RMITV is a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, community access television production facility based at

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

City Campus in Melbourne,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a full member of the

Melbourne Community Television Consortium C31 Melbourne is a free-to-air community television channel in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its name is derived from UHF 31, the frequency and channel number reserved for analogue broadcasts by metropolitan community television stations in ...

, a not-for-profit consortium that operates the community access channel C31 which broadcasts throughout Melbourne and

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

About

RMITV is a student run media production house based within

, with the majority of its funding granted by RMIT University Student Union (RUSU). RMITV is dedicated to providing hands on television experience to students. RMITV also produces content to be broadcast, most commonly on C31 Melbourne and have helped many students find their way to careers in the television industry. Although based at RMIT University in Melbourne, they also work to provide opportunities to members of the local community wanting to get involved in television production.

Logo

Designed by RMITV member Nic Mason in the early 2000s, the "R" and "M" in RMITV's logo are based on the series of classification marks from the OFLC used to designate "Restricted" and "Mature" broadcast content and the "I" and "TV" are based on the 'General' (G) and 'Parental Guidance' (PG) classification marks but making use of different letters and antennas on the TV to signify television

History

RMITV is one of the oldest community television organisations in Australia, having been involved in lobbying the government for community access to the television spectrum. It transmitted its first test broadcast in 1987. Early on RMITV struggled with licences for television spectrum. After originally lobbying for a public licence, similar to those seen in the American public television sector, RMITV was knocked back as public licences are not available in Australia. They were then granted a licence to broadcast to private audiences in a 10 km radius of the RMIT City Campus. The license was granted on the 09/08/1987. A week after a Channel 10 news report by Mal Walden about RMITV's upcoming open day 1987 broadcast the licence was cancelled. The first licence was a General Licence Class D (Section 24). The Licence number was 211744/2. The callsign was VH3BVK. RMITV was also responsible for broadcasting ETV, a closed-circuit television system operated at the RMIT Campus in previous years. The government encouraged Melbourne's many aspirant community television broadcasters to form an umbrella organisation to apply for a broadcasting license, and so RMITV became a founding member of the

; the license holder for Melbourne's Channel 31. RMITV has a long history of successful producers and practitioners moving into professional employment within the Australian television industry. Most notable alumni include: Waleed Aly ( The Project),

Rove McManus John Henry Michael McManus (born 21 January 1974), better known by the stage name Rove McManus, is an Australian triple Gold Logie award-winning comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the e ...

(

Roving Enterprises Roving Enterprises Pty Ltd is an Australian television production company, owned by television presenter, producer and comedian Rove McManus and his business partner Craig Campbell and managed by General Manager Kevin Whyte. The company is respon ...

), Hamish and Andy (Fox FM), Shona Devlin (JTV – Triple J), Tommy Little (''

This Week Live ''This Week Live'' is an Australian comedy chat show screening weekly on Network Ten from 24 July 2013. It is hosted by comedians Dave Thornton, Tommy Little, Tom Gleeson and Meshel Laurie. The show features discussions of topical subjects, gu ...

''), Dave Thornton (''

''), Peter Helliar and many more. RMITV has also had many crew members go on to work at the ABC, Network 10,

Videoworks Adobe Director (formerly Macromedia Director, MacroMind Director, and MacroMind VideoWorks) was a multimedia application authoring platform created by Macromedia and managed by Adobe Systems until its discontinuation. Director was the primary edi ...

and

Staging Connections This is a list of notable companies based in Australia, a country in Oceania. For further information on the types of business entities in this country and their abbreviations, see " Business entities in Australia". Australia is a wealthy country ...

. RMITV's Productions are not only limited to C31, many of RMITV's productions air on community stations all around Australia. For example, ''

Live on Bowen ''Live on Bowen'' was a one-hour Melbourne comedy talk show and variety show produced by RMITV with the support of the RMIT Student Union which aired on C31 Melbourne. The show featured comedic segments, special guest interviews and music acts r ...

'' (2012–2015) which were broadcast on C31, Face Television - Sky Channel 083 (New Zealand), WTV (Perth) and 31 Digital (South East Queensland), '' The Inquiry'' (2009-2010), ''

In Pit Lane ''In Pit Lane'' is an Australian motor sports television show produced in conjunction with RMITV RMITV is a not-for-profit, community access television production facility based at RMIT University City Campus in Melbourne, Australia. I ...

'' (1998–present) and 31 Questions (2012–2014). Throughout its time RMITV has produced some of the most well known programs on Australian community television, including: '' The Loft Live'', '' Under Melbourne Tonight'', '' Chartbusting 80's'', ''

Raucous ''Raucous'' was a live, half an hour, RMITV program broadcast on C31 Melbourne featuring youth-oriented segments, arts reviews, comedy skits, interviews, street talks and live music. It was co-hosted by Lyndon Horsburgh and featured segments with ...

'', '' Dawns Crack'', '' PLUCK'', ''

Studio A ''Studio A'' is an hour-long live variety, comedy and sketch program produced as the RMITV Flagship production between 2008–2011 and was hosted by Dave Thornton and then later Tommy Little. Supporting cast included many up and coming comedia ...

'', '' The Leak'' and countless outside broadcasts. Mid-2015 spawned a webseries collaboration between RMITV and '' Catalyst'', RMIT's Student Magazine, entitled "Politics at the Belleville". Based on the podcast "Politics on the Couch" the program was hosted by the same talent and was released every Friday afternoon.

Internal structure

RMITV is an RMIT

Student Union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

department, with close ties to the not-for-profit incorporated organisation, Student Community Television Inc.. For most operational purposes, both RMITV and Student Community Television Inc. share a common Board of Directors, and management team. The group employs five part-time staff members to look after the organisation and membership- a General Manager, Marketing Manager, Content Manager, Technical Manager and Training Manager. A large number of others look after the management of the organisation in volunteer roles. Additionally, Student Community Television Inc. is a paid full member of the MCTC which provides them with free airtime on C31 Melbourne and representation on the MCTC assembly.

References

External links