Rice turns its professors into TV stars: New on-campus studio makes national interviews easy

Rice University built its own on-campus television studio space, and from now on, faculty members and experts won't have to step beyond the hedges for interviews with national media outlets.

"Typically faculty members would have to drive either to a network affiliate station or to Total Video in downtown Houston," David Ruth, Rice's director of national media relations, tells CultureMap. "We just started pitching the on-site space to national media (Wednesday). We get calls often from national media, so we anticipate to use it very soon."

Rice is the home of the congressman-rebuking Douglas Brinkley after all.

 "The only thing that we have to do is have a media relations staff member unlock the door for the faculty member, and give them an earpiece and microphone lapel," Ruth says.  

The studio itself is a small room but a high-tech one, with standard and HD-quality video, lighting and sound all controlled remotely through VideoLink ReadyCam TV. The walls and floors are carpeted. An interchangeable backdrop lines the back wall — unfortunately no green screen, at least for now. That leaves just enough space for a desk, a couple of chairs, a few monitors and a camera.

Though national broadcasts will be handled completely by VideoLink, the equipment can be managed in-house as well, for use by the media department and faculty training.

"We looked at a couple of different services, and we found that VideoLink is widely accepted by different news services and compatible with the media that we typically deal with," Ruth says. "The only thing that we have to do is have a media relations staff member unlock the door for the faculty member, and give them an IFB earpiece and microphone lapel."

So the next time you see "Dr. Rice" or another Owls expert commenting on the news, he or she may just be sitting in the basement of the Allen Center.