Hailey Hackett and Diego Hyndman squeezed together tightly in an editing booth to overlay text in a title sequence last Monday night at the Seattle University Media Production Center for their very first broadcast episode.

Hackett and Hyndman are both Communications and Media Studies seniors who joined to launch a multimedia journalism club called “The Redhawk Entertainment Network” this quarter.

“I want to go into broadcast TV,” Hackett said. “We obviously don’t have that here, so I’ve been going outside school to get editing and broadcast experience. But realistically, we have a journalism program and we’re moving into an era where multimedia outlets are replacing traditional written journalism. We have the resources and passionate people to do it, so why not?”

The crew adjusts the sound and lighting before going live at 9 p.m. Monday night.

The Redhawk Entertainment Network aims to deliver local Seattle U news to students on the RECord SU YouTube channel live on Mondays at 9 p.m. Combining a live broadcast with pre-recorded video packages, their first episode delivered a report on adjunct faculty, Dance Marathon, Seattle U research published in the Stranger, and an interview with Seattle U student and musician Brett Riley.

This week’s episode also featured a panel of students and a faculty member discussing the women’s march and the #MeToo movement. RECord SU is making plans for an immigration panel in a future episode, and hopes to share a variety of student opinions.

Hyndman and Hackett currently find their story ideas through surveying and research, but they hope to get students more involved. They hope that students will tag them in Facebook and Instagram posts that they want RECord SU to investigate.

“The Redhawk Entertainment network is aiming to be totally student centered and curated,” Hyndman said. “We want to cover all aspects of student life. If there’s some crazy, funny shit that has nothing to do with the school, but has to do with the students at Seattle University, we want to talk about it. We want to make something that students want to watch.”

Diego Hyndman and Nicole Bonfiglio hosted as RECord SU went live on Monday night.

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The Redhawk Entertainment Network only has RECord SU currently, but they are hoping to expand the creative opportunity for students by airing other shows. Hackett and Hyndman said that they want to capture a wide variety of student perspectives to represent the diverse student body.

Jamie Peterson, the Redhawk Entertainment Network’s faculty advisor, has been manager of the Media Production Center since its conception in 2010.

“I want to support any effort by students or faculty and staff in not only creating content, but getting it out there and encouraging other people to participate.” Peterson said. “That’s what’s really powerful with these student movements, forming clubs, or groups and coming together with a common purpose and being able to crank out some nice stuff.”

Peterson said that the Redhawk Entertainment Network and the Media Production Center are not exclusive clubs reserved for film studies and communications students.

“We’re open to all SU students, faculty and staff. That includes equipment checkout, training, computers equipped with media editing software and the recording studio. The center and club fall in line with the school’s mission of creating leaders for a “just and humane world.” How do we communicate with audio and visuals? With the internet it’s easy to get that voice out there for change or interest,” Peterson said.

The club’s latest project is a Valentine’s Day special, and they’re currently searching for students willing to be filmed on a blind date. Hyndman and Hackett said that they want to create relationships that last so they can give “where are they now?” updates.

Hackett and Hyndman are also still looking for students to join the club, noting that there are still many roles to fill and that no experience is required. For those interested in joining the club or providing news pitches, the Redhawk Entertainment Network can be reached at [email protected].

Quinn may be reached at
[email protected]