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Re: the simplistic argument of employment at small stations ...
>it was written--
><< And lord knows the "sheepskin uber alles" attitude applies to MANY
>careers, not just radio. >>
>
>I know this from personal experience working in the newspaper industry. Just
>to discriminate because someone only has real life experience, not classroom
>experience, is wrong.
I have taught part-time at several Boston area colleges-- "History of
Broadcasting" and "History of Journalism" mostly. It's fun, and it keeps
me in contact with the audience I have often programmed radio stations
for-- young adults. Yet even though I was named "Instructor of the year"
and have some of the highest retention rates in my classes, I have
repeatedly been told I can never be a full-time professor until I have a PhD...
Frankly, I think the credentialism movement is very selectively
applied. Does Mel Karmazin have a PhD? Did anyone expect him to have even
an undergraduate degree? (I believe he did attend college, but my point is
that most GMs come from a sales background, and I don't know a lot of sales
managers or general managers who possess a degree.) In some areas of
broadcasting, such as engineering (there are never enough good engineers),
I don't see managers being required to have degrees. I don't see this
required of most PDs either, although in some corporations, they like all
the managers to take a sales course or Dale Carnegie or something like
that...