BROWNSVILLE, Texas – At a news conference to announce a partnership between Texas Southmost College and his company, Space Channel CEO Chad Mallam said Brownsville, Texas, is the “Gateway to Mars.”
Under the partnership, TSC students will learn how to write, shoot, edit and design graphics for the Space Channel.
Although the Space Channel was started in Los Angeles, its global news headquarters is in Brownsville. Mallam said he chose Brownsville because it is the apex of the Space industry.
“We came down here because this is the Gateway to Mars. And that is the coolest thing ever. You just don’t have that in Los Angeles. You don’t really have that anywhere,” Mallam said from the podium.
“And then when you look at what the city’s doing, how it’s growing, the people here, everyone we’ve met. It is a humbling experience to be here. So thank you for that.”
Mallam said he would like to see a “huge media center” develop at TSC.
The attached podcast features commentary from Dr. Jesús Roberto Rodríguez, the president of TSC, Adela G. Garza, the chair of TSC’s board of trustees, and Mallam.
Podcast
The partnership between the Space Channel and TSC was announced at a recent news conference. Here are the full remarks of Chad Mallam from the podium:
“Hi everybody. Thank you. Thank you for having us. And thank you, Dr. Rodriguez and grandma, Madam Chair.
“I didn’t have a speech prepared so I’m going to just go over a few things. But a lot of folks don’t know that this project started about a year ago. And when Bob and I came down here, the whole point was, we thought, we need to put Space Channel right in the apex of what’s happening in the industry. And it’s actually right down the street.
“But we met Dr. Rodriguez, and we were so impressed. Just with his compassion, and how he talked about the students and the campus and everything that was going on here. And, you know, through COVID and a few other things, we weren’t able to make this happen last year. But now, to have this happen, to be here in this moment is an honor for us and it’s really an opportunity for us as well as the students. So we appreciate that.
“A little bit about Space Channel. It’s a family business. It started in my garage a bunch of years ago. I met Bob working at ABC and he was he was the guy that was running this incredible operation and I’ve never met anyone like him and eventually I said hey, I’ve got this thing I am working on, do you want to come on board? And long story short, we started shooting in my garage. And next thing you know, the channel started growing. We’re on every connected TV now. We’re on every iOS and Android device. We’re on Local Now, Amazon Fire. So if you’ve got a TV with an an app store we are there. It’s free.
“And, you know, we came down here because this is the gateway to Mars. And that is the coolest thing ever. You just don’t have that in Los Angeles. You don’t really have that anywhere. And then when you look at what the city’s doing, how it’s growing, the people here, everyone we’ve met. It is a humbling experience to be here. So thank you for that.
“Now about the program. It is very exciting. So we are going to start firing up with media studios here. When we first met Dr. Rodriguez we saw that. oh my gosh, look at this, there’s an incredible state of the art studio. And we thought, let’s let’s plug into here and teach the students how to tell these stories.
“And it was important because you know what’s happening here on the ground… it’s one thing for us to come and tell the story from the Space Channel perspective. It’s a whole different ballgame when you actually have the students tell that story. People that are from here, that are experiencing this real time, that saw, like, rockets being launched out at the beach. I would have never imagined that and so we want to do is mentor these kids, show them you know how to tell the stories and how to create content, to shoot, edit, graphics, anything that is going to you know, level this up so that when people look down at Brownsville they say, wow, that is a place I want to be.
“And that’s that’s what we thought too. So we’re hoping that we can share that story. Find some great students here that want to engage and create. And, we’re ready to get started. So, thank you all it’s it’s a great honor and appreciate it.”
Editor’s Note: The “Bob” Mallam referred to is Robert ‘Bob’ Schefferine, Space Channel’s chief operating officer.
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