Category: News and Events

Ever since “The Star” was nice enough to name me as one of its “20 to Watch” for this year, I’ve felt a tinge of anxiety. After all, 2019 was so busy at the Sun Prairie Media Center, how will 2020 ever compete? Let’s take a brief look back on some of our highlights from the last year of the decade: January: After a request from the mayor and city administrator, the SPMC greatly increased the number of city meetings that it broadcast live. After adding nearly every board and commission meeting to our schedule, our meeting coverage expanded by 123 percent, keeping us busy all year and giving Sun Prairie residents a more complete and transparent look at its government in action. February: KIDS-4 and 103.5 FM The Sun…

The Sun Prairie Media Center, home to TV channels KSUN, KIDS-4, and 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio, is pleased to announce the launch of a brand-new, free, all-inclusive app for all mobile devices. The app is available to download now from the App Store and Google Play. Unlike the Media Center’s previous app that focused on audio content only, this new app includes both video and audio programming. Once the app is downloaded, users have access to live streams of KSUN, KIDS-4, and 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio. Users can also access literally hundreds of KSUN programs, City of Sun Prairie meetings, SPHS sports productions, SPASD school board meetings, and dozens and dozens of podcasts recorded at the 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio studios underwritten by the…

All 57 students enrolled in the Sun Prairie Media Center’s unique KIDS-4 program are sporting brand new KIDS-4 shirts thanks to a generous donation from the Bank of Sun Prairie! This the third year in a row that the cost of the shirts have been covered by local organizations. Previous donors included the Optimist Club and Titley and Associates, an Allstate Agency. The design of the shirt is unique as each year students enrolled in KIDS-4 submit their ideas for a T-shirt design, with the winning design picked by other kids in the program. This year’s winner is Abby Packard, a sixth grader who has participated in KIDS-4 since she was in 4th grade. After some minor design modifications, the shirts were printed at Ameriprint Apparel, located in Sun Prairie.…

It may be cold outside, but the action on the hardwood will be heating up beginning this week as the Sun Prairie Cardinal boys’ and girls’ varsity hoops teams are set to tip off their 2019-2020 seasons! Taking a very quick breather from another year of exciting Cardinal football coverage that just wrapped on November 8, the Sun Prairie Media Center is excited to begin basketball coverage with the girls’ varsity team taking on Monona Grove at home on Tuesday, November 19. Coverage of all games is set for 7 PM with the tipoff scheduled for 7:15 PM. As in years past, all varsity basketball games are scheduled to be broadcast, with most home games airing live on KSUN (Spectrum Cable 983, TDS 13/1013, streamed at sunprairiemediacenter.com and also available…

On Monday, October 7, Culver’s of Sun Prairie held what has become an annual “KIDS-4 Share Night” to raise money for the Media Center’s flagship student media literacy program. The night was a remarkable success, resulting in a Culver’s donation of $455.45 to the Parents of KIDS-4 fundraising group. A percentage of all sales at the restaurant from 5 PM to 8 PM on October 7 counted toward the donation total. “Once again the Culver’s Share Night was a great success for us this year,” said Sun Prairie Media Center director Jeff Robbins. “We love working with Duane and his entire staff at Culver’s. A huge thanks of course to our very active and involved group of KIDS-4 families, both those who volunteered at the event and those who came…

At the monthly Media Center Commission meeting on October 2, the Sun Prairie Improvement Council presented the Sun Prairie Media Center with a donation of $60,000. The generous donation will go towards the Friends of the Sun Prairie Media Center, the 501c3 group established to financially support, promote, and advocate for the Media Center. Members of the Improvement Council are well aware of the Media Center and its work to educate and enrich the Sun Prairie community. Peter Steitz, the organization’s treasurer, is the husband of Pam Steitz, who was the Media Center director from 1992-2010. “When we were discussing community groups to donate to, we knew that we wanted the funds to go to groups and organizations that are uniquely Sun Prairie and that contribute to making Sun Prairie…

The next time that you are browsing on the most popular news website in Madison, don’t be surprised if you come across live feeds of Sun Prairie’s very own TV and radio stations! Channel 3000 has added several locally-themed pages, including a dedicated Sun Prairie page. That page features active 24/7 livestreams of KSUN and 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio. “The partnership makes sense,” says SPMC director Jeff Robbins. “Channel 3000 is looking to increase its content from Dane County communities outside of Madison, and what better place to look than community media centers such as the Sun Prairie Media Center?” The page is currently located here within the sports section of Channel 3000, as one of the immediate goals of Channel 3000 management was to increase its coverage…

On October 7, Culver’s of Sun Prairie, located at 1501 W. Main Street, will donate a portion of all sales between 5-8 PM to KIDS-4, our unique “TV for kids, by kids” media literacy program for Sun Prairie Area School District students in grades 4-8. ‘The timing of the share night this year is perfect,” said Sun Prairie Media Center director Jeff Robbins. “It comes right after our Kick-Off Party on October 1 and during the first week of 2019-2020 crews, so it’s a terrific chance for KIDS-4 families to come out, get to know each other, and start the crew year off right by supporting this tremendous program.”The 2018 KIDS-4 Share Night was a remarkable success, resulting in a Culver’s donation of $653.85 to the Parents of KIDS-4 fundraising…

The Sun Prairie Media Center is pleased to introduce Colin Lessig, their new full-time production manager. Colin Lessig comes to SPMC after teaching in the humanities department at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) for nearly a decade. There he primarily taught English composition, but occasionally taught Introduction to Film and Introduction to literature. Originally from Maryland, Lessig studied English and Communications with a film emphasis at Elon University (North Carolina). As a student, he volunteered at the college radio station (where he hosted a show called “The Midnight Trip”), took many media production courses, and interned during summers at Maryland Public Television and for a local production company. Lessig worked in media production until graduate school brought him to Florida State University, where he studied creative writing. After graduating, he…

The Sun Prairie Media Center is pleased to announce that KSUN, sunprairiemediacenter.com, and 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio will once again be the places to tune to for live coverage of home AND away Sun Prairie Cardinals high school football games this fall. All home games will be broadcast live on KSUN (Charter cable channel 983 and TDS channels 13 and 1013), streamed on sunprairiemediacenter.com, and aired on 103.5 The Sun Community Radio. Games are also available on the KSUN channel on Roku devices and on Apple TV. Away games will also be aired live on 103.5 The Sun, which is also streamed at sunpraririemediacenter.com. Following live coverage, home games will be made available on sunprairiemediacenter.com for on-demand viewing and will be replayed several times on KSUN channel 983.…