History

TeleProductions was founded by Dr. Phillip Macomber in 1961.

As a component within the School of Speech, "Television Services" (as it was then called) focused mainly on recording faculty lectures for later delivery over the Kent campus' closed-circuit television system. In 1978, Dr. Thomas Olson from Southern Illinois University became the second director of Television Services. Under Dr. Olson's leadership, the department changed its name to TeleProductions. TeleProductions started to take shape as: it purchased state-of-the-art recording and editing technologies, expanded its focus to both studio and remote production, originated university departmental marketing and promotional videos and added broadcast capabilities with its support of PBS stations WNEO/WEAO. Also during Dr. Olson's directorship, the department shifted from the School of Speech to the Kent State University Library. This shift put the department directly under the Provost's Office, which enabled TeleProductions to provide services across the campus. In 1998, TeleProductions merged with Audio Visual Services and created the Media Services component of Libraries and Media Services.

Though a relatively small group, TeleProductions' work is quite large. Instructional video production support is provided to over 27 courses, serving more than one thousand students across 14 different schools and colleges. TeleProductions also documents important university events like: the Pilliod Lecture Series, the Solomon Lecture Series, the Hyde Park Forum, the Martin Luther King Day presentations, May 4th Commemoration and more. TeleProductions has provided support for several on-going grants, completed a technology "face-lift" in the ATT classroom, and completed promotional videos for the football team and the Red Cross of Stark County. Every week, TeleProductions keeps the student run television (TV2) and radio (Black Squirrel Radio) stations up and running.