Radio stars (Oct 1938)

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RADIO STARS force, tlic education it offers in unlabeled programs that are interesting and entertaining while still of sound educational value. "The teachers' concept of radio education was all too often merely a broadcast lecture, ignoring the fact that a medium which could bring the public taste from The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise to Sibelius, in five short years is, of itself, a great educational force. "We demonstrated that competence in a classroom was not enough for radio. And gradually the teachers' attitude changed. Also, we found radio people eager to become, themselves, teachers of their own profession." Too, many instructors in local schools and colleges found themselves appointed to various positions for which they lacked special knowledge ; teachers were made Directors of Radio Education, Public School Radio Directors and such, as radio became an increasingly larger force in education. Yet those teachers had no means, except trial and error, of learning about broadcasting. So the N.Y.U. Workshop — and others like it — originated, giving intensive summer courses in radio in all its branches with special emphasis on the teachers' problems, and each summer, students went home to their local stations, to schools, colleges or towns, equipped to handle their jobs. The N. Y. U. Workshop, with the resignation of the former Director, Phillip Cohan, who is studying broadcasting in England, completely reorganized its program this summer, with even greater em TAKE YOUR DEGREE IN RADIO (Continued from page 45) phasis on the practical side of radio instruction. There are no formal academic credits required for entrance, but a high degree of selectivity is maintained in admitting students. Only those whose qualifications show adaptability for the work, or whose past experience and background show that they may profit by it, are admitted. The percentage of undergraduates at the N. Y. U. Workshop is low ; in the present enrolment there are four out of some fifty-five. Especially does the Workshop discourage those w^ho are merely "radio-struck" and are "dying to get in radio". This type of student is turned away, as was one young man whose interview, when he applied, disclosed that he had failed to accomplish anything in several different lines of endeavor and thought radio "would be nice". As a result of careful student selectivity and the practical value of the instruction, most radio courses point with considerable pride to graduates who have found places for themselves in radio. Many of the University of Washington's radio alumni are now working for the major networks, and among the members of last year's Summer Workshop at N. Y. U. there are, less than one year later, three Directors of Radio for city public school systems, one University Director of Radio, one freelance radio script writer who has two programs running on major networks, one announcer, one production man on a chain, a University Production Director and several others in various radio jobs. It's a far cry from the days when radio was the "stepchild" ; when talent was drawn from any -and all sources, mostly amateur, when recognized performers were coaxed and cajoled into making microphone appearances, usually gratis, and most announcers were expected to double as singers or accompanists. Then, if you wanted to learn about radio, there were only two alternatives. You could try to wangle a job on your local station and learn as you went along, or you might have gone to one of the fly-bynight "schools" that advertised next to the patent medicines. The law has since clamped down on those Deans of Deception who took money from the credulous for instruction in something vaguely called "microphone technique". Mostly, what you learned was to be chary about believing everything you were told. There's still no place for the person who is attracted to radio because it's a "glamour" job; nor for the boy or girl who thinks it would be fun to w-ork in radio. They might better save their time, for chances are they won't be admitted to any of the better courses. But for the serious student who wants to make radio a lifework, for the man or woman who has a radio job or background already and wants to improve himself, for those who have a definite talent and ability along radio lines and want to learn from the bottom up . . . they'll show you. 75