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ATV Overview

ATV is the student-run television station at American University, located in northwest Washington, DC. The station is dedicated to bringing quality entertainment and new programming to AU campus, as well as providing engaging coverage of the many events happening on campus.

ATV is completely run by students. All of our programs are hosted, produced, edited, and managed by students, and students are also responsible for the management of the station, its studios, and its technical equipment. Programs on ATV air 24 hours a day on channels 2 and 15, and streaming live on our website.

ATV operates out of the second floor of Mary Graydon Center. Our offices, studio, control room, editing suites, equipment, and broadcast control are all located in MGC 256, a location that we also share with WVAU.

Get Involved!

Working at ATV is an excellent opportunity to get involved with a hands-on experience of working at a television station, and offers unique experience that really stands out on a résumé. Whether you have a lot of experience working with cameras, production equipment, or editing software, or none at all, participating in ATV will give you an excellent hands-on training experience that you won’t get anywhere else. (School of Communication students generally don’t get to start hands-on equipment work until junior year!) And if you’re coming in with no experience at all, we can help you get up to speed with using our cameras and studio equipment and with editing using Final Cut Pro. Our producers are always looking for eager volunteers to help out on our shows. Or, if you’re feeling creative, you’re more than welcome to suggest an idea for a new show that you’d like to help create! If you’re interested in getting involved with ATV, please fill out our Get Involved form and we’ll get in touch with you.

ATV History

Founded in 1979, WAVE-TV was first recognized by the AU Student Confederation (the predecessor to the AU Student Government) in Spring 1981 and began full operation that Fall on campus-wide closed circuit television. Its offices were located in Mary Graydon and would broadcast three nights a week from the AU Broadcast Center. It was funded by the Student Confederation and by local advertisers.

In the early 1990s, WAVE was renamed to A-TV2, later shortened to ATV. Most of the shows were broadcast in the Letts Hall Basement and the Broadcast Center. Other programming included syndicated subscription feed programming from the National Association of College Broadcasters and the College Life Television Network. ATV also expanded to AU dorm rooms during this time and saw a significant expansion of its programming. ATV was also recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, receiving the first place Mark of Excellence Award in sports reporting, sports photography, and overall newscast. Notable alumni who worked for ATV during this time include David Gregory (‘92, now moderator of Meet the Press on NBC) and Chris Noll (‘98, now host of The Chris Wylde Show on Comedy Central).

Following AU’s renovation of Mary Graydon Center in 2002, ATV moved its studio and offices to the new location on the second floor, where it remains today. ATV also began airing 24/7 programming following the move to MGC. ATV launched its first website in 2007, and relaunched its website in 2009, introducing new websites for each of its shows and streaming its on-air programming live on the internet for the first time.