The merger, which happened last July, has given many competitive advantages to MSU, including the capability of paying their employees at broadcast stations WKAR-TV and Radio.

Some members of the CMU school of broadcast and cinematic arts believe they could be at a disadvantage from a recruiting standpoint, as more MSU students now have access to better facilities and opportunities.

Peter Orlik, director of the school of broadcast and cinematic arts, said the merger gives MSU three major comparative advantages: Better facilities, a large engineering staff and more opportunities to be on the air.

“What they now have with their reorganization is Michigan State students, number one, have access to far more and far better facilities to hone their craft in,” Orlik said. “At the same time, they have support from a much larger engineering staff, so when things go bad, they can be fixed much more quickly. Third, this gives their students more air opportunities on much bigger stations, so you now have student shows on WKAR-TV and WKAR FM.”

Orlik said from a recruiting standpoint, MSU also has a large advantage because of the capability to pay many of their student employees.

“By reworking their finances, they’re now in a position to pay a lot more of their students who are working in the facilities as student employees,” Orlik said. “We have no student employee budget. All of our students are strictly volunteers.”

BCA professor Rick Sykes, a member of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation, said the merger has raised concerns for the department.

“The merger of their public broadcasting program with their communication school creates another dynamic in terms of how they maximize resources,” Sykes said. “Any good competitor will tell you when the environment changes, you need to look at how you can change to remain competitive in that environment.”

Sykes said despite MSU’s growing broadcasting program, the CMU BCA department still offers an experience to students that mirrors the industry and has won awards for a decade straight.

“My charge is to create a co-curricular experience for the students in our program unequaled in the state,” Sykes said. “Right now, we are in three counties and more than a dozen communities, and we have a very strong and ever-developing social media component.”

Berkley senior Robert Cameron is the former music director for WMHW 91.5 FM and is working on becoming a producer for Moore Hall TV this semester. Cameron said it’s unfortunate that broadcast student employees don’t receive pay, but the professional experience makes the work worth it.

“With the time we put in, I wish we could get paid,” Cameron said. “But it’s still fun just to get the experience and do the work and see the finished product.”

Cameron said despite funding advantages MSU may have, he and other CMU students still believe highly in the broadcast department.

“We still believe we’re the best in Michigan,” Cameron said.

“We are hoping to break the pending record,” said Carly Mills, Central Michigan Life public relations intern and Orleans senior. “We hope that the Guinness Book of World Records will approve our record.”

The current collegiate record for the dance is 242 people performing the dance at one time. The dance will take place at 7 p.m. today in the Indoor Athletic Complex.

Thrill CMU is sponsored by Central Michigan Life, Moore Hall Television and Modern Rock 91.5.

Jeffrey Sell, a Clinton Township junior and a member of 91.5, said sponsoring the event will let students on campus hear and learn about the programs sponsoring the events.

“Thrill CMU is an interesting way for students to learn about different things at the school,” he said. “They get to try and break a record, which is cool.”

Get thrilling

Students need only their campus ID to participate. There will be food, prizes and contests for the largest hall attendance, largest fraternity or sorority attendance.

“I know a lot of students are pretty excited,” Mills said. “There have been decent turnouts for rehearsals. I’ve heard people are excited honoring Michael Jackson.”

There is a video link available at cm-life.com for students to learn the dance. Participants only have to dance for five minutes for the record to be made.

“I think this is something we could possibly break the record.” Mills said. This is a way to encourage other universities to try and break records as well. If people become interested in this event, they might want to attempt to break world records.”

Some students have shown interest in the event.

“I think this is a good way to portray Michael Jackson in a positive light,” said Midland freshman William Cynecki. “He has done a lot for pop culture and music today. It’s a good way for students to honor him.”

MHTV now controls all 24 hours of its programming after previously sharing time with Public Relations and Public Broadcasting Service.

“What happened was, economically, there just weren’t enough resources for those other entities to keep providing content for the channel,” said MHTV faculty adviser Ben Tigner. ”It made more sense to just give the channel to the MHTV students and let them run with it.”

MHTV is channel 34 on campus and channel 23 off campus.

Tigner, Broadcast and Cinematic Arts faculty, said the only thing that changed for MHTV is it has the ability to rerun its programs whenever it wants throughout the day. The station gained control of programming from 3 a.m. to 5 p.m. instead of four-hour slots at 5 p.m. and midnight.

“This year, we started a new program that we were unable to do before, where we simulcast the 91.5 FM morning radio show on MHTV. We put a camera in there and take the video feed along with the audio feed and air that in the mornings where, before, we would have had to compete with PBS feeds. It’s opened up some new opportunities for us.”

Coordinator of Video Laboratories for the School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts Eric Limarenko developed the new program “Morning Shows,” which airs from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday. The show debuted Oct. 10 during the 91.5 FM Homecoming alumni takeover.

“Viewers get to be a fly on the wall and see the all the action take place real-time,” Limarenko said. “It also gives outsiders a chance to see how well developed the BCA program is at CMU and how talented our students are.”

“Morning Shows” consists of three shows airing on different days throughout the week, including “The Morning Blitz” Mondays and Wednesdays, “Up in Da Mornin’” Tuesdays and Thursdays and “Cody and Cody in the Morning” on Friday.

Limarenko said this is an exciting time for students, as they have a blank slate creatively to work with and a TV medium in the palm of their hands.

“With more air time, the remarkable, award-winning talent that is coming out of MHTV can reach a greater audience which, hopefully, will get more students excited and involved,” he said. “Being able to take ownership of the station is a thrilling opportunity, as well as a tremendous responsibility.”