Wkmctv Information

WKMCTV is a student-run organization serving the Mount Carmel Area via Service Electric Cable channel 13, Red Tornado Football.com and this website. We are located in the Mount Carmel Area High School and are maintained by the district. Our media center has evolved out of ever-changing technologies beginning with the vision of our founder, Mount Carmel Area High School art teacher George McFee. Mr. McFee began this program in 1968, when he embarked on a joint venture with cable company owner and Mount Carmel businessman Steve Jepko to form WJPM-TV. The pioneer station was staffed by mostly high school students learning to operate the new facility in the production of community and school programming. The value of the program for its student operators was two-fold. In order to produce a variety of programming, they became skilled in many technologies and crafts that were state-of-the-art and in high demand. Secondly, they became exposed to a variety of issues involving education, business, politics, science, and culture working side by side with professionals in different fields and areas of expertise. Finally, their work became more generative as community support for their programming was a positive force in rewarding them and reinforcing a solid work ethic that expressed both team and individual accomplishments. Today students at WKMC participate in a media marketplace, using their television station and websites to develop skills while covering local news, events, and sports. In the past ten years, students have worked cooperatively with PCN (Pennsylvania Cable Network) and WNEP-TV Scranton, Wilkes Barre to bring Tornado football live to a statewide audience. Each day of the school year, the students produce their own programming which is cablecast throughout a 35-mile stretch via Service Electric Cable. The productions include high school sports, school and community events, concerts, news and local cultural features. Topics feature a variety of subjects from innovative lesson plans and college preparation to features about community residents and culture. All the while the underlying goals remains the same. Students learn, become responsible workers, work through processes, and produce quality programming that is of interest to the community around them. The 21st century has brought new challenges to WKMCTV and Mount Carmel Area School District. Recent cuts in state funding for public education affected many public schools in Pennsylvania. While solid planning and grant support has positioned WKMCTV to survive, sacrifices have been made to continue this experience for Mount Carmel Area students. In September 2011, one of the largest groups of students in the history of the program began their learning experience at the George McFee Studio in Mount Carmel Area High School. In 2012 the trend continues as student enrollment has expanded once again. Teachers and staff have developed a rigorous curriculum to challenge students in areas of journalism, science, art, technology, and communications. While many educational programs today focus on specific tasks geared toward successful test scores, WKMCTV incorporates a creative-reflective team approach to implement solutions in real-world situations. This approach allows students to exercise problem-solving abilities and transfer their knowledge across a variety of applications in an effort to produce a quality product that actually competes on a world stage. A student at WKMCTV writes, assembles, operates, discusses, evaluates, compares, measures, interprets, controls, commands, produces, prepares, designs, draws, collaborates, delegates, persuades, decides, adjusts, composes, connects, anticipates, explains, displays, delivers, describes, codes, troubleshoots, captures, compresses, shoots, edits, downloads, develops, organizes, analyzes, improves and directs within the programming and often in front of not only classmates but a live audience. WKMCTV students become doers who take ownership of the problem. By participating in this program, they move forward with skills and confidence that serve them well in preparing them for success in any field. Read more about our history.