Norwood High Opens Communications Through TV-December 1, 1991

Course provides on-air education from scNorwood High School Television Studio Offers Students Real-World Broadcast Experience

In-House TV Studio Produces Daily Morning News and Live Local Coverage

At 7:30 a.m. sharp, high school senior Katy Kale turns on her camera presence, folds her hands, and delivers the opening line: “Good morning and welcome to Norwood High School News.”

For the past four years, students at Norwood High School have stepped into the shoes of professional broadcasters through the school’s in-house television studio. Monday through Friday, student crews produce a live 30-minute morning news and talk show broadcast across every high school homeroom and aired locally on cable-TV education channel Channel 32 across Norwood and Westwood homes.

The studio’s programming extends far beyond morning announcements. Recent telecasts have covered girls’ soccer team meetings, visits from college representatives, live School Committee sessions, school rallies, concerts, and town events.

Student-Run Production and Teacher Supervision

Under the guidance of station supervisors and teachers Diana Flemer and Bob Smith, students learn the fundamentals of communication and production in the classroom, but take complete control during live broadcasts.

Co-anchored by students like senior Katy Kale and sophomore co-anchor Constantino Nicolau—who noted the fast-paced variety of juggling multiple jobs on and off camera—the program gives teenagers hands-on career exploration.

Teacher Bob Smith emphasized the personal growth fostered by the studio: “It gives the students tremendous self-confidence, something they wouldn’t get in math or history class.” Teacher Diana Flemer added that the daily broadcasts keep parents closely connected to school life: “I don’t think any parent in Norwood can legitimately say ‘I don’t know what’s going on in the high school.'”

Satellite Integration and Future Educational Technology

Looking toward the future, Principal George Usevich views the TV studio as a forward-thinking investment, particularly valuable during tight budget cycles.

Last January, the station installed a satellite dish connecting to the Massachusetts Corp. for Educational Telecommunications, joining approximately 150 school districts statewide in receiving educational programming across 20 languages and 30 countries. Usevich envisions leveraging this infrastructure for regional distance learning: “Technology will allow communities to have courses that might not fit the budget. If you’ve got three towns that want to teach Latin, but can’t afford to hire a Latin teacher, they can get a TV link-up to a Latin course. You can have 100 schools and one Latin teacher.”

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Boston Globe