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The College of Mass Communication and Media Arts (MCMA) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) has been a leader in media education for decades. The value of the education students receive is proven by the successes of our alumni. The MCMA offers an amazing array of opportunities for students to get hands on experience working in a number of media outlets and student organizations.

alt.news 26:46 is a student produced magazine-style show that prides itself on being innovative, informative, and above all, entertaining. We push ourselves to utilize the cutting edge of television technology to present stories that you don't find on your typical newscast.

Students do everything from the initial concept to the final air copy of a show, encompassing all facets of television production from shooting and editing to writing and advertising.

The "26:46" in the show's name reflects its general length per program - 26 minutes, 46 seconds. The content for the show includes short form documentaries, live music performances, short films, and anything else that is too obscure for the 5 oíclock news.

This half hour magazine-style television program has won national acclaim by capturing 22 regional and national awards including 4 National Student Emmy awards. Students from fields of study are appreciated.

The Big Muddy Film Festival is one of the oldest student-run film festivals in the United States. From the beginning it has been dedicated to encouraging grassroots filmmaking in local communities.

In its 30+ years of history, it has showcased thousands of independent works, big and small, from around the world.

The festival was founded by recently-retired Southern Illinois University faculty member Mike Covell in 1978. Barbara Laing, Jeanne Kracher, and Linda Balek directed, curated, and wrote grants for the first festival in 1979. Today it is run by graduate and undergraduate students of various backgrounds.

Created to bring films not typically available to the community, the first Big Muddy Film Festival was held in late March of 1979. There were approximately 45 entries, which played to packed houses at the Student Center Auditorium over a three-day period. Since then, the festival has expanded into a 10-day event, and films are not only shown on the SIU campus, but throughout the town of Carbondale and the greater Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky region.

The Daily Egyptian campus newspaper is published when the University is in session Mondays through Fridays, spring and fall semesters and Tuesday through Friday during the summer session, and serves as a morning daily newspaper for the University community. The Daily Egyptian has been serving the SIUC campus since 1916.

20,000 copies of the Daily Egyptian are freely distributed at over 200 locations across campus, throughout Carbondale, and other surrounding communities. Research shows that 99 percent of SIUC students, almost 75 percent of faculty and staff, and 50 percent of the Carbondale community read the DE at least once a week. Thousands more read the Daily Egyptian every day online at siude.com.

The Daily Egyptian is produced under professional supervision, using student editors and staff. Nearly 100 SIUC students work as editors, reporters, photographers, page designers, graphic artists, advertising sales representatives, production technicians and circulation drivers. Seven professional staff members work as advisers and department managers. The student editors have sole control over the content of the paper. Students make all the assignments, do all the reporting, editing, photography and design, and make all decisions determining if and when a story will run.

The newspaper is published and printed in a plant equipped with electronic facilities to produce a 30-page daily newspaper on a web offset press.

Digital Dog has its own record label--an exciting opportunity for those who want hands-on experience in all aspects of producing music for distribution. Digital Dog also provides opportunities for students interested in radio production to write, produce, and perform radio commericals and programs for area radio stations.

In addition, Digital Dog is the developer and producer of Midwest Music Fest, a multi-day music festival includeing local, regional and national music acts of all genres. Performances take place at numerous local venues. Students actively participate in all aspects of the event, from booking acts and venues, to advertising and promotion. During the festival, high-level industry veterans come to Carbondale to lead discussions and workshops about the music business and recording.

The River Region Evening Edition is a student production of WSIU Public Broadcasting and the College of Mass Communications and Media Arts.

It is a half-hour television newcast that is written, edited, produced and anchored by more than 40 volunteer students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

RREE airs Monday thru Thursday at 5:00 on the WSIU Television Stations.

RREE provides the only local newscast at 5:00 p.m for Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri, and Western Indiana.

The Studies Programs are summer internship programs housed in Southern Illinois University Carbondale's (SIUC) College of Mass Communication and Media Arts (MCMA). They are a joint venture by the Department of Radio-Television, the Department of Cinema and Photography, and the School of Journalism. The Studies Programs allow students to gain hands-on experience while earning academic credit by doing internships in Hollywood, Chicago, New York City, Nashville, and Washington, D.C. The first Studies Program was launched in Hollywood in 1995, followed by Chicago in 1998, New York City in 2005, Nashville in 2006, and Washington, D.C. in 2007.

Through the Studies Programs, students from SIUC are placed in summer internships with media companies to gain experience and insight into their chosen fields. The internship base is constantly expanding with new opportunities being added for students. The contacts made by students during the internship experience provide an invaluable basis for gaining first-hand knowledge of the many media industries. They also provide a network of helpful professionals who can be of future assistance to students in the pursuit of their career goals. Alumni are centrally involved in these programs by helping students in placing them, having students intern at their companies, and creating endowed scholarships to help students with limited resources take advantage of these opportunities. The College appreciates this continued support of its innovative Studies Programs.

The Studies Programs are a unique opportunity complementing the hands-on philosophy of our College. We believe strongly in the value of experiential learning and provide significant practical opportunities for our students in their academic and extracurricular programs in Carbondale. The Studies Programs allow us to extend that experience beyond the walls of academia into top-flight professional environments thus enhancing our students' education and competitiveness.

Studio A is a student-produced, multi-camera television series, originating from, appropriately, WSIU-TVís Studio A. While the programming produced will be aired on WSIU (and that is not to be downplayed,) the primary purpose is to give the SIU student community the hands-on opportunity to work on multi-camera productions. The studentsí production roles range from producers, directors, and writers to camerapersons, audio engineers, and lighting designers to set designers, graphic artists and editors.

In this spring í08 semester, Studio A will ramp up by primarily producing musical concert programs, titled Studio A ìIn Concert. ìIn Concertî is designed, initially, to showcase local groups and/or performersófrom the SIU Community, the Carbondale area, and the Southern Illinois region. From Bluegrass to Reggae, Studio A In Concert presents of all music genres. Eventually, we will branch outóor step upóto feature nationally known bands and performers.

Also this spring, Studio A will produce a sketch comedy show. Reminiscent of SNL, MadTV, SCTV and Laugh-in, this showóyet to be namedówill include skits, sketches, stand-up, graphics, animation and a musical guest in a half-hour show. This will probably fall under the Studio A Playhouse title.

But Playhouse will mean much more in the coming years. We are contemplating producing a sitcom, or a soap opera, in addition to the musical and sketch comedy shows. We may introduce short dramatic work, written by Theatre students or students in the Writing program at COLA. We are actively pursuing cross-departmental alliancesóin acting, writing, set design, sound and music. While we will always be rooted in the RT department and at MCMA, we can tap the talent across the entire university to create the best program we can.

Upperclass students will mentor the younger, less-experienced students. Those upperclassmenóas well as faculty and staffówill hold seminars and training sessions. A Production Team will decide on projects and oversee their progress from idea to production to distribution.

Finally, one mandate for this new incarnation of Studio A is to create a diverse atmosphere behind the camera, as well as in front of it. Through active recruitment, we hope to make Studio A look like the campus we live and work on.

The campus radio station WIDB is operated and managed by students. WIDB broadcasts 24 hours a day from the SIUC student center to campus residence halls. WIDB offers students practical experience in radio hosting and producing, programming, engineering, news, sportscasting, music review, promotion, public relations, production and commercial sales. WIDB also streams audio over the Internet at http://www.widb.net