First Place Won by CMU’s Live Music Broadcast

Outside the Kiva in Moore Hall, I waited to interview Ashley Straub, the Co-Producer of the show Summit Sessions Live.

When Straub walked into the hallway where I was waiting, she radiated with confidence. Straub gave me a big smile and led me into the back of Moore Hall.

From everyone that I have spoken to, Straub seems like a very focused and diligent person.

“She’s quick-witted and hard-working,” Katherine Fulcher said, a member of the SSL crew. “She is a great front runner and leader to have on the SSL team.”

Summit Sessions Live is a one-hour television show, shot in the back of Moore Hall, where local artists are showcased.

Normally, the first half an hour of the show is a band and the second half is a singer-songwriter. The show welcomes all different genres and they have hosted artists on the show such as rap artists, a Gypsy band, and rock bands.

The show recently won a first-place award in the Digital Experience category presented by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. This category showcases live television broadcasts that incorporate different aspects into their show. On SSL, the broadcast includes a social media segment, where the audience can ask the artists questions.

Not only does SSL create an opportunity for broadcasting students to put their camera skills to practice, it also allows graphic designers, audio students, and other BCA students to hone in their specific areas of interest.

“The cool thing about it is that it ties all of the BCA students together,” said Straub, “[SSL] is a simulcasted show, so we broadcast it on MHTV and we also stream it on YouTube as well as we stream it live on [The Mountain 91.5], one of the radio stations here on campus.”

As well as being streamed across multiple different platforms, SSL brings together different programs that are stationed within Moore Hall.

“Also, something special about the show is that Moore Media Records, or MMR, mixes all of our sounds for the bands.”

As for Straub, she has played a lot of different roles throughout her time on the show.

“When I first joined SSL, I was the floor director,” Straub said. “So, I helped queue the host, I would make sure the studio floor was all ready to go for the time we needed to get going, and I was basically the mouth of the director who was in the control room.”

With the loss of the graduate assistant last year who was running the show, Straub stepped up with a fellow crew member to become co-executive producers.

“We work with the artist relations director from MMR to book our talent, as well as we coordinate the crew, and we reach out to the bands and make sure that everyone is prepped for their rehearsals on Thursdays.”

Straub told me about a special show that they will be putting together later this season.

“We are in our fifth season and the show has grown a lot,” said Straub. “In the middle of the season, we are going to take a look back at the rest of our seasons to kind of highlight some of our best artists and to show people what we do since it is such a fun show that we do here.”

Last Friday was SSL’s first airing of the semester and it will be recorded live every Friday. You can watch the live stream on the MHTV YouTube channel or listen to it on The Mountain 91.5. You can also go to the MHTV’s YouTube page and take a look back at all of their previous shows.