However, most have disappeared from the HRTV lineup with their creators’ graduation.

This discontinuity is not helped by the small size of its active membership. Many of the people that pass through HRTV simply want to use the organization’s equipment and manpower in order to pursue their own creative endeavours or professional goals.

Seniors will often comp HRTV in their final semesters in order to construct a news portfolio destined for the HR departments of CNN.

A senior has approached HRTV this semester to create a film version of his puppet staging of Macbeth; that performance will be filmed and edited by the few core HRTV members.

“It’s mainly one person doing a lot of the work,” says Tempest of many HRTV ventures.

Perhaps this is simply the nature of what is really not so much a television group as a convening point for a bunch of Harvard students who are interested in film as a means of channeling their creative energies.

Indeed, despite their current recruiting efforts, HRTV members seem to be at peace with their current situation. In response to a comment in a Crimson article last November that HRTV “wasn’t really with it,” Tempest responds, “We’re ‘with it’ as much as we want to be.” The problem may be that people hear the word “television” in HRTV and believe, perhaps not unjustifiably, that they will be able to broadcast, he says. “They came here expecting to flip a switch and get live and broadcasting,” says Tempest.

WHRB’s Chung says that in order for HRTV to survive, it has to attract new volunteers dedicated to the club, rather that people who come, film and leave.

“They’re going to have to find some sort of niche,” says Chang.

The organization hopes to begin broadcasting on the web again in the next year.

In the meantime, they will show samples of their work on May 3 at Arts First.

“Good luck to them,” says Chang.