6ABC has another eye in the sky thanks to a collaboration with Temple University to install a high-definition camera on top of the 27-story Mitchell and Hilarie Morgan Hall.

Bernie Prazenica, SMC ’79, president and general manager of WPVI-TV/6ABC, came up with the idea for a Temple-based Sky 6 camera as soon as he heard that the university was constructing the residence hall and dining complex, which opened in 2013.

Prazenica is a proud alumnus, to be sure, but it was Morgan Hall’s vantage point—unparalleled in North Philadelphia—that drove him to mention the idea to Provost Hai-Lung Dai. Discussions with Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Communications Karen Clarke solidified the joint effort, and the Temple camera went live in July.

“To me, this was a vision that said here’s a fantastic location, and something I always discuss with our folks is that one out of seven graduates in the Philadelphia region is from Temple. So it’s our audience. It’s our people,” Prazenica said. “To have a camera there, not only is it a great view, it’s an affiliation with Temple University, which works. And of course, I wanted it before anybody else.”

Other Sky 6 cameras can be found at the Philadelphia International Airport, the city’s Society Hill section and the La Mer Beachfront Inn in Cape May, New Jersey. Temple’s location offers 6ABC viewers another perspective on the Center City skyline, and like other Sky 6 cameras, it can record time-lapse footage of storms crossing the region or zoom into locations throughout the city. Both the news and weather departments are using the camera.

During a recent visit to 6ABC headquarters on City Avenue, meteorologists Adam Joseph and Cecily Tynan described the latest addition to the Sky 6 collection.

“The light that this shows, especially down Broad Street, it pops,” Joseph said of the Temple cam.

Tynan said 6ABC’s powerful storm-tracking tools, aerial camera angles and reporting teams are complemented by viewer-submitted photos and comments, especially via social media, about storms as they happen.

“I think our viewers really enjoy now that they can almost help produce the newscast,” Tynan said. “They can be a part of it, which is great.”

Now, so can Temple. The iconic Temple T accompanies each use of the Temple camera on the air.

“We’re happy to be a part of this collaboration,” Clarke said. “One of the things Temple has been trying to do, certainly under President Theobald, is to demonstrate our deep connections to the city. There’s no better partner than 6ABC, which has a storied history of being embedded in the city and serving this region so well.”