High School TV Station Looks to 'Bridge the Gap' Between Students, Community

Two Millburn High Schools students created a TV and Internet broadcasting network called “Studio 462” with the hopes of preparing communication-driven students for college and the real world, while bridging the gap between school events and the community.

Max Retik and Josh Chodor created the television station a year ago through funding from the Millburn Education Foundation and it is the first of its kind for the district. The students hope to be of service to the community by offering live coverage of school events, assemblies, sporting events and more.

“We are trying to bridge the gap with events at the high school and the community,” Chodor said at a presentation of the show at Monday’s board of education meeting. “The program is growing quite rapidly and we want to make the program one of the best in the country.”

“We want to bring the community closer together and make high school and township events more accessible for everyone,” Retik said. “I think people enjoy seeing different things and parents can access and watch school assemblies when they can’t attend.”

“Studio 462”, which is named after the address of the high school, offers something for everybody interested in the communications world, according to Chodor and Retik.

“You don’t have to want to be a film maker or actor to join, but you can be somebody who wants to write or be a weather broadcaster in the future as well,” Chodor said. “We want to prepare everyone for the outside world.”

“Our goal is to get more students involved and teach everyone how to use this new technology for the television show,” Retik said. “It is all student-produced content.”

Chodor and Retik stated the program has grown over the past year and they previously taped football games for people to watch at home.

“Obviously sports are a big hit, so we hope to live stream more sporting events, including basketball,” Retik said.

In addition to covering more sporting events and school assemblies, the duo wants to have more time carved out for their morning show every Tuesday and want to reach out to local businesses who may be interested in filming commercials for the station to stream as well.

During the duo’s presentation, they presented hopes and dreams they have for “Studio 462.” Some hopes include: live streaming football games and sporting events; obtaining press passes to help make studio equipment more accessible; give the high school students the opportunity to view the live morning show more often; enable students from Digital Video Production I and II to stream their classwork for the community to see; formal recognition from the school; among others.

“We want to get validated by the school and be recognized on the same level as the school newspaper and yearbook,” Retik said.

To view the latest videos by the station, click here.