Roberts...That Old Gang of Mine

That Old Gang of Mine

by John B. Roberts
Director of Radio and Television

Reprinted from the WRTI Program Guide, February-May 1959

"I wonder what's happened to that old gang of mine?"

If you are an alumnus of Temple University's Radio and Television Division, there is no more cause to wonder about that question. The Communications Department has just completed a careful survey of the 250 alumni who graduated with majors in radio and television since the Temple University radio and television curriculum was developed eleven years ago.

One of the first departments in the country to offer a major in radio and television, Temple University's Radio and Television Division is today, in point of majors, one of the top three schools in the nation. In terms of training young people for careers in professional broadcasting, the Temple University communications curriculum is perhaps without a peer in the nation.

But what has happened to the old gang, the undergraduate radio and television majors of yesteryear? To find out, the division surveyed virtually all of its alumni, and here are some of the facts it discovered:

Almost everyone who graduated with a radio and television major made some direct application of his undergraduate work in the first job he took upon graduation. Almost fifty percent started work in television and radio stations; another twenty percent did radio and television work but for advertising agencies and similar organizations. Nine percent utilized their journalistic skills; six percent went to graduate schools of communication.

Today, some years after graduation, the averages are much the same, except that some of those who worked for broadcast stations have shifted over to advertising agencies (a common practice in the industry) to serve as directors or in other broadcast functions. About ten percent of the graduates are now in fields which might be described as unrelated directly to their undergraduate major.

A special note should be made of the female radio and television majors, not only for their pulchritude, but for their marriageable nature. In the short eleven year span of the department, the division provided two of the University's May Queens, five runners-up, one National College Queen, three Queens of the Military Ball, and five other assorted "Queens" at the University. Whatever the reason, their undoubted personal charm or their ability to communicate, ninety percent of the communications graduates of the female sex were married within three years of graduation, and eighty percent of these to professional men-mostly doctors and lawyers.

Television and radio alumni earn well above the national averages in salaries. The average radio graduate five and one-half years after he has received his diploma averages $9,438 dollars if he works in radio and television, $9,000 in sales, $8,033 a year in fields related to broadcasting. Women earn substantially less because they leave the field within three years of graduation for marriage, but they averaged about $5,000 a year.

Temple University radio and television graduates thought highly of the communications curricuhim. Over one-quarter of the graduates described the curriculum as "excellent"; almost 66% thought it was "good"; 9% said it was "fair"; no one thought it was "poor." The vote of confidence was even more pronounced among the honor students. Of the communications majors with graduated with honors, over 61% said the curriculum was "excellent"; 39% said it was "good"; nobody said it was "fair" or "poor."

When the communications alumni were asked to appraise the curriculum, the great majority insisted there was "just the right percentage" of professional courses; almost all thought in the light of their subsequent experience that the curriculum was realostoc and practical. The alumni were also asked to compare their own radio-television preparation with that of other college-trained people in the field. Seventy-one percent considered their training and background to be much better or better than their fellow-workers in the field. Almost all thought that their radio-television courses were as valuable as other college courses in a general way even if they did not enter the field. Almost one-half thought their radio-television courses were "easier" than other college courses they took generally "because they liked them more."

Of interest to those who worked on the University broadcast station WRTI, 54% now wish they had spent more time working at the station while in college, and almost all the others who said they would have spent about the smae amount of time if they could do it over again [pointed out that they spent the maximum time possible at the station while they were in college.

Most valuable radio-television courses, said the alumni, were: Fundamentals of Broadcasting, Television Production, Program Planning, Announcing, News Broadcasting, Continuity Writing, News Editing in Journalism and Newspaper Reporting. In the speech field, Public Speaking and General Semantics. And for those radio and television alumni who used to argue against their faculty adviser's advice that they acquire a broad liberal background there is today a surprising agreement with their 0ld faculty adviser.alumni are now enthusiastic about courses in Literature, Political Science, History, Sociology, Psychology, Economics, Philosophy, Journalism, Marketing and Languages.

Results of the survey are being embodied in next fall's curriculum which will show increased emphasis on television with some de-emphasis on radio production in order to keep the broad liberal arts background which now distinguishes the Communications Curriculum. The increased emphasis on cinematography recommended by the alumni and already introduced into the curriculum will l)C continued as will the offerings of a practical business nature made possible through the School of Business and Public Administration. Additionally, another new grant by WFIL and WFIL-TV in Philadelphia will make possible the installation of a television studio the new Curtis Hall air-conditioned classroom building.

Reading from left to right: Jim Hirshfeld, Television Director at WCAU-TV; June Waldo Lytel, now married but formerly with Winston; Arnold Katinsky, Radio Advertising Bureau; Al Eisen, Public Relations with Ruder and Finn in New York; Ruth Steinberg Goren, formerly with WFIL-TV and Gimbels Advertising, now married; Al Segal, Washington attorney; Kenny Mendelsohn, Radio Station WHLI; Gordon Mcintyre, Doherty, Clifford, Steers, and Schentield Advertising Agency in New York; Ed Block, non-major, address unnkown; Bill Camperson, Program Director, Radio Station WHOL.

This is the WRTI Old Gang Web Site.