Students focus on broadcasting

In a small classroom inside an industrial park in Torrance, veteran TV engineer Jaime Hernandez is dispensing some practical advice to his eager students.

Look at the subject. Frame the shot. Check the focus. Above all, be consistent.

"I had a student who was always going after the spectacular shot," Hernandez said. "I told him, 'Just give me something I can use. Just give me a base hit, not a home run every time.' "

With that in mind, a dozen students fanned out to film segments on topics such as high gas prices and fishing at the Redondo Beach Pier before returning to the classroom two hours later, when their work would be dissected.

The learning-by-doing approach is core to the mission of the Center for Education in TV and Radio, nicknamed Centro, which is Spanish for "center" and a rough acronym of the business' name. This minority-owned business offers a seven-month vocational training program to students pursuing careers in television and radio broadcasting.

The students don't fit the profile of those at established college programs. Many come from inner-city neighborhoods in Los Angeles and couldn't afford to attend a four-year college.

"We need to diversify our industry at all levels, and that's what we're helping to do," said Rolando Nichols, the school's co-founder and morning news anchor at Univision Communications Inc.'s KMEX-TV Channel 34. "We're giving opportunities to kids who otherwise might have done menial work for the rest of their lives."

Launched this year by Nichols and other Latino journalists, the center is a small player in the field. Centro has just 25 students and six instructors. And the center is not yet accredited, a process that takes two years.

Already, however, the program has garnered a strong reputation among major networks such as Fox Sports and ESPN by tapping into a growing demand for technicians, especially those who are bilingual. ESPN International, which owns in full or in part 45 international TV networks, recently hired one of the graduates to work as an assistant producer.

"They have state-of-the-art equipment in their facility, and they're teaching students how to operate it in a very practical way," said Charita Johnson, vice president of production performance and development for ESPN.

"We're very impressed," said Jennifer Johnson, spokeswoman for Fox Sports West and Fox Sports Prime Ticket. Fox Sports has hired three of the graduates.