Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.). Department of Radio, Television, and Film

Biography

Instruction in radio was begun at Northwestern during the 1931-32 academic year, when a course entitled “Radio Advertising Copy” was offered by the School of Journalism. The School of Speech entered the field of radio in the fall of 1935 with courses in radio acting and writing taught by Albert Crews, who received his M.A. from the School of Speech in 1937 and chaired its Department of Radio until 1943.

The Department began offering graduate degree programs in 1946, and added instruction in television in 1949, when its name was changed to the Department of Radio and Television. The first television courses were taught by Donley F. Fedderson. In 1956, instruction in film was added to the curriculum, under the direction of Jack C. Ellis; the Department's name was changed to the Department of Radio, Television, and Film in 1957.

Throughout most of its history, the Department's academic programs have been supplemented by practical experience in radio at the University radio station, WNUR-FM, which went on the air on May 8, 1950. Other Departmental activities include the Radio Playshop (1939-53), a workshop specializing in the production and broadcast of student-written scripts: the Radio Guild (1946-48), devoted to adaptations of literary classics; and a series of public service programs beginning in 1947, produced for various social service agencies and other non-profit groups in the Evanston/Chicago area.

As of the fall of 1983, the Department was organized in two divisions, Radio/Television and Film; offered degree programs at the bachelor's, masters', and doctoral levels; and listed approximately fifty courses and sixteen full- and part-time faculty members.

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