La Salle 56 is an educational-access television station carried on the Comcast Cable and Urban CableWorks systems in Philadelphia. The station reaches over 200,000 homes, broadcasting to both La Salle University and its neighbors.

Purpose

La Salle 56 serves La Salle University and its viewing community with educational and entertaining programs, while providing a hands-on learning facility for students interested in communication.

History

La Salle University gained cable channel 56 in 1991through franchise agreement between Philadelphia and its cable providers. The Academic Computing and Information Technology Department operated the station from Olney Hall and assigned one full-time employee to produce programming.

Without access to a studio, the station's production coordinator struggled to find adequate taping locations. Although crews occasionally used the St. Cassian Hall television studio, most programs were shot with camcorders in the Campus Ministry lounge or Union Building and later edited together with graphics and music. After the Communication Center opened in fall 1994, La Salle 56 used its television studio and editing rooms for production.

Although some students did produce regular shows, most programming came from campus events and lectures. These programs were usually shot with one camera and lacked good production quality.

During the 1996-97 academic year, the production coordinator was pulled away from the station to work on the University's computer system. La Salle 56 soon became a scrolling message board and Philadelphia instructed La Salle to either program the channel with shows or return it.

Because of increased student interest, the University decided to keep the station and restructure its operation. Channel supervision was transferred to the Communication Department in July 1997, allowing the station to use the department's $4.5 million facility and reach more students majoring in communication. A full-time station manager was hired to run the operation and involve students in production.

During La Salle 56's first year with the Communication Department, over 50 students worked with the station to produce two regular studio shows. The following year 75 students volunteered and the number of regular shows increased to six. Since then, La Salle 56 has produced roughly 100 show episodes a year with the help of about 100 students.

Governance

Philadelphia's Department of Public Property grants La Salle University permission to use channel 56 as an educational access station. La Salle 56 must follow the regulations of the City and University in order to operate.

The station manager runs the station under the supervision of the Communication Department chairperson. Both La Salle 56 office staff and show producers report to the station manager, and producers supervise their show's segment producers and crewmembers.

Students working for La Salle 56 do not receive pay or academic credit for their work with the exception of the office staff, who have work-study grants.

Location & Facilities

La Salle 56 is located on La Salle University's south campus in room 210 of the Communication Center. The station and Communication Department share the building's facilities, which include a television studio, a linear editing suite, three nonlinear editing suites, a dubbing room, and portable equipment.

Funding

As an academic service, La Salle 56 receives funding from the Communication Department's budget.

Philadelphia's Department of Public Property prohibits the station from selling airtime for advertisements or using the station for any commercial purposes.

Contact Information

La Salle 56 can be reached by mail, fax, telephone, and email. Messages are posted on the station's office bulletin board for the producers to pick up.

US Mail:
Mail can be sent to:

Campus Mail:
The Communication Department's main office has a La Salle 56 mailbox where messages can be dropped off during regular office hours. The campus mail address is:

Telephone:
The station telephone should be answered in a professional manner. Messages should be written down along with the date, time, and person who took the call. Messages for producers are posted on the office bulletin board and those for the station manager are left on the office computer. The phone number is:

Fax:
The station shares the Communication Department's fax machine so all faxes should be addressed to the attention of La Salle 56. The fax number is:

Email:
All email is received by the station manager who then forwards it to the appropriate person. Send email to: