GLTV Brings Broadcast News to Berkeley Heights, Mountainside

The future of television is taking shape in our midst.

At , a bunch of students and two adult advisers are producing a boatload of programming in the high school television studio.

'GLTV' is a local access television station that they run. It serves the communities of Berkeley Heights and Mountainside (watch it on Comcast 34, Fios 47 or on the website). Adviser and television production teacher Joe Voorhees and Ken Stiefel oversee the technical aspects of the station and assist the students during live shoots.

But the students do the lion's share of the work, tallying 40 shoots and more than 200 hours of on-set time each year. They setup, shoot, break down and edit everything seen on GLTV. GLTV currently shoots regular and semi-regular shows in addition to sports, concerts, plays and special events — such as graduation. The students have the ability to do multi-camera shoots in house or on location with a remote truck. 

Yes, GLTV has a remote truck.

Patch was at GLTV on a recent evening, shooting a segment of — a weekly show recapping major news stories of the week and profiling local notables.

After videotaping the show, Voorhees explained that the crew is a volunteer extracurricular activity but that GL students also are able to do coursework on the topic with Introduction to Television Production and Advanced Television Production available to all students from grades 9 through 12. Currently, there are 4 classes of Intro and 2 classes of Advanced being taught.

Episodes of shows and various videos produced both by the GLTV crew and by television production classes are available "On Demand" on the GLTV website: glhstv.com.

After the "This Week in Berkeley Heights" shoot on May 29, Voorhees talked about the grueling schedule he once endured working in television production at Lehigh Valley PBS as well as on shows such as Fashionista Diaries for ABC.

But it was clear that his passion for television production survived those ordeals; Voorhees continues to pick up freelance gigs outside of teaching.

And Voorhees' enjoyment of the media clearly translates to the students, who operate the set in a laidback but professional manner.

Patch would like to thank Brendan Illis, Luke Pomo, Liam Christoffers, Dyan Bento, Katherine Ganger, Brittany DiRienzo, Ken Stiefel — as well as Voorhees — for their patience, guidance and hard work in producing "This Week in Berkeley Heights."