In an effort to make Sacramento State a more attractive campus for potential students and community members, school officials have partnered with a local television station to produce short news stories highlighting various university programs.

The segments, called “Focus” appear on KVIE, Northern California’s Public Broadcasting Service affiliate.

The videos are about 90 seconds long and air at least three times a week between regular programming.

The videos can also be viewed on the Sac State website.

Gloria Moraga, director of News Services at Sac State, said that exposure through this type of medium is very beneficial for the university.

“We are placing positive stories about Sac State before hundreds of thousands of viewers each week,” Moraga said. “We are able to use the videos on our website for student outreach and recruitment to showcase faculty and student programs to our alumni, friends of the university and to the general community.”

Moraga estimates that more than 100,000 viewers see the news stories each week. She said the estimated viewing total for the 24-week season is 2.5 million people.

The university began its partnership with KVIE in the spring of 2006. According to its current contract, Sac State is required to produce 24 news-style video reports, 12 for this semester and 12 for next semester.

Sac State doesn’t pay for the airing of the segments, but does pay production costs. The contract requires $44,000 from the university to finance the programs, Moraga said.

KVIE provides assistance in the making of each story, including research, writing, interviewing, editing and directing, Moraga said. Sac State does, however, control the editorial content and the final product that airs on television.

“A lot of the content depends on the availability of professors and students as well as what stories can be the most visually appealing and interesting for viewers,” Moraga said.

Past topics have ranged from the university’s nursing program and engineering department to vocational education and veterans assistance.

Roberto Pomo, director of the Honors Program, appeared in a story last semester and has seen the positive effects it has had.

“These promotional spots are quite beneficial to Sac State as evidenced by the fact that we have received inquiries from community members requesting additional information about our program,” Pomo said.

Some students had positive feelings about the benefits of the news stories.

“I think this is a good idea,” said Brandon Hussey, junior music major. “These programs can be a big help to some lesser-known programs on campus like the jazz program and things like that. Any good exposure for the university and its students is a good thing.”

Others question the number of potential students who will see the programs.

“I don’t ever watch KVIE and I don’t know too many other people who do either,” said Marcus Robinson, senior communication studies major.

“I think it would be better if these stories aired on stations that college-age people are more likely to watch.”

Sac State isn’t the only college campus to produce these types of promotional stories.

“We’re seeing a growing trend in the number of universities who are trying to do the same things we are doing,” Moraga said.

University of California, Davis, also has a partnership with KVIE, producing programs entitled “NewsWatch”, which are similar to Sac State’s “Focus” programs.

Michael Calvillo can be reached at [email protected].