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RVTV studio move approved By Amber Fossen Ashland Daily Tidings Rogue Valley Community Television will move from its current location in the Southern Oregon University Library into a new multimedia center to be located at the corner of Webster and North Stadium streets. According to SOU officials, the decision to remove RVTV before the SOU Library Enhancement Project begins was based on cost savings and the anticipated additional opportunities the facility will provide the community once relocated. Ron Bolstad, SOU vice president of administration and finance, said library construction - slated to begin in November 2003 - would have been an inconvenience for both RVTV and the enhancement project. "While they (RVTV) were in production mode, we couldn't have any construction in the area which would mean crews would have to work graveyard shift and they would charge us for crews having to work off hours," Bolstad said. In addition to rising labor costs, keeping RVTV in the library would stall improvements to the library's exterior due to RVTV equipment located on the outside of the building. Operations Manager Joe Brett sits in the command center at Rogue Valley Community Television's home connected to the Southern Oregon University Library. The library expansion project is forcing RVTV to relocate. Ashland Daily Tidings/CHRIS MILLER "Sooner or later we would have to move RVTV out of the building," Bolstad said, noting by moving the station before the remodeling, the library will be able to utilize that area in the future. "We won't have to create additional space for growth. We can capture this space and remodel it when the rest of the building is being remodeled," he said. The new $1.1 million, 10,000-square-foot multimedia center will offer SOU additional classroom space for its video production course work and could lead to the future development of a film/video major. It will also open up more community opportunities, according to RVTV officials. The facility will be funded through 30-year self-supporting bonds to be repaid from RVTV and media revenues. Other funding sources include information technology funds and space rental fees. "We want to be able to expand our programming capabilities," said Joe Brett, RVTV operations manager, noting the station hopes in the future be on air 24 hours a day. Brett said the new facility will feature a second studio for interviews in addition to a sound stage that will be able to house a larger audience than the current facility, making it possible to rent portions of the studio for community meetings and events. According to RVTV Director Pete Belcastro, the studio planned to expand but not on campus. "We thought our growth would be with additional studios in Medford or Grants Pass, but not here," Belcastro said. RVTV officials said they would vacate a portion of the library by April and expect to move into their new facility by December. The station will go off air for a couple of weeks in December due to the move. SOU officials said the plan to remove RVTV from the library has been a topic of discussion for some time. The university's master plan in 1999 marked the corner of Walker Avenue as RVTV's new site. However, it wasn't until after examining project plans that a firm decision was made to relocate the facility to the corner of Webster and North Stadium streets on the SOU campus. "It wasn't until late in November 2002 that our planning consultant, in taking a look at the issues that needed to be addressed to properly locate the facility said 'Wait a minute, what about Webster Street,'" Bolstad said. The location was approved after examination of noise levels; adjacency to the Physical Plant yard, which will facilitate the loading and unloading of RVTV service trucks; student and pedestrian access; proximity to another academic building (McNeal Pavilion); and hook-ups to campus cabling. While the move will be beneficial to RVTV and the SOU community, it will pose an inconvenience for a few area families. According to Julie Bedford, an SOU junior art major, the university informed her family and two others that they would have to move out of their homes located on Webster Street by April 1 to accommodate for the new center. "If the university had told us a month earlier, there were two houses vacant across the street and two of the families could have moved in," Bedford said. Wayne Schumacher, SOU director of housing and residential life, said the university will be working with the families to find alternative dwelling sites. "One of the families has identified a residence. It's not one of the campus residents but they will be moving in two weeks. We do have an apartment in our family housing (Old Mill Village) that's available to one of the two remaining families and there's a vacant house available on Indiana Street," Schumacher said. For Bedford, those options are not optimal. "Unless we get rid of our family dog, we can't live in family housing," Bedford said, adding that the house on Indiana Street is slated to become an honors student house in six months. "I just really want to move into a home where we don't have to move again and where we can have a yard for our dog," Bedford said. "If that's all we can do, then we have no choice but to take it." Bolstad said an informational meeting to discuss why that location was selected and what residents can expect during the construction project has been scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Old Mill Village Activity Center. "Indeed, three families are impacted and it's hurtful to them," Bolstad said. "We're very concerned about that." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -