“The Pros Get Their Start Here” is a motto by Jerry Crockenberg, defining who he is and holding true today. Many alumni from RVTV have successful careers in the industry after high school and even during their pursuit of higher education.
RVTV was founded in 1976 by Jerry Crockenberg also known as “The Crock” at a time where a fully functioning news station was unheard of at a high school. He developed a unique program titled Playback, showcasing student life around the school.
This led into the ‘80s, where RVTV found itself in the middle of a media renaissance and started to establish its roots, heavily influenced by Mr. Crockenberg’s video productions classes during this time. Continuing to build off of this in the ‘90s, the Playback series ran until the 1998 and many events were broadcast on local cable and even featured projects made by students.
From the 2000s on, RVTV just kept building and improving on quality of content. Now in the years after RVTV was created, the morning news broadcasts daily with up-to-date information about school. What RVTV can teach you during your 4 years of high school can help improve your knowledge on cameras, studio operations, and video editing (ex: Adobe Premiere Pro). Individuals also learn how to be a good leader with rotating crew positions and as well as being a potential head for a student driven project.
Many alumni of RVTV have gone on to do amazing things in the field. For example, Rich Snyder (Class of ‘19) is a Photojournalist for Bay 9 News, a news television network centered in St.Petersburg Florida. There are many more like him like Brian Matheis (Class of ‘17), the Director/Ignite Operator at WBOC-TV and Cole Harris (Class of ‘17) who is a Camera Assistant at Timeline Television.
Alumni have found futures in the industry that RVTV prepares them for, even some have already had success in college. For example, Nathan Melendez who attends Rutgers University- New Brunswick Mason Gross School of the Arts (Class of ‘24) has already gotten the opportunity to write and direct many short films.
“In my first two years of college I’ve written and directed a lot of short films and found support through the University,” Melendez said. Nathan is also a part of RVision (comparable to RVTV) that broadcasts campus events. “I am a part of Rutgers RVision and we are responsible for broadcasting Rutgers Sports to Big10 Live, much like RVTV it is also student driven and gives me experience in the field that I wouldn’t normally find myself.”
RVTV teaches you invaluable skills like the art of collaboration, how to lead, and helps with real-world experiences. “Get involved and try things that you don’t know if you’d like,” Derrick Greene (Class of ‘25) said.
RVTV will be open to everyone who is interested in film and will help elevate yourself in this field. Students can take advantage of this opportunity by joining the club, becoming an anchor or filling other crew positions.
