Journalism 24, Section 3
Old Time Radio (LG)
Professor William J. Drummond
Friday 12:30-1:30, 104 North Gate Hall, CCN: 48009This course will examine pioneering radio programming, which dominated American life and culture before television. It will examine news broadcasters, such as Edward R. Murrow, H.V. Kaltenborn and Eric Severeid, as well as entertainment, variety and drama programs. The seminar will examine the many contributions of Orson Welles, from The Shadow mystery series, to the Mercury Radio Theater, to the famous "War of the Worlds" broadcast. The class will rely on the many old time radio web sites to listen. Students will be required to do one major project to get a grade in the course.
William J. Drummond joined the faculty in 1983 after a career in public radio and newspapers. He continues to produce occasional public radio reports and documentaries. From 1979 to 1983 he worked in Washington for National Public Radio, where he was the first editor of Morning Edition before moving on to become National Security Correspondent. He has produced documentary-length radio programs on a wide range of subjects: Native Americans and welfare reform; jazz diva Betty Carter; Allensworth: the pioneering Negro colony in the California Central Valley; a profile of a psychiatrist whose specialty is interviewing serial killers; the early Jim Crow days in Las Vegas; an examination of why Americans are turned off by the political system; and a look at the tension between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, as seen through the eyes of youth. His honors include a 1989 citation from the National Association of Black Journalists for "Outstanding Coverage of the Black Condition," the 1991 Jack R. Howard Award for Journalism Excellence, and a 1994 Excellence in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists' Northern California Chapter for an advanced reporting class experiment in civic journalism. He was a member of the planning committee that created the Public Radio International program The World.
