Author: SPMC Staff

The Sun Prairie Media Center (SPMC) is excited to be unveiling a new video channel, set to launch on TDS and all of SPMC’s streaming platforms on September 1, 2023. The channel, called “KSUN Life,” will focus on non-live original programming created by SPMC’s diverse stable of community producers. Programs featured on the new channel will include “Talk of the Town,” “Reel Reviews,” “Weekly Chat,” “Marc Carstens Sports,” “Roundabout Sun Prairie,” and many others. Though sports will not be the sole focus of the new channel, the origins for “KSUN Life” began way back when it was revealed that the SPASD would have a new high school and new high school athletic teams. “The immediate concern was how we were going to air two live football games happening simultaneously,” remembered…

Sure, late August means that summer is winding down. But look on the bright side: Football! And this year the Sun Prairie Media Center is back again with double the football as the SPMC is planning coverage of every Sun Prairie Cardinals and every Sun Prairie Wolves game! Home games are scheduled to be broadcast on KSUN (Spectrum cable channel 983, TDS channels 13 and 1013) with away games scheduled to be broadcast on the new KSUN Life channel which is set to launch on TDS on August 31 on channel 985. All games will be streamed on sunprairiemediacenter.com, on the SPMC Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV channels, and on the free-to-download Sun Prairie Media Center app. Home games are also scheduled to air live on 103.5 FM…

Here’s your child’s chance to write and produce their own videos and podcasts by joining the one-of-a-kind KIDS-4 program! KIDS-4 is an after-school media production program run by the Sun Prairie Media Center designed for SPASD students in 4th through 8th grade.   In KIDS-4, students are trained in many areas necessary to create their own television and video productions including cameras, lighting, sound, directing, producing, writing, editing, and animation. While students work with adult staff, their creativity is unfiltered and their work is entirely their own. By creating their own media messages, students become smarter and more critical consumers of others' media messages. Students enrolled in KIDS-4 work after school at the Media Center once a week in ‘crews’ and their work airs on KIDS-4, a 24-hour public access…

The Sun Prairie Media Center (SPMC) is honored to release “Sun Prairie Stronger”, an hour-long documentary marking the fifth anniversary of the tragic gas explosion that occurred in downtown Sun Prairie on July 10, 2018, which took the life of Sun Prairie Fire Captain Cory Barr. This documentary is the culmination of extensive efforts to gather compelling footage and interviews that detail the incident and detail the incident, the city’s response, and the community’s outpouring of support to all who were impacted. The video includes exclusive interviews with key figures such as Mayor Paul Esser, Aaron Oppenheimer, City Administrator, Fire Chief Chris Garrison, Sun Prairie police officials, and other individuals who contributed to the remarkable rebuilding of the city’s infrastructure. To produce this project, SPMC collaborated with Steve Donovan Film…

The Sun Prairie Media Center is pleased to announce a new collaboration with Melissa Ratcliff, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly representing Wisconsin’s 46th Assembly District, which includes Sun Prairie and Cottage Grove. The program, which the SPMC hopes to produce quarterly, is called “The Ratcliff Report,” and will include news and information about what is happening at the state capitol, how it affects residents of Sun Prairie, and reports from Rep. Ratcliff about community events past, present, and future. “I was so excited when Jeff Robbins first approached me with the idea of doing a show detailing what is going on at the Capitol and the work we are doing to serve the 46th Assembly District. I thought that this would be a phenomenal opportunity for us to share…

The Sun Prairie Media Center is pleased to be partnering with the Sun Prairie Area School District for a live broadcast of the 2023 Sun Prairie High School graduation ceremony, held this year at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison on Friday, June 9, 2023, as well as the 2023 Prairie Phoenix Academy graduation ceremony, to be held on Thursday, June 8, 2023. The SPHS ceremony will be a combined ceremony for both East and West graduates. SPMC’s coverage will be seen live on KSUN Charter channel 983 or TDS channels 13 or 1013. The ceremony will also be streamed at sunprairiemediacenter.com/ksun as well as available on KSUN’s Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV channels and on the SPMC app, available to download for free from the App Store or…

The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association recently handed out their annual awards for broadcasting excellence and Sun Prairie’s own 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio scored with five awards, including three first place finishes. Entering in the “Large Market-Music Format” category, 103.5 FM’s first place awards included “Best Newscast” for “Sun Prairie News,” “Best Sports Coverage” for its 2022 coverage of the “Sun Prairie versus Middleton Strikeout Cancer Baseball Game,” and “Best Election Coverage” for its spring election coverage. Elsewhere, 103.5 FM and producers/hosts Sara Milewski and Tenisha Winn took home a third place award for “Remote Broadcast from the 2022 Sun Prairie Multicultural Fair” in the category of “Best Live On-Site Broadcast Remote” and versatile producer Mark Gonwa won third place for “Best Radio Show” for his live Friday afternoon program…

On Monday, April 3, Culver’s of Sun Prairie, located at 1501 W. Main Street, will donate a portion of all sales between 5-8 PM to the Friends of Sun Prairie Media Center. The Friends of Sun Prairie Media Center (SPMC) group exists to provide financial support for SPMC and its entities as well as to promote SPMC and function as an advocacy group for the center.Money raised on April 3 will be used to buy equipment deemed most necessary by the Sun Prairie Media Center and families currently involved in KIDS-4. Options for the money raised will be discussed at future meetings of the Friends of Sun Prairie Media Center. Thank you goes out to Culver’s of Sun Prairie for their great support of the Sun Prairie Media Center.

Wisconsin Community Media, in conjunction with the Alliance for Community Media’s Midwest Region, has announced their annual award winners for the 2023 Best of the Midwest Media Fest. The Sun Prairie Media Center is happy to announce that no fewer than 20 original shows created for either KSUN, KIDS-4, or 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio are set to receive awards at the fest, which will be held in Madison on Thursday, May 4. The total represents 13 percent of all awards to be given out at the event. Included in the 20 awards are three “Best in Show” winners: SPMC’s coverage of Sun Prairie West vs. Sun Prairie East football, the Mark Gonwa-produced radio program “Bluesology,” and “Voyageur Canoe Excursion,” a documentary filmed by Tim Hatfield at the Historic…

As the Cardinals and Wolves baseball and softball programs embark on their first historic season as two schools each fielding two teams, the Sun Prairie Media Center is pleased to announce that it is planning on live radio coverage of 32 games The games will be broadcast live on 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio, with coverage split evenly with eight broadcasts per team. A full list of scheduled broadcasts can be found at sunprairiemediacenter.com/playball. The Sun Prairie Media Center is currently looking for sponsors for this coverage. If you are interested in supporting the live coverage of baseball and softball games, please contact Jeff Robbins at jrobbins@cityofsunprairie.com for more information. A big thanks goes out to all the volunteer announcers who have agreed to call the games on 103.5…