CHANNEL 1 SERVICE AVAILABLE AT SCHOOLS

Notre Dame High School and St. Vincent de Paul Grade School recently installed Channel 1 television news programming.

Channel 1 programming gives a 12-minute news program daily. The system is paid for by two minutes of commercials contained in each newscast.

Whittle Communications L.P. of Knoxville, Tenn., sponsors the program at no cost to the school, said Sister Mary Ann Fischer, principal at Notre Dame.

A satellite dish, receiver, two VCRs and a 13-inch monitor were given to Notre Dame. The school also received 19-inch televisions in 10 classrooms.

St. Vincent's received television sets also, and will share the other equipment with Notre Dame.

Fischer said Channel 1 news footage is obtained from its own crews and VIS-News, a joint venture of NBC, Reuters and the British Broadcasting Corp.

Fischer said that each morning the programs are recorded on videotape and then previewed before being shown to students.

"The program is carefully designed to make the news relevant to the concerns and studies of teenagers," she said. "If any segment is deemed inappropriate, the school can opt not to air Channel 1 that day."

The second VCR is used to tape educational programs to be used in classrooms. The classroom channel is designed to supply 250 programs each year.

Fischer said Catholic high schools in St. Louis and Jefferson City are already using Channel 1.