By BRICE SULLIVAN
Alumni news staff
As few as five to 10 years ago, journalists who wanted to take advantage of continuing education opportunities had to travel to conferences and seminars away from their places of work. Or they had to pay someone to come to them and put on a conference or seminar.
Not anymore — at least, not for journalists.
In recent years, the journalism college has taken advantage of new communications technology to take continuing education right to the students. That effort was recognized last summer when the Nebraska Broadcasters Association presented the Friend to Broadcasters Award to the college and its broadcasting department.
Will Norton, dean of journalism and mass communications, accepted the award on behalf of the department at the NBA’s Aug. 14 convention in York.
The award is given to individuals or groups for outstanding service to the association and the broadcasting industry as well as to the state of Nebraska. This is the first time the award has been given to an educational institution.
Dick Palmquist, NBA executive director, said the award was presented to the college to recognize the cooperation among the college, the NBA and the Nebraska Press Association toward continuing the education of people in the news industry.
The partners have worked together on a series of teleconference seminars carried across the state via satellite. These have focused on legislative issues, TV and radio sales and broadcast news.
“It’s been a really good partnership,” Palmquist said. “We hope it continues well into the future.”
Palmquist said the award represented the outstanding service of many individuals within the broadcasting department, including Dean Will Norton and professors Rick Alloway and Larry Walklin.
Palmquist said Alloway’s work as the moderator of the monthly statewide radio call-in program with Gov. Ben Nelson had been valuable to the broadcasting industry. The program is carried by 40 stations from all parts of Nebraska.
Walklin’s work on the distance-learning radio and TV sales seminars has also been successful, Palmquist said. More than 250 sales and station managers across the state attended the informative satellite teleconference seminars, getting updated on sales practices and trends.
K.C. Hunter, general manager of KJSK/KLIR in Columbus, said he and his entire sales staff have attended the teleconference seminars.
“They’ve been a great learning opportunity for our staff,” Hunter said. “We’ve been very fortunate to be able to attend the seminars.”
Hunter said the opportunity for a radio station to send an entire staff to a seminar without the costs of time and money to travel has been valuable to many stations.
Norton cited Walklin’s work on the distance-learning seminars as the key to the department’s receiving the award.
Walklin described the partnership of the college and the NBA on the seminars as “extraordinary.”
Previous recipients of the NBA award include: Gov. Ben Nelson, former U.S. Sen. J. James Exon, former Nebraska Attorney General Robert Spire, Bob Devaney, Dr. Tom Osborne and the University of Nebraska football coaching staff.
The NBA members include more than 100 radio and TV stations with 40 associate members. According to Palmquist, the association’s objective is to further the interests of the broadcasting industry and improve life in Nebraska.