Saint Paul’s presents Wolf TV, a live 15-minute broadcast where anchors cover school announcements, news stories (world, national, and local), sports, and entertainment. Between segments, Wolf TV offers educational tidbits, including “On This Day In History,” “Weird Weather,” and “Daily Trivia.” The show usually ends with a joke of the day.

Wolf TV is shown at the beginning of the second period on each school day with a regular schedule (about 3-4 times per week).

To be a part of Wolf TV, students take the elective Broadcast Journalism, in which they learn how to be an anchorman, a newswriter, a producer, or a behind-the-scenes supporter. The broadcast journalism class runs the show.

The setup for the Wolf TV is one cameraman, two anchormen, and two computer workers, while Mr. Pereira watches and critiques as needed. The classmates switch roles throughout the weeks, so everyone gets a chance to get involved. 

During the broadcast, students who work on the computer also add small transitions, such as pre-filmed clips. Saint Paul’s senior Harris Strickland does a good job on the computer, but he has some challenges as well. “The most difficult part is knowing when to switch and when not to. You need to know when to make the camera switch; if not, you will see the camera transition bad,” said Strickland. Strickland is featured in a student-favorite weekly scene, “Spin That Wheel!”

Wolf TV is run by Mr. Pereira, who is the broadcast journalism teacher, an English III teacher, and the media teacher. Mr. Pereira does a great job keeping the broadcast smooth and steady, even through technical difficulties. He keeps the team calm throughout tense situations.

Wolf TV also allows members of Saint Paul’s C.O.R.E. Pack program to participate. For instance, Saint Paul’s junior Matthew Seal, Gary Miller, and Christopher Bonano participate in the elective. Each one of them has had short prefilmed skits on the Wolf TV, which consists of things that interest them, such as movie reviews.

Wolf TV has shown small skits from the media team, too. The students and Mr. Pereira have been working on this new project for a couple of weeks now, and they continue to make it better.

Mr. Pereira is very proud of the class so far. “We have a great team and we’re really excited about the future of the show because I believe that every show gets a little bit better than the last. I can’t wait to see where my talented group of guys takes it throughout the year,” said Pereira.  

Everyone working the show plays an important role in it. For example, the anchormen read off a teleprompter that is on the camera, and they control the show’s flow. The cameraman must turn the camera towards the speaker and ensure that everything is in frame. The computer workers control the color of the camera, the transitions, and the greenscreen. Saint Paul’s junior Sam Jones has been an anchorman lately, and he makes it look natural. “It is definitely a new thing for me, but it is starting to get more natural.”

During the transitions, the students take a quick break to adjust, such as scooting closer to the camera or speaking more clearly. Mr. Pereira closely observes the show and gives the students pointers throughout the breaks. 

While on set, the anchormen have to switch into their dress uniform quickly, the cameraman and computer workers have to be ready, and everyone has to be silent. Most viewers don’t think it would be that hard to keep a show going for a short amount of time; however, it requires a lot of effort to keep everything smooth, and it involves many small moving parts.

Most students and faculty members agree that Wolf TV is a great addition to Saint Paul’s, especially considering it replaces S.S.R. “I think Wolf TV is much better than the old announcements because we can cover a wide variety of topics, and I think we can inform the student body about current events, and we can make the platform more dynamic and lively than the announcements,” Pereira argued.

Wolf TV has been part of the average Saint Paul’s day for only a month now, but you would not know it if you saw it. The production quality and students’ positive feelings toward each show make it seem like Wolf TV has been around for years.