Temple's TV station gets ready to cover the pope

The makeup mirror was stowed away. The studio quieted. Cameras focused on the news desk. "Ninety seconds," a tech warned.

Coanchors Beccah Hendrickson and Phil Dupont did their special handshake, one they first saw on the remake of the movie Parent Trap.

"Hey everybody, let's do the news, huh?" Dupont said in a deep voice.

No one but the crew was watching the two Temple University seniors at that moment as they taped a news show for Temple's television station, TUTV.

Soon their audience may grow exponentially.

TUTV is one of only two collegiate stations credentialed to cover Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia in two weeks. The student station at Neumann University in Aston also is credentialed.

TUTV's student journalists, including Hendrickson and Dupont, will broadcast from the Ben Franklin Parkway. As many as 17 student journalists could be involved in the coverage - directing, field producing, reporting, editing, and writing, said Paul Gluck, the station's general manager and an associate professor.

TUTV is transmitted in the city on Comcast Channel 50 and Verizon Channel 45. The university also will stream live on Templetv.net as events occur.

Neumann University's student journalists obtained a spot at Atlantic Aviation to do live radio reports for the pope's departure. Four students have received credentials, said Sean McDonald general manager of Neumann Media. Neumann's reports will go on its radio station, WNUW, 98.5, YouTube channels, website, and online publication.

For students, it's a chance to work alongside their heroes.

"I could be doing a live shot somewhere and I could look up and see Lester Holt," gushed Hendrickson, 21, from Lancaster, "or I could see, who knows, Matt Lauer."

Though students say they are ready to have fun, they know the pressure of covering the largest event in recent Philadelphia history is a high-stakes proposition. Dupont is fine with that.

"I feel like baptism by fire is one of the better ways work gets done and gets done well in this world," said Dupont, 21, a media studies and production major from Glenolden. "It's going to be the best damn newscast we can put together."

Temple will pay about $10,000 (out of funds donated by Kal and Lucille Rudman) for its coveted spot among the media masses, Gluck said.

"We can't think of a better opportunity to show them how to cover a world-class story than when it comes to your backyard," Gluck said.

There was no charge for Neumann's spot. The difference, according to Ken Gavin, a spokesman for the archdiocese, is that an infrastructure or "media village" needs to be built on the Parkway to allow media to file from there.

The two local universities were among more than 7,000 entities worldwide that sought media credentials for the pope's visit in Philadelphia, with only a little more than 800 being granted, Gavin said.

To Hendrickson, the papal coverage tops any class she has ever had.

"I hope to God none of my professors see this, but this is more important," said Hendrickson, a dual political science/media studies and production major. "If I can do well here . . . get a story that maybe no one else is covering while I'm out there . . . then I know personally I'm ready for the real world."

At Temple, students already have prepared stories to air during the visit.

Taggart Houck, 20, a junior journalism major from Phoenixville, will feature a Langhorne company making the wool carpet that will be rolled out for the pope's arrival and departure. Houck said he never would have imagined reporting on a carpet maker in relation to the pope.

"It's really neat to see that," he said.

The university station's coverage will be anchored by Lu Ann Cahn, a former NBC-10 reporter who is now director for career services in the School of Media and Communication, Gluck said.

Students also are airing stories in advance, like the one last week on how students were preparing.

"I'll definitely be staying in my apartment . . . and treating this whole thing like a hurricane, just riding it out," student Michaela Mink told TUTV, "locking the doors, closing the curtains, stocking up food, everything."

Not the students at TUTV. They can't wait.

"This might be one of the biggest stories we're ever going to cover!" said Melissa Steininger, 21, a senior journalism major from Wilkes-Barre. "Something we're going to remember forever."

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