Seniors, juniors and sophomores who once enjoyed daily announcements may have noticed their absence in the new school year. Traditions are being pushed aside with Churchill’s “Daily Dose” being exchanged for “Bulldog TV.” Current freshmen will never experience the iconic theme song and “Good morning Churchill” that the rest of the school had grown familiar with. 

This switch has been met with both positive and negative feedback, since some students miss seeing a show everyday with announcements whereas others enjoy the faster new format. The run time, day of the week, formatting and focus have shifted completely. 

“This year, the ‘Daily Dose’ has been moved from its prior 4th period slot to 2nd period. An additional 5 minutes have also been added to the runtime,” said TV production student Titi Nguyen. “This gives us space to add our own student-produced segments that we make during the week.”

A recent focus has been on increasing student participation in airings of Bulldog TV. Members of the production staff have been interviewing students in the hallways for segments, such as asking trivia questions. 

“Our teacher thought the old Daily Dose was too simple and a lot of the students weren’t as active in the production. This year we’re cutting down on extended announcements,” TV production student Isaiah Zack said. “The show is now mostly about students creating their own segments of pre recorded film with the goal of getting people more involved in the show and working with editing software.” 

Although the encouragement of student creativity is welcomed in any capacity at Churchill, there are also some doubts about whether or not these changes are benefitting the students watching Bulldog TV or even the students producing them. Planning and recording segments takes up a large chunk of the week, so production students are unable to efficiently and quickly provide the news that other students usually relied on the Daily Dose for. 

“I’m not the biggest fan of the slot change. 4th period was an appropriate time as students are more active at midday and could take in information better,” said Nguyen. “In 2nd period, people seem to care less as there is more focus on “getting it over with” and going to 3rd period on time,” said Nguyen. “This can cause clubs to have lower attendance, which I have seen, as students may forget meeting days or tryouts or spirit days, and other major announcements to go under the radar. Overall, it makes us lose credibility as a student resource.”

While the kinks of a new schedule and creative approach are still being worked out, the changes that have been made are encouraging students to take advantage of the tools Churchill provides to become more familiar with journalism, cinematography, and editing programs. “I believe the students do indeed support these changes as it lets us express our more creative sides rather than doing the same old tv show that no one really cares about,” said Zack. “Maybe students will be more interested in watching now.”