Morning Central is back with renewed focus on campus, surrounding community
The cast of Morning Central poses for a photo / Courtesy of Sara Lewandowski
Morning Central has made a comeback to Moore Hall Television (MHTV) after being canceled about a year ago due to a producer stepping down.
The 30-minute, student-produced show airs every Friday at 9:30 a.m. It offers news coverage, weather, traffic, interviews, cooking segments and other MHTV programs.
“(We want it to) be like a really centralized morning show specific to Central and the surrounding area,” executive producer Sara Lewandowski said. “We’re trying to make it a community-oriented show.”
Lewandowski said the focus right now is getting more MHTV shows involved with Morning Central.
“We’re doing a lot more celebrity-centered stories, what’s trending and trying to get more centered on Mount Pleasant things and lighter news,” she said.
She said the approximately 20-person crew made a few changes to the show like refiguring it to have three commercial breaks instead of two like the old show had. She said they also brought couches onto the set and are looking for sponsorships from local businesses.”
“We got one with Ignite Donuts and we’re going to do a couple things with them,” she said.
Lewandowski said Morning Central is open to anyone looking to be on the show or pitch ideas.
“We’re trying to do more games and activities with a lot of different RSOs and stuff,” she said. “We’re trying to reach out to people, trying to get people involved, doing interviews, see what’s happening around campus… We’re always looking for more people that are trying to participate and be on the show.”
She said a fun package they currently offer is a cooking show with senior Tyler Isanhart.
“He’ll make the package, we’ll air it and then he’ll bring in the food that he makes,” Lewandowski said. “He did a Super Bowl dip dish and then he brought it in, and our anchors got to try it on air.”
The morning show was originally taken off air last spring after its contract with MHTV broke because a producer stepped down, according to a MHTV press release. Station bylines state if one of two producers leave, the show must be canceled.
Last fall, Lewandowski and co-executive producer Lauren Graves discussed bringing the show the back to life. Lewandowski said they submitted a pitch to MHTV and moved forward to renew the show.
“We both were interested in the concept of the show and having more hands-on experience,” Lewandowski said. “I always kind of wanted to be more involved with MHTV and be on the executive board and be able to run a show… I want to go into news producing and stuff like this, so it’s a great opportunity.”
Follow Morning Central on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter for show and production updates.
Moore Hall Television is available on Charter cable channel 189 and is available for streaming on Vimeo.
