Since its opening in 1994, Liberty ran a daily news program, filmed live every day up until 2017, when it was phased out. In 2020, The Patriot Press is trying to bring it back in a stark reimagining of the school announcements show.

Patriot Press Live is the latest and greatest video project from The Patriot Press. It is a weekly, pre-recorded, high-quality news and infotainment show filmed out of Room 264 on publishing days. The crew behind the program have come together and established themselves as “264 Studios.”

The first thing many have inquired upon hearing about the inception of the show is why? Patriot Press Live, at its core, stems from an ambition to breathe new life into the idea of a school news show. Almost everywhere else in the country, a school news show is used as no more than a vessel to get important announcements and information out to the school community. Often, doing it on video takes more effort than it’s worth, so many schools have either switched to or maintained the idea that audio-only announcements, much like the ones here at liberty, are the superior option for important news and information.

The inherent problem with this, however, is that the vast majority of student attention is not given to announcements, be it audio or visual, morning or afternoon. This is the first goal of Patriot Press Live- to make the idea of an announcements show appealing and to keep it relatable and entertaining. 

The show falls under the genre of “Infotainment.” Infotainment, as the name suggests, makes an effort to blend Information and Entertainment into one product. Quips, running gags, and high energy are all inclusions to the formula to make the show more engrossing.

By making the show weekly, it’s not only held up to a very high standard of quality, but it also hypothetically allows the show to generate more engagement. When there’s only one episode per week, it generates excitement for each week’s episode because students have to wait for it. When it’s thrown at them every day, it gets stale, and quickly gets boring. The idea is that if there can be hype generated for an episode each week, more students will end up fully tuning in on a weekly basis. 

Another aim of Patriot Press Live is to maintain a standard of quality over quantity. PPL is the kind of show that can never run daily because the faster an episode has to be pumped out, the less time for preparation and less attention to detail. This would lead to an intrinsically worse product. These are sacrifices the team behind the show have made very clear they are not willing to make. The idea is to maintain quality and engagement to the highest standard, no exceptions.

The end goal is to have Patriot Press Live run as a weekly infotainment program played in classes by teachers one day every week, ideally at the end of the day before classes get out or in the morning before lessons begin. The idea is not necessarily to have PPL entirely replace morning announcements over the loudspeaker, but to act as a weekly recap of all important (and relevant) announcements that students may have missed, or simply not tuned in to. All wrapped up in an engrossing, entertaining, and brisk-paced package. 

The first three episodes of Patriot Press Live can be found on the Patriot Press News Team’s official YouTube channel. Check them out when you have the time!