After 40 years on air, ECTV is taking a leap, revamping the station and doing away with student anchors.

Elizabethtown College Adjunct Professor Ali Lanyon and her abc27 Daybreak co-anchor James Crummel will be taking the main stage in the new ECTV. Lanyon, an adjunct professor for the Elizabethtown College communications department, and her co-anchor, Crummel, are the hosts of abc27’s morning show, Daybreak, an Emmy award winning newscast.

Lanyon had some ideas on how she would change ECTV. 

“First, I would make ECTV mandatory viewing on campus,” Lanyon said. “All communications courses would get pop quizzes on the events covered the night before on the news.”

ECTV is a formerly student-run television program that broadcasts sports, campus and community news, special events, classic film and television programming and various entertainment segments. Lanyon wishes to dive deeper into campus and community news by implementing news blocks.

 “One news block would be campus news, one news block would be community news, and one news block would be national and international news,” Lanyon said.” I really think college students should be more invested in current events and get their news from trusted sources, not just social media.”

ECTV serves not only the Elizabethtown College campus, but approximately 25,000 homes in the surrounding Elizabethtown area, but Lanyon wishes to increase viewership. 

“As the anchors of Daybreak, we are always plotting regional domination,” Lanyon said. “So, we would start to advertise on billboards in and around Elizabethtown.” 

Although this change may be a hard pill to swallow, Lanyon stated this is a good change as it allows students to learn directly from professionals in action.

 “Students who are interested in getting into this line of work can learn from us as professionals and they can see how it’s done,” Lanyon said.

 This change will allow for Lanyon and Crummel to be mentors for students in and outside of the classroom. 

Don’t fret, ECTV will still employ students as crew. Entertainment segments will remain, with a few adjustments. Lanyon suggested a transformation of the shows, where students complete odd, strange, and difficult tasks, to include professors. 

“I would make it a student versus professor show to see who could do it best,” Lanyon said. 

Well-known shows such as Jaypardy and ECTV Playz will make the change from student versus student, to student versus professor. Are there any professors you would like to go up against?

Although, you can say goodbye to ECTV Tries. 

“I would eliminate ECTV Tries because how about ECTV tries putting down the phone for a change,” Lanyon said. 

Lanyon’s controversial decision to do away with this beloved segment was met with some backlash.

“ECTV Tries is so entertaining and it’s fun for the students. I can’t believe they would consider cutting it,” sophomore English Secondary Education major, Jillian Spiller, said.

The changes being made to ECTV are not greatly accepted by Elizabethtown College students. Students are troubled by the change, claiming it is not right and takes opportunities away from Etown students.

“I don’t know the whole story, but from what I’ve heard, it’s taking opportunities away from the students,” Spiller said. “It sounds unfair and everyone loved ECTV the way it was. Other than assistance, why do we need professionals to take over? It’s not right.”

ECTV has been a beloved television show since its establishment in the 1980s. In 40 years, there has never been an upheaval so drastic, and it comes as a shock to the community it serves. 

“The news that student anchors will no longer be at ECTV came as a shocking surprise. One that I’m not sure I agree with,” Elizabethtown College student Ethane Omwanza said.

This transition from student anchors to professional anchors will have a lasting impact on ECTV and the community it serves. Whether that impact is positive or negative cannot be determined, but this controversial decision will go down in Etown history. Despite the controversy, Lanyon wants viewers to know, “We are here, and we are the news they need.”