Thursday, June 28, 2007

A great career because of WMUB and Miami

At this very moment I am writing copy to put on a remastered CD that was originally produced on a 5" reel at WMUB circa 1969, when I was a radio/TV major at Miami.  You may or may not know, but about 30 radio/TV majors will be reuniting in Oxford, July 5-7, 2007.  This event is spearheaded by RIck Ludwin, Executive Vice President for Late Night Entertainment at NBC.  Most of the attendees, myself included, still make our living in the business in one fashion or another.  I own an advertising agency; my roommate and sorority sister, Sanki Link is CFO of an ad agency, Grant Hill heads up production for DDB Worldwide, Rick Sellers has a station in Iowa, and many other people are still broadcasters of the highest rank.

I came to Miami with no skills and by the end of sophomore year, got a summer job at WFMJ radio and WFMJ-TV in Youngstown, Ohio, as a writer/producer.  I continued to work there summers and Christmases until graduation, and actually went back for several month after graduation.  I have had a great career because of WMUB and Miami.

Rick Ludwin, Rick Sellers, Grant Hill and I endow a scholarship in William Utter's name for mass comm students.  I don't think I'd feel like doing that anymore if there were no WMUB.  It is so sad that students no longer operate the station, but to have no station at all would be a shame. A colleague of mine in St. Louis, Jim Schnurbusch, has twin sons.  One is a Miami student.  The other wanted to pursue a career in broadcasting, so he was forced to choose another school that had a decent program. That broke my heart.

What can I do to prevent the demise of WMUB?

--Sallie Ervin, Ervin Marketing Creative Communications, St. Louis, MO

1 Comments:

At 12:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a colleague of Sallie's at WMUB, I fully agree with her sentiments, and can pass along that there are many students in my home state of California, who are leaning toward a communications degree, that were looking at Miami because of the past reputation and alums in the business. I'm sad to say that the rumblings coming out of the university have sent them looking at other schools. My heart, too, is broken over this.

As an annual contributor to WMUB, and as an AARN voulnteer for many years, I am less enthusiastic about touting the university I love and the program I knew so well, when administration cannot see the value of a hands-on experience, great, dedicated professors and staff, and literally thousands of wonderful success stories.

Joe Rosenfield '71
Los Angeles

 

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