Ryan Navi, Cub Writer
KBEV, the television broadcast station located right on campus, plays a large role in the spirit and community of our school.
Every day, its members actively work to create broadcasts for not only the students of Beverly Hills High School, but for the community in Beverly Hills. In fact, KBEV broadcasts its shows on Spectrum Channel 6, and delivers its content to thousands of people. In addition, they stream their content online.
Romeo Carey, the executive media director, described many of the upcoming events that KBEV will be broadcasting. These events include basketball games, live shows, board meetings, and open house. In addition, Carey explained the hard-work it takes to create the Norman Updates and other broadcasts.
“[We] manage to do it every single week, even if there is holidays, even if you were on vacation…there is people coming in when there is nobody here.” [sic]
He also said that KBEV has managed to produce 56 Norman Updates.
“It works like a clock. Like a Swiss watch. You manage to see it every single Monday, before class starts, before 1st period.”
Carey further explained the content included in KBEV’s live shows.
“KBEV’s live show is a three hour live show that incorporates everybody in the school, including the district and people from the outside, mayors, board members. Every head of every department gets interviewed.”
Carey also explained that he and the KBEV staff are fully in charge of operating and managing the entire studio.
“Do you know who closes this place? We do. Not the janitor, not security. KBEV.”
KBEV also actively competes in competitions, such as Skills USA, and regularly ranks in top positions.
“We’re in competitions. Were number one in state. We’ve been number one in state in three categories for the last three years.”
Carey explained that KBEV has won first place in the Skills USA audio and broadcast news categories every year, and he attributed those winnings to a technique called “crystallizing”.
“You have to do everything in your power leading up to the competition that guarantees that you can’t fail. [Crystallizing is] seeing the number one position, and then seeing that you own the finished medal.”
Ryan Tabatabai, a sophomore currently enrolled in KBEV, detailed what an average day in KBEV looks like for both the beginner and advanced KBEV classes.
“If you’re in the [beginner] classes, you usually meet in the KBEV classroom. Each day, a different student films their own show, and they usually film in Studio B. [The advanced class] films the Norman News and Norman Updates.”
Tabatabai further described the different positions that are in KBEV.
“In the studio, there are so many positions you could have. It could be on camera or it could be behind the scenes. On camera, you could be a host, anchor, or have different roles. In the studio, you also have your floor manager, your camera man. In the control room, you got your director, technical director, teleprompter, audio. Your producer is above most of the people.”
Tabatabai said that he often stays after school to work on his KBEV assignments and broadcasts.
“I usually stay after school. For Open House, I stayed until around 9 o’clock. Usually I stay a few hours after school. For events, football, basketball, games, and stuff like that, I usually stay up pretty late.”
Tabatabai says he recommends other students to take KBEV, and also offers some advice for any potential KBEV members.
“I would definitely recommend everyone to take KBEV if you can. It’s an amazing class… There is an application process, but don’t let that intimidate you if you really want to join the class.”
Romeo states that more than anything, responsibility is the primary benefit given to his students.
“My mode of operation is to take somebody and put more weight and responsibility the longer they’re in here, and for them to recognize that their life is about purpose, and that when they come in here, if they didn’t have a life with a purpose, my job is to give them one.”
Carey ultimately stated the most impactful thing KBEV has done for him.
“It has allowed me to mentor and to take away the suffering of individuals that come into an institution like this, and to give them hope and purpose, and to more than anything, add fire to their spark.”