The Roy H. Park School of Communications is now home to a state-of-the-art television set, unveiled at the start of the fall semester.

The new set is an upgrade from the modular pieces that were assembled and then broken down after broadcasts of Newswatch. The modular set enabled the studio to be configured differently for other types of programs, but breakdown and setup was also labor and time intensive.

Once the Park School made the upgrade to high-definition broadcast, the pieces started to show their age. “That’s the thing about going HD: you could see every nick and scratch. We were careful with that [old] set, but it got an awful lot of use,” said Chris Wheatley ’81, manager of television and radio operations at the school.

The new set’s clean, modern look incorporates materials and a design that’s meant to transcend the fads. With its glass top and metal frame, the anchor desk can seat four and can be rolled out of the way if necessary. Nine LED monitors deliver crisp, clear images.

Seth Easter, a well-known scenic designer who contracts with ABC for its sets and who designed the ABC World News Tonight set used by anchor David Muir ’95, designed ICTV’s new set. Recruited to improve the studio’s lighting was Steven Brill ’80, president and founder of the Emmy Award–winning Lighting Design Group.

“When these students graduate, I’m sure it will prove invaluable for them to have had hands-on experience with state-of-the-art equipment. This will give them a huge advantage in the job market,” Brill said.

This big step forward in the set’s modernization was made possible by donations to the IC Annual Fund, said dean of the Park School Diane Gayeski ’74.

“Many Park School alumni were involved in ICTV, and the set is a really clear example of what can be done with their donations,” she said. “It was not one big donation but rather lots of relatively modest donations that allowed us to do this.”