Where’s Dan Vallie when you need him? Jacob Vitali is the president of WJJW FM, MCLA’s radio station. He told WAMC Radio that he’s incensed that the college decided to drop its Radio Practicum course this semester at the Massachusetts College Of Liberal Arts.
Vitali told WAMC students learned that the Radio Practicum course would not be offered three days into the semester with four days left to drop or add a class. “There was an email sent to the students who had been planning to take this course last Friday, and that was an email sent directly to the students from the dean of academic operations Deb Foss and that email basically said that we are not in the position to approve this course by arrangement and it suggested that they find an alternative class or take an internship in place of Radio Practicum.”
Vitali says learning about radio has “transformative power.” He says the station helps students become better public speakers and opens professional opportunities outside of school. “And these are skills that being a part of other organizations on campus – that I don’t think you can learn quite like being a part of our college radio station.”
Read the entire WAMC article HERE.
There are plenty of college aged students…and adults seeking new careers who are interested in broadcasting, and journalism. Agreed…not quite as many as in the 1970’s and 80’s…but still enough. But, many colleges don’t want to deal with the expenses involved in running a radio station. Some are very good at it…others make it an afterthought.
So, is that the justification?
Print and Radio do sucketh equally.
And that makes everything just hunky dory.
Seems like there’s a little bit of “Mitch” in that one. 🙂
I don’t know that there’s a “justification.” It’s how one views this story. This is a small liberal arts college. They also offer a philosophy major and a literature major. Not a lot of money in those either. People don’t always go to college for job training. My college didn’t offer practical radio courses either, but they owned an FM station. This is all pretty common, and not as negative as you make it appear. The other way of looking at this story, and likely the way the author intended, is that some students actually want to learn about radio, regardless of what the college does. Who knows why, but they do. I leave that to them.
Note to TheBigA:
And is not the cancellation enough evidence of some other priorities or options?
How cum these young students aren’t busting down the doors by the hundreds to get in, allowing them an opportunity for a satisfying, exciting and prosperous future in radio?
The question is rhetorical.
Have you ever taken a practicum? It’s designed to be for individuals, not hundreds of students. But as I said, there are lots of students at the college’s radio station. They’re also studying journalism, and we all know how prosperous the newspaper business is right now. The cancelation is evidence that the college doesn’t want to offer a practicum. They suggest the students instead obtain an internship. All of this is in the article if you just read it.
This situation may serve as an ideal example of the ol’ “canary in the mine shaft” analogy.
I mean, who spends their time daydreaming, fantasizing and imagining how life would be terrific by becoming a radio canary?
Potential performers and creative writers would be signing up to work in a stone quarry were they to choose radio as the medium in which to get engaged.
Radio’s owners and management have but one priority: Protecting their own precious, flabby flanks.
Maybe you should read the article. The course is an independent study. The college has a journalism department. Who dreams of writing for a newspaper? These kids. Who dreams of being in radio? This college has a low power FM station with about 50 students involved. They also have a communications curriculum. It’s only one course that’s being dropped. This is a case where the adults are making a bureaucratic decision about canceling a course, and the students object.