Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

NBC IN TEACHING PROJECT Nctioorfe. In Cooperation with Columbia Uniocrsity. to Offer Comprehensive Series of Courses in Sound and Jeieoision Broadcasting Starting Next Eall. ANOTHER forward step in the L field of education has been taken by the National Broad- casting Company with the an- nouncement that starting next Fall the network, in cooperation with University Extension of Columbia University, will offer a comprehen- sive-series of courses in sound and television broadcasting. The joint announcement, made by Dr. Nicho- las Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, and Niles Trammell, president of NBC, de- scribed the courses as the most com- prehensive series ever presented by an in.stitution of higher learning in collaboration with a radio network. This action follows logically on the heels of the recent agreement between NBC and the New York City Board of Education to present a series of courses aimed at train- ing teachers in the use of radio as a classroom supplement; and at cre- ating an experimental center for training talented high school seniors in radio fundamentals. How neatly these two projects dovetail is seen in the inclusion of the Co- lumbia courses by the Board of Ed- ucation for teacher credit toward salary increments in its in-service teacher training program. NBC Supplies 10 Teachers According to the Columbia plans, twenty-two courses are included in the newly-constituted radio unit and in related fields of study under University Extension. Of these, thirteen are specifically in the new- sound and television broadcasting project, and nine are offered in the divisions of physics, electrical en- gineering and sociology. Eleven of the thirteen courses in the radio unit will be given next September. The courses will be under the di- rect supervision of Dr. Russell Pot- ter, director of the Institute of Arts and Sciences at Columbia, and Ster- ling Fisher, NBC Assistant Public Service Counselor and director of the NBC Inter-American Univer- sity of the Air. Class meetings will be held at Columbia University and in studios at the network's Radio City head(iuarters. Ten of the ini- tial eleven courses will be staffed by teachers selected from NBC's oper- ating personnel. As in other units of University Extension, prospective students will be required to satisfy the instruc- tors on their qualifications for ad- mission, and the courses may be counted for credit toward one of the University's degrees with the ap- proval of the appropriate dean or director. Butler Welcomes Opportunity In announcing the new courses, President Butler declared: "It is significant that in the arts and techniques of radio, a new channel of communication has been established of no less consequence in its soci.ll and educational impli- cations than the invention of the process of printing from movable type. Columbia University wel- comes this opportunity of cooperat- ing with a great national network in developing trained leaders in radio." President Trammell said in the joint announcement: "By all standards this is one of the most far reaching developments of studies in the field of sound and television broadcasting ever under- taken at an institution of higher learning. The National Broadcast- ing Company welcomes the oppor- tunity to cooperate with one of the nation's oldest and most distin- guished universities in throwing more widely open the doors of edu- cation in radio to qualified students and teachers. While this new radio unit is, perhai)s, the most compre- hensive of its type yet developed, we confidently expect that the courses of studies will be broadened in the future to include many other phases of radio and television i)roadcasting, professional and tech- nical. "This project, along with the plan of studies recently announced by NBC in connection with the New York City Board of Education, im- mensely widens the area for train- ing talented students and teachers in fields hitherto little explored by them." Workshop on Campus In several respects, this new radio unit resembles the work cur- rently done at Chicago, Los An- geles and San Francisco through the NBC Summer Institutes at Northwestern, U.C.L.A. and Stan- ford Universities. However, it is pointed out that the Columbia proj- ect involves the regular session of J Columbia rather than the Summer " Session. The Columbia University Radio Club, a low-powered station with a radiation confined to the Columbia University campus, will be used as a workshop for the radio students in several of the courses. Classes may also use the facilities of WEAF-FM, the netw-ork's outlet in the New York area. The following courses, designed under the supervision of Harry M. Ayres, acting director of Univer- sity Extension, and Dr. James Row- land Angell, NBC Public Service Counselor, will be offered during the 1911-191.5 university session: Introduction to Radio M'riting. Three point.s each session. Instructor is Mor- ton VVishengrad. staff writer. NBC Inter- American University of the Air, and author of "Lands of the Free." Ct>urse will Kivo a detailed examination of cur- rent theories, techniques and markets in radio writing. Advanced Radio Writing. Three points each session. Instructor is Wade Ar- nold, assistant manager of the NBC Script Division. Course is an advanced workshop for those actively interested in professional radio writing as a career. Radio Publicity and Promotion. Two points. Spring session. Instructor i.= John McKay. Manager of NBC Pres? Department. Course offers practical pic- ture of the relationships among publicity department and station, sponsor, pro- gram producer and advertising agency. Speech for Radio. Two points. Win- ter session. Instructor is Professor Jane Dorsey Zimmerman. Associate in Speech at Teachers College. Course in voice and diction for those who wish to pre- pare for speaking, reading and acting in radio. [24 RADIO AGE]