Bronco News Explores Santa Clara Events and Culture
Trio energizes campus with comedic interviews and authentic interactions
This is Bronco News, Santa Clara’s source for everything but breaking news, weather, traffic and world headlines, and these are your co-hosts, juniors Desmond McDowell, Kirubel Mesfin and Hugh Velline, bringing you something better: on-the-ground coverage of Santa Clara student voices and campus life.
Santa Clara’s Associated Student Government Public Relations branch pioneered Bronco News on YouTube 12 years ago, and it made its comeback in the spring quarter of 2022 after a COVID-19 hiatus. Since then, they have gained a reputation for bringing authentic comedy to campus. However, their departure from a typical news show is not just for entertainment.
“Generally, it's mostly just our intention to always build a community on campus,” Mesfin said.
The group posts weekly on Fridays at 10 a.m. on @asgscu and @bbronconews on Instagram. The Santa Clara official Instagram page reposts their short news clips as well.
A majority of their shows include McDowell, Mesfin and Velline approaching students randomly with questions for an interview. The group uses comedic bits such as “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” where they ask common knowledge questions to students (and leave many of them stumped).
Other episodes follow different student activities such as promotions of basketball games, student band performances and student culture. The hosts recently produced a Valentine’s Day themed episode where they asked students to give a rose to their significant other, love interest or someone they didn’t know.
“I was really surprised when we did the Valentine's Day episode,” McDowell said. “I was figuring that would never happen, but a good amount of people did it, which I thought was really cool.”
Before producing, filming and editing each video, the group takes a free-form approach to coming up with ideas for segments. If they are not being asked to promote a specific event on campus, the trio trusts their comedic instincts and interviewing skills to guide them in the right direction. The hosts echoed that their initial concepts often evolve once they begin interviewing students.
“Usually we just trust that as long as we're having a good time making it, it's going to come out funny and entertaining,” Velline added.
Each host has taken their own personal inspirations and incorporated them into the show. Mesfin cited recent interview trends on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, and shows with a similar format such as “Billy on the Street,” while McDowell recalled the YouTube channel “Sidetalk NYC” as a prominent influence for his style of comedy.
“[Sidetalk] goes around New York City to gatherings or random things and just lets the people talk and highlights all the different funny people you could find in New York City,” McDowell said. “I think we're almost doing a version of that in Santa Clara and highlighting all the unique voices on campus in a comedic way.”
The conversational format of the show lends itself to insight about common characteristics among Santa Clara students. Through their relaxed interviewing style, the hosts found that students are helpful and open-minded when approached by new people.
“[We’re] getting to know people, almost acting as if the mic isn't there,” McDowell said. “A lot of times that's the best part of each interview.”
Moving beyond filming the Mission, flowing fountains and swaying palm trees, Bronco News highlights genuine student voices and energy.
“We see the need for more candid student interaction online,” Velline said. “If I'm a prospective student and I see Bronco News, and I see one of those kinds [of] B-roll clips from Santa Clara marketing, I feel like Bronco News might give me a better idea of what it's actually like to be a Bronco.”