MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — It’s been an accomplishment nearly 13 years to the day in the making — the mobile production lab truck used by students in Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Media Arts in the College of Media and Entertainment celebrated its 500th shoot since going online in 2011.

The milestone shoot happened as the Blue Raider football team fought against Conference USA rival Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers on Sept. 14 at Floyd Stadium.

According to Bob Gordon, an associate professor and interim department chair, “The Truck,” as it is affectionately called, went online on Sept. 21, 2011, when he and his students did their first production for “Capitol Records Street Party” on Lower Broad in downtown Nashville.

“We recorded the live musical performance of Alan Jackson, Eric Church and MTSU alumnus Eric Paslay in front of 25,000 people,” he recalled.

Since then, the almost $2 million mobile production lab has been used for a variety of MTSU sports for ESPN+ Sports, the CMA Red Carpet Pre-Show for WKRN-TV News 2 and ABC affiliates, concerts for the Nashville Symphony and at performance venues like the Franklin Theater, The Factory of Franklin and 3rd and Lindsley.

It’s also been used at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Pit Stop Competition; the National Women’s Hockey League Skills Competition, which was watched by 800,000 people on X, formerly known as Twitter; the National Fast Pitch Softball Draft announcement; “The Songwriters” series for PBS stations; the TSSAA boys’ and girls’ state high school basketball championships; and dozens of live concerts at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

Gordon, who has taught at MTSU since 2007, said students fill every position on the production truck, giving them the sort of hands-on, real-world experience and skills that give them a competitive advantage in the job market as they launch their professional careers.

“Everything from producer, director, technical director, camera operator, graphic operator, replay operator, audio engineer to production manager,” he said. “The only non-student positions are faculty member and staff engineers.”

2023 alums recall working in ‘The Truck’

Justin Tart and Dakota Russ, both 2023 video and film and production graduates, are just two of the hundreds of students who trained in the truck.

“The truck gave me experience doing ESPN+ sports broadcasts in many capacities, concerts, award shows, Bonnaroo, and many other special events,” said Tart. “Every show worked, and all the time spent in or around the truck and the opportunities it provided all culminated to get me where I am today.

“Every shoot or project added a new skill set, an issue to troubleshoot, an odd situation that either helped or hindered the show, etc. These issues or unexpected things that caused problems or something that changed were positive things for us but made us pivot from what we were originally going to do, and all became learning opportunities,” he added.

Tart, who works as a freelance technical director and has worked on projects for the Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators, Nashville Soccer Club, and sporting events for ESPN and the SEC Network, to name a few, said MTSU’s video and film production program prepared him for his career.

“The program allowed me to try out different crew positions on the truck and get a taste of what every position entails,” he said. “It provided the facilities to spend time on and practice with the equipment anytime without the pressure of a show that evening. This time was invaluable because, aside from MTSU, studios and trucks are always in use and don’t allow for that time to mess around and figure things out on your own.

“It also provided an instant connection point with many other alums in the field. The Nashville market is filled with MTSU alumni, and almost every show I work has an MTSU alum working on it as well, so it’s awesome to have an instant bond with them right out off the bat.”  

Russ, who works as a TV truck video engineer for TNDV Television in Nashville, said MTSU prepared him for his career by giving him the “space to experiment, make mistakes and learn.”

“That’s what I loved about MTSU. Most of my time on campus was spent doing extracurricular activities like being the president of Blue Raider Student Television and the director for Media Arts Productions,” he said. “These organizations allowed me to train in a forgiving environment that allowed failure so that you could learn from it. … That’s where a lot of my problem-solving skills that I use in my job came from.”

He added, “Another key experience I had on the truck was simply opening and closing the truck, and all the cable wrapping, packing cases and organization that required. As a TV truck engineer, it was these experiences that showed me my true passion and made me want to make that a career. It sounds odd that load-in and tearing down equipment are key experiences, but the skills I learned there I use every single day.”

Alum owns MTSU’s original production truck

Alumnus Nic Dugger didn’t have the opportunity to work on the current truck, but he was at its first-ever production in downtown Nashville. 

“When ‘New Blue’ was launched, there was a feeling of anticipation and excitement,” he said. “The prevailing theory was that MTSU would never get a new production truck, and at the time, the original truck was getting rather ‘broken in.’ To have a brand new, expanding side, HD capable truck for students to use, it was breathtaking.”

Dugger, who started TNDV in 2003, owns MTSU’s original production truck, “Old Blue.”

“Keeping Blue in the family was indeed sentimental, but in some special way, that truck had been preparing us all for a career for decades, so it only seemed appropriate that it would live on supporting us as we continued to grow and develop in our careers.  To this day, the truck, formerly known as ‘Old Blue,’ still provides opportunities to many of us. It is impossible to set foot on that truck without being hit by decades of memories,” he said.  

About MTSU’s Mobile Production Lab

The 40-foot rolling TV studio/classroom includes a complete professional-quality HD video production control room and seven cameras. The truck is used to teach multicamera television productions such as sports events, musical concerts and awards shows. “The Truck” averages about 30 live productions each fall and spring semester and provides students with substantial hands-on experience.

— DeAnn Hays (deann.hays@mtsu.edu)