BEGINNINGS

The Jefferson High School Radio-TV Center began as a dream in the mind of high school teacher and sometimes broadcaster William Fraser. For years he taught a radio class at the "old" Jefferson High School. He held classes in a small room located above the gymnasium. Before WJEF became a reality, students practiced their broadcasting techniques at the school's carrier current station. The student-broadcasters could talk and play music- and be heard throughout the building and into the parking lot, but that was it. It was in this environment that a young Brian Lamb got his first taste of radio. When it was announced a new Jefferson H.S. was going to be built on the south side of town, Bill Fraser began planning.

THE NEW RADIO-TV CENTER

CLICK HERE to listen to radio report circa February 1972 about WJJE going on the air

Department Heads at the school were all given the opportunity to specify what they would like to see in their new departments. Bill requested similar treatment, and it was given. With the assistance of facility engineer Stevan Speheger, he began planning and designing a state-of-the-art radio-TV center that would make that small room above the gym seem like a distant memory. He enlisted the aid of design and broadcast engineers. He poured over equipment catalogs and blueprints. First, there would be a radio station. He started down the vast paper trail that is the FCC. There was a large control room, with windows facing the hallway so the student broadcasters could be observed by anyone. There was a radio classroom that doubled as the news studio. He included an audio production room, that could also serve as an auxiliary on-air control room. An Associated Press Wire machine was installed in a small room off the RTV Center's lobby. There were two large offices and a second classroom. Quite a far cry from that little room above the gym. The new facility gave Bill the chance to include television in the curriculum. He included a large studio. The control room was built with windows facing both the studio on one side, and the RTV classroom on the other. The TV facility was equipped with two color TV cameras, and a three channel closed circuit system. Provisions were also added to allow live broadcasts from various classrooms in the building. At the time, the closed circuit system was the subject of an article that appeared in Broadcasting magazine that proclaimed the high school color closed-circuit facility as the only one of its kind in the nation.

THE RADIO-TV CURRICULUM

Bill Fraser wanted to train students to be broadcasters. He had a state-of-the-art facility built to accomplish this. Students were lucky enough to receive instruction in both radio and television production. On the radio side of the hall, students manned the broadcast booth and served as DJ's, newscasters, and interviewers. The station began with a middle of the road format which changed in January of 1985 to an adult contemporary sound. When the station converted to stereo in 1990, the format changed again to oldies. Until 1986, the primary music delivery system was the LP record. Some songs and PSA's were on audio cart. By 1987 all music was being played from audio carts, and in 1990, the turntables were removed from the control room and professional compact disc players were added. In 1996, the remaining cart machines made way for mini-disc players. Today, the station uses compact discs and mini-discs exclusively.

Many students accepted the challenge of being sports broadcasters for all the varsity boy's home football and basketball games. Live sports broadcasting gave students an opportunity to work side-by-side with professionals in the field. Until class basketball went into effect, the Lafayette Semi-State boy's basketball tourney was held at Purdue's Mackey Arena. Students learned about establishing phone connections in order to send the game broadcast back to the station and then out over the air.

Students working in TV helped other teachers with a variety of video projects in addition to working on their own video productions. When the facility first opened, reel to reel 1/2" videotape was the norm, along with some 1" reel-to reel videotape. A big change came when the first 3/4" U-Matic machines were added in the late 1970's. The early 80's saw the integration of 1/2" VHS videotape. This trend continued until the early 1990's when SVHS tape became the norm. SVHS is the current standard, with 3/4" U-Matic still used for some studio projects. In 1989, when the educational access channel was established on cable, student were able to get the same "real" experience as they got in radio by serving on production crews for the school corporation's cable programming. There are currently four regular programs that students help produce. One of them, Broncho Talk, is completely produced and directed by a student crew.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

After over 30 years of teaching, Bill Fraser retired in August of 1984. Randy Brist hired on as the new Director of Radio-TV. Engineer Mark Speedy was replaced by Steve Burch. Randy and Steve immediately went to work replacing broken and aging television equipment. Steve Burch departed in 1986, and George Elliot took his place. George was an excellent engineer who helped get many of the aging pieces of equipment running again. His departure in 1987 paved the way for Tina Overley's (Hilt) arrival. Tina had been one of Bill Fraser's students so she was familiar with the operation of the RTV Center, and with what was expected of all the advanced radio-TV students.  

Tina worked as the Radio-TV Assistant for 15 years, until May 2002 when the position was eliminated during a round of budget cuts at the high school. Jon Eifler, who student taught at Jeff and Asa Donat, a former RTV student, hire on as replacement RTV Assts. After one year, Jon is hired as a full time science teacher and Asa moves on to Film School. Other ormer students are utilized on a parttime basis to assist in the facility- Sonya Gerber, and Zach Smiley.

Zach Smiley goes from parttime RTV Assistant to full-time RTV Assistant in August 2006

THE EQUIPMENT

Over the years, students have been able to operate a wide range of production and broadcasting equipment in both radio and TV. In radio, students worked from the very beginning with a professional audio board. In 1980 the original board was replaced with an Autogram-8 which allowed for more flexibility. In 1996 a Harris 1000 watt stereo transmitter was installed to replace the original Harris that had served the station since 1972. We got to quit worrying about replacing the tubes in the old transmitter! Audio production underwent a dramatic change in 1990 when the old production board was replaced with an Autogram-8, identical to the board that was then in the control room. Also at this time, audio production was wired for stereo. In addition to the new reel to reel player/recorder, a new cart recorder was added. Currently, audio production includes a CD player, a turntable, a rack-mounted cassette player/recorder, a mini-disc player/recorder, and the reel-to-reel unit has been replaced by a TASCAM 4-track digital player/recorder. In the summer of 1998,when an AudioArts 12-input audio board was installed in a newly redesigned control room, replacing the old Autogram audio board Where there was only 1 mic before, there are now 3 control room mics. Instead of rotary volume controls, the board now has slider controls. In August of 1999, the remote start buttons were wired to all of our CD, MD, and cart machines, making it easier for students to start music. A PC-based non-linear audio edit system was added in September of 1999. Students found it much easier and more intuitive to operate than the cumbersome TASCAM unit. The PC audio recorder/editor allowed students to produce some interesting promos and special song sweeps. The TASCAM player/recorder was loaned to the Music Department. In April of 2000, two computers were added to WJEF. These computers allowed for automation of the station after school hours, letting the station continue broadcasting- eventually 24 hours a day!

Across the hall in TV, there were drastic changes beginning in 1985. The original switcher and monitor system were completely replaced. A new character generator was purchased, and color program and preview monitors were added. A U-Matic editing system was added in 1986. In 1987, an additional closed circuit channel was added, bringing the total to 4, and a Panasonic VHS editing system allowed for more flexibility. A new Ikegami studio camera was added in 1986, with the old Panasonic camera still in use. A C/Ku band satellite dish was installed on the roof of the school building in 1989. By 1990, the Panasonic was retired and another Ikegami camera was added. SVHS CCTV playback equipment was purchased in 1993. At about the same time, playback over cable access channel 5 became automated via 1 3/4" U-Matic machine, and an SVHS JVC unit. The mid 90's saw another spurt of change. An Amiga 2000 computer w/Video Toaster card and software were added. A new Videotek switcher with many more features replaced the old Panasonic unit. The studio cameras were replaced with identical Hitachi cameras, both having TelePrompTer capabilities. During the early and mid-90's three new SVHS editing systems were purchased, bringing the total number of edit stations to 5. All edit stations have dedicated cassette decks and CD players for adding music and/or soundtracks. A new production character generator replaced our old one in 1997. The summer of 1998 saw perhaps the most dramatic change in TV control, even though it was not readily visible to anyone. The entire facility was rewired over the course of the summer. ALL existing audio and video cables were pulled and we started from scratch. During this project, a new 32 X 32 A/V router was added, and our system was wired to the system in the new Large Group Instruction Room allowing for audio and video to be fed in either direction. Since that major rewire, we have added a mini-satellite dish system and replaced our Educational Access Channel character generator. See OTHER CHANGES below for more current updates.

MILLENNIUM TIMELINE

In May of 2000, we purchased and installed a non-linear video editing system. It will allow students to experience state of the art video editing, and put a professional polish on all of our productions. We also added a Canon XL-1 digital video camera. We hope to add an additional non-linear system in the coming school year.

September 2000 saw the addition of another non-linear editing station, increasing our digital capabilities and allowing more students to experience non-linear editing.

In October 2000, JEFF 92 debuted an automation system that will eventually allow the station to broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After about 8 days of operation, software problems forced us to discontinue our expanded hours. These problems were fixed and the station began broadcasting until 11 PM starting on October 16, 2000. The automation system is powered by Digital Jukebox software, and consists of 2 computers and lots of hard drive space. The assistant program director is responsible for the automation scheduling.

On January 8, 2001, JEFF 92 began broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In February 2001, 2 more nonlinear edit stations were added, bringing the total number of editing stations to 7, with 4 of them nonlinear.

In March 2001, the "official" course title of the Advanced Radio-TV class changed to BROADCAST MEDIA to reflect new state department of instruction course title requirements. The Radio-TV I or Beginning RTV class name was changed to MASS MEDIA. Course content has not been changed.

February 2002- WJEF celebrates 30 years of student-run radio

April 2002- Another Canon GL-1 digital camera is purchased.  For the first time, all student project work is shot and edited using digital equipment.

May 2002- Position of Radio-TV Assistant eliminated

August 2002- JEFF 92 begins broadcasting away football games in addition to the home games.  All home and away boy's and girl's basketball games will be carried.

September 2002- two more non-linear edit systems are added

November 2002- our automation PRODUCTION computer is replaced with a faster unit with a larger hard drive

Other Changes

January 2003- First attempt at webcasting a basketball game. We are still working out the bugs. Due to music licensing issues we do not plan on webcasting the regular program day of music on the Internet.

January 2003- Video Toaster 2 hardware and software installed. It's great to have a graphics computer again!

February 7, 2003- WJEF has been on the air for 31 years. We have been on 24 hours a day for over 2 years.

May 2003- one more non-linear editor is added bringing the total to 9 systems.

June 2003- A new ON- AIR automation computer has replaced the older unit that has been in service for almost 3 years. In addition to more RAM and a faster processor, the new machine has a much larger hard drive which will allow us to add more music to our automation rotation. The old automation computer still works and will be close at hand to give us backup help if needed.

January 2004- 3 years of 24/7 broadcasting

February 2004- 32 years of broadcasting

September 2004- WJEF's license is renewed

September 2004- All Broncho sporting events become available on the Internet, both as live broadcasts/webcasts

November 2004- 9 disc DVD duplicator is purchased

December 2004- After 32 years of service, WJEF's FM antenna atop the 100 foot tower behind the school is replaced with a brand new antenna.

February 2005- 33 years of broadcasting

April 2005- WJEF begins webcasting 24/7 thanks to senior Vince PeGan's efforts with his Honors English Project. LISTEN NOW!

January 2006- Automation computers updated and new software installed (new version of Digital JukeBox)

February 2006- 34 years of broadcasting

May 2006- 2 new Canon GL-2 cameras purchased

August 2006- Zach Smiley is named full-time Radio-TV Assistant

November 2006- 2 new Hitachi Z4000 cameras purchased to replace 14 year old Hitachi cameras in the studio

February 2007- JEFF 92 celebrates 35th years on the air!