Standing in YSTV’s archive corridor—nestled between the studio and the control room—it’s clear from the photos and the shelves of VHS tapes that there's a lot of history around us—50 years’ worth, in fact. YSTV has always been a station of firsts: from being the oldest student-led TV station in England, to being the first to broadcast in 3D, and even being a founding member of NaSTA. All of this is achieved using mostly second-hand equipment donated by members and alumni, or handed on to us by the University’s IT Services. Very little of our current equipment was bought new due to our limited annual budget.
Because of this, we've found ourselves beginning to lag behind other, centrally-funded student TV stations. We want to keep on being the biggest and best, though, and we want you to help us along the way.
We are hoping to raise up to £5000 via YuStart to purchase new video and computer equipment so that we can continue to test the limits of student television, blurring the line between students and professionals.
The Budget
We're hoping to spend this money as follows:
£1500 - A new comms system. We will buy belt packs and headsets to replace the handmade, and now broken, packs that we used to use.
£2000 - Expanding outside broadcast capability. We will build a second, smaller, outside broadcast unit that we can use to cover larger events on our own. It will also allow us to do simple single-camera live links with a much shorter setup time, so maybe the tech team can do their degrees.
£1500 - Repairs to studio infrastructure. We have multiple issues such as dead patch bays, broken cable reels, and a suspicious lack of 15A cabling after the use of the lights at outside broadcasts.
Your help will ensure that we can stay ahead of the curve by turning around shows quicker than ever before, having a first-class comms system that means that the gallery can effectively communicate with the studio floor - and will mean that we can cover larger live events without having to rely on other student TV stations, who might not always be interested or available to help.
As current students of the University of York and members of the station, we’ve discovered for ourselves the incredible skills and opportunities that YSTV represents and has offered to countless people before us. Working with the BBC on a live show, managing crews of over 80 people, building our own network infrastructure…the list goes on.
Please consider helping to provide us with the same opportunities that YSTV alumni and other student television stations have had in being braver than anyone else. Your donations will not go without thanks and even if you can't donate, any support - even sharing this campaign - would be greatly appreciated. We want to make the next fifty years even better than the first - but we can only do this with your help.
