Conroe teams up with Sam Houston State University film students for new TV show

Conroe soon will be connecting with the community in a new and modern way. 

City leaders announced a partnership with Sam Houston State University’s mass communications program to produce a monthly one-hour television show for the city’s public educational and government access channel. Locally, Optimum cable company carries the city’s information access on channel 12. 

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The first video will be filmed soon and focus on the functions of the city’s mounted patrol officers. A new website is in the works for the city and it is expected to debut in early 2024. 

Video content from the production also will be used for the city’s website and social-media sites. This production aims to provide informational, instructional how-to videos and behind-the-scenes looks into the city’s department operations.

“The production of Conroe’s new television show is an essential first step in modernizing the communication tools we’re using to provide crucial information to our citizens in a format that’s more common with how society’s consuming their information.” said City Administrator Gary Scott.

The university will provide students from its multi-camera field production course, under the guidance of professor Martin Gaston, to participate in a real-world experience program.

Gaston joined the university in 2021 after more than 30 years in the television-production business. 

The outlook for this program is a continuous year-round project, rotating production students every 16 weeks when each new semester begins.

“We will be connecting with the community in a whole new way,” said Andrew Yousse, public information officer for the city. “In addition to the benefit of providing local content for the city-run channel and social-media platforms, this allows the students to have real-world experience at producing videos that will be seen on public television.”

This partnership will not require additional funding from the city. 

The elevated exposure could open greater opportunities in the film industry and at colleges and university for the students, Yousse said.

Currently the channel features a rotating page with information from each city department. 

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It’s Yousse’ goal to make the experience more interactive and reach viewers with more modern ways of communicating information like short videos and reels. 

Each city department will be showcased and be able to address the department’s most-asked questions. 

The locally produced videos also will have a home on the new city website. 

“Our primary focus is identifying each department’s most common questions citizens ask. We’ll answer those questions in short, step-by-step videos and place those videos on our (channel) and the specific department’s page on the new city website,” Yousse said. “A committee of representatives from each city department has been established and will determine the content featured in each episode.”

The name of the city’s new show and the projected first episode air date will be determined later.

Visit Conroe’s website for more information.