the viewer and cover what the audience wants to see and hear.
Although the show does not broadcast new episodes in the summer, the current interns are busy at work preparing for the fall. New sets are being constructed, topics are being researched and investigated, and segments are already being shot.
Last week, one team of interns attended the “American Idol” concert and interviewed “Idol” winner Ruben Studdard. In the past, the show has also garnered celebrity interviews with such stars as James Cameron, Jeff Daniels and Robert Duvall.
“A lot of the time at events, we’re the only press with teen-age interviewers,” Khatcheressian said.
Ryan recalled one of her more embarrassing moments working for the show, during an interview she had with U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11th).
“I was in the middle of an interview with him and blanked out mid-sentence,” Ryan said. “I just stared for like a minute before I just started over.”
It’s all part of the learning process, according to Khatcheressian. In addition to participating in many forms of production for the show, interns are taught how to conduct interviews, handle professional equipment and work in the studio.
“It’s great to watch a tape of someone’s first show and then one of their last,” Khatcheressian said. “You see a lot of improvement.”
One of “open.tv’s” youngest interns, Alex Mandel, 14, a student at Luther Jackson Middle School, loves any opportunity he gets to be on the air.
“Just to be on TV a couple times a week is really exciting,” said Alex, who is from Vienna. Next on his plate is an interview with Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge.
The interns aren’t the only ones who love their job, however.
“I love working with kids,” said host and producer Mario Marzette. “It’s like being a teacher without dealing with parents and grades. It’s all the best parts of teaching.”
For more information on “open.tv,” visit its Web site at www.open.tv.