Q30, the student-run television station, has continued its progression from a little known station to a professional broadcast.

Over the last year, Q30 has gained recognition and has grown as a media outlet on campus. For Q30, this was a long and bumpy ride.

“Q30 began its upgrade about four years ago,” senior mass communications major, and the president of Q30, Pat Boutilier said. “Mike Schlief was the president at that point. He was the one who started the improvements.”

Boutilier went on to say Rob Gilmore, the next president of Q30, also has the main obligation of change on his agenda for the station. Gilmore wanted to give the station an identity and in essence get the School of Mass Communications behind the station.

“Gilmore’s main objective was to get things on the air,” said Boutilier.

When Boutilier took over as president he wanted to continue with the upgrade of the station.

“Eric Jackson and Jess Camerato are the news producers of Q30. They came to me and said they wanted to do the news once a week,” he said. “I didn’t think they could do it, but they did and it is going very well.”

This was only the beginning of the station. As Boutilier stated, this was just the turning point.

One Boutilier’s primary goals for station was to become an outlet for the other organizations on campus.

He said he wanted to give back to the students like the other media outlets on campus. Thus began the Q30 message board.

“The Q30 bulletin board was created so students would be able to post campus events on the air,” he said. “It is one way that we can support our students.”

The creation of the Q30 website at www.Q30.org was a positive step for the station. This site is a huge step towards professionalism for Q30.

“Every major media outlet has a website. Everyone has one and we needed one,” Boutilier said.

One of the most important improvements of the year was the programming rotation.

Last year, Q30 was only able to do two hours of original programming. This year, that has all changed.

“We went from two hours of programming to eight hours of original programming,” Boutilier said. “We are now able to have an eight hour broadcast schedule.”

The Q30 president went on to say such things as TV microphone flags, tee shirts, posters, and fleeces were all an attempt to bring the station to a more professional setting.

Most of these improvements were brought about by the continuing push by the administration of the Mass Communications department.

Many professors were advocating for the station by telling their classes such an outlet existed.

“The professors in the Mass Communications department, such as Mike Bay, Mike Cali, Peter Sumbi, and Mike Schlief were always there for us. They helped us gain a place on this campus,” Boutilier said.

Boutilier also stated the student government helped with the progression of the station.

Up to this point, they had only received a budget of $800, but this year the SGA doubled their budget, which in turn helped out the station.

“You can’t do much with an $800 budget, but we did what we can,” he said, “With more money we were able to expand and do the things we wanted to do.”

For more information on Q30 please contact Pat Boutilier at [email protected] or check out the Q30 website.