286Organizations 1980s In 1974 Harding University opened its first TV studio in the Ezell building. David Hurd oversaw the first television program, and Lou Butterfield was hired as executive news producer in 1976. In fall 1983, Mike James and Butterfield launched Harding University’s first live news broadcast on the White County Cable Television system in Searcy, Arkansas. “[Mike James] came to me and said, ‘Hey, how about we talk about putting a TV station together?’” Butterfield said. TV-12 was originally included in Searcy’s basic cable package for channels 2 through 13, accessible in dorms. The programming was scheduled to air 12 hours per week with a live 20-minute newscast at 6:30 each weeknight and closed at 8:50 with a devotional. Students were tasked to produce five original shows each week. “We did all kinds of programming,” Butterfield said. “We did a musical show, we called it ‘Center Stage.’ We went as far as Morrilton to do rodeos.” In fall 1988, the White County Cable System added new programming, forcing Harding to change channels, becoming TV-19. The new channel was included in “first tier” cable instead of the basic package available in all student dorms before the channel change. The decision was In 1994 signal moved from Channel 19 to Channel 16, along with a physical move of TV news operations and master control from the Ganus Building to the Ezell basement. In a 1994 The Bison article “TV-19 to begin broadcasting from new facilities,” Judie O’Farrell wrote “‘The move has not been easy,’ [Butterfield] said. ‘It’s kind of like moving your house, only three times more difficult.’” In fall 1997, Dutch Hoggatt became adviser of TV-16. One of Hoggatt’s major changes as the adviser was moving the newscast time from 5 p.m. to 6p.m., and rebranding the broadcast to “live at five.” The next fall semester, 1998, the TV station relocated to the Reynolds Center, and Bob Ritchie took over as director of the studio. 1990s not made without reluctance. Phillip Tucker wrote in the 1988 The Bison article “TV-12 moves up to channel 19.” “Butterfield says he regrets the change, but that ‘White County Video has supplied with access for Channel 12 free of charge for all these years, and so it is not our place to gripe about what's free.’” In these decades and the following, TV-12 worked hard to produce political coverage and the equally important Spring Sing broadcast. Photo from 1984 Petit Jean Photo from The Bison, Oct. 9, 1992 Photo from The Bison, Nov. 9, 1984 Photo from The Bison, Sept. 30, 1983
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