Friendswood High is one of the few public schools that offers a Television Production class. The program has a rich history and was started in 1978 at the Jr. High; and, at that time was one of the only programs of its kind in the nation. The program has grown through the years into the extensive department that it is today.

There are 2 sections of Multi-Media Technology in which students can enroll. The classes are offered as a Career and Technology credit so it offers a great opportunity to students interested in pursuing a career in televison/video production. And for those students looking for a fun, interesting elective, the classes also give students that opportunity. The program is designed to be a hands-on learning environment. But just because there is no book, that does not mean the students don't work. There are written assignments and vocabulary quizzes every week and lots of video projects throughout the year.

The department, which is called M.C.S (Mustang Cable System) is under the supervision of John Dawson. As a graduate of F.H.S., he is excited to be leading a program that he was once a student. Mr. Dawson teaches both classes, and they are responsible for producing a 4 minute newscast everyday for the High School. There are televisions in all the classrooms and the school watches the newscast at the beginning of 3rd period. Teachers, organizations, clubs, and other school groups use the newscast as a means to share announcements to the rest of the school. MCS students work to transform the groups' announcements into video and audio that is known as television. The newscast is an excellent medium for the MCS students to sharpen and develop their Television Production and Broadcast Journalism skills.

As well as having the entire high school to broadcast student produced programming, the department has a cable channel in the City of Friendswood. Cable channel 16 on the Time Warner Cable System in Friendswood is the Educational Access Channel and is managed by Friendswood High School. The channel airs educational programming, news and information about F.I.S.D., Public Service Announcements, community news, and student produced programs. The cable channel has recently been updated through the introduction of the new Alphagen Character Generator. The Alphagen creates all of the colorful graphics that currently run during the day on the cable channel.

The department offers industrial grade equipment that allows students to create professional quality productions. Currently, there are 4 Panasonic S-VHS camcorders with 2 S-VHS editing systems. There are also 2 Panasonic Digital camcorders. The newest addition to MCS is the brand new Apple G4 Non-Linear Editing System. The Final-Cuts Pro software allows the students to create professional high quality digital video productions. Other equipment in the department includes a Mac-based teleprompting system. The students learn computer graphics and animation on an Amiga 4000 Video Toaster, as well as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premier with a Macintosh Power PC. The MCS studios allow students to produce live or taped shows in a professional environment. Friendswood High School is a Channel One Flagship school. To learn more about Channel One, follow this link.

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