Martinsville, Indiana                                             11/18/08

Television broadcasting began at Martinsville High School in 1996 when Brenda Schindler, an English and Journalism teacher, started a program called MHS Rewind.  Schindler and a small group of her dedicated publication's students came up with the format for the school news show:  a short funny open to get the students' attention followed by a longer segment of school news.  The  idea worked, and MHS Rewind was an instant hit.  As a matter of fact, that same format is still used today.

In 1999, Schurz Communications donated their low-powered television station in Martinsville, WREP, to the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville.  The district hired Eric Meyer to run the station and to teach Television Broadcasting at Martinsville High School.

Today, students in the Intro and Advanced Television Broadcasting classes at MHS continue to produce MHS Rewind every two weeks.  When they aren't working on the school news program, they also produce a wide variety of other projects in class including morning announcements, show opens, commercials, music videos and short films.  In addition, students help produce over 80 sporting events a year for WREP by serving as announcers, camera operators, technical directors, producers and directors.

The program has grown from its start with a simple linear editing system and camcorder to where it is today with 16 Final Cut Pro non-linear editing systems and 14 professional cameras including 4  JVC GY-HD110U High Definition camcorders. 

The Broadcasting Department has graduates working in the broadcast industry at places like ESPN, WISH TV, WTHR and Charter Communications, and has former students attending college at some of the top broadcasting programs around the country.