Southeast State University mass media department tells "River Tales" about people, places, events

In a city where "the river turns a thousand tales," students at Southeast Missouri State University have added one more avenue to tell stories.

"River Tales" is the reinvented film project from the mass media department that tells stories of the people in the area, interesting places or annual events.

The first episode is currently airing at varied times on Charter Channel 11. It devotes the entire 30 minutes to the Golden Eagles Marching Band and its trip to England and Scotland for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August.

"It goes really fast," said Dr. Jim Dufek, professor of mass media and TV and film operations manager.

He said normally the 30-minute programs will consist of six- to eight-minute segments telling different stories from Cape Girardeau and its surrounding areas.

The department revamped its old program "Discover Cape" title to "River Tales" to reflect a broader scope. Dufek said the original program was restricted to only Cape Girardeau.

"We found it limited, so we renamed it so we could branch out," Dufek said. "Tell more stories about people and places."

He said the plan is to cover places like Ste. Genevieve County and the Sikeston Depot Museum or the St. Louis Cardinals and the Blues. A show called "Discover Cape" wouldn't exactly allow for a story about trips to Europe or events in the Bootheel, Dufek said.

Students majoring in film, broadcast news and from Southeast's Media Communications Association help with interviews, editing and production. The first episode borrowed footage of the band's trip from instructors, students and the BBC. It weaves that footage with interviews, pictures and scenes of the players at normal practices in Cape Girardeau.

"River Tales" already aired on KFVS12 and currently runs at 1 and 7 p.m. on Charter Channel 11. WQWQ has plans to air the program through February. For a list of times, visit www.semissourian.com.