The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in Phoenix has installed two Studer Vista 5 digital mixing consoles to be used as an integral part of the School of Journalism’s emphasis on real-world experience.
Housed in a 6-story, $71 million, 223,000-square-foot academic building located in downtown Phoenix, they are at the core of the School’s advanced broadcast facilities.
One Vista 5 is used to train students covering the J-School’s First Amendment Forum, used for town hall-type meetings. The second Vista 5 mixer has been installed in the School’s state-of-the-art broadcast control room, where it is used to record, edit and broadcast the School’s daily award-winning weekday news programming.
Jim Dove, Chief Engineer at the Cronkite School of Journalism, knew he needed a console that was highly flexible, extremely powerful, and cost-effective.
“There were all of those factors to consider, as well as the fact that Chris Callahan, the Dean of the journalism school, has a vision of making real-world experience an integral part of the curriculum here,” Dove explains.
“We were very happy to find a digital broadcast console that meets and exceeds all of those requirements. In fact, it’s accurate to say that these two Vista 5 consoles do the work of at least three or more consoles, so they were a very cost-efficient decision.”
Dove says that acquiring a Studer Vista 5 console constitutes more than simply getting a piece of equipment—he’s also gotten a partner. “Studer’s been incredibly helpful for us from the moment we decided to buy,” he says, noting that the company’s technical support has been readily available whenever he or his staff has a question.
“We’ve been very happy with the follow-up that we’ve received,” he says. “We made an investment when we bought the Vista 5 consoles, but we also feel that Studer has also made an investment – in us and our students.”
