487 Syllabus, page 1 COMMUNICATIONS 487: TELEVISION AND RADIO ADMINISTRATION Spring Semester 1996 INSTRUCTOR: Kathleen Pavelko Assistant Professor of Communications, Affiliate Assistant General Manager, Penn State Public Broadcasting OFFICE HOURS AND LOCATION: 218 Wagner Building Phone: 863-2061 E-mail: kap1@psu.edu Fridays 2-4 pm and by appointment with Tammy Hahn (secy) at 865-3333. Call ahead, even during office hours, to confirm times. CLASS SESSIONS: Tuesday-Thursdays, 2:30-3:45 pm 203 Electrical Engineering West COURSE OBJECTIVE: The goal of this course is to give you a professional-level introduction to the practical dilemmas of broadcast media management in a turbulent communications environment. Management activities such as strategic planning, organizational re-structuring, marketplace analysis and competitive tactics will be discussed, debated and pursued as part of the course itself. Role-playing, case studies and other practical exercises will be employed to mimic real-world situations as much as possible. Professionals in the field will be coming to the class to discuss aspects of broadcasting management; it is assumed that you will prepare intelligent, probing questions for these people in an effort to learn from their considerable experience. Students who devote themselves to this course will not be surprised by what they find on the job. REQUIRED READINGS: There will be no required text per se; Electronic Media Management (3rd edition, by Pringle, Starr and McCavitt) will be used as a reference. A copy of this text will be on reserve in Carnegie. A packet of readings has been prepared and will be available for purchase ($21) at Kopease on E. College Ave. Other readings may be assigned or distributed. In addition, you are asked to read BROADCASTING AND CABLE magazine, the leading trade magazine in the communications business. B&C is available in Pattee, the Cable Museum, and the College of Communication's library in Carnegie. OTHER READING/PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY: I recommend reading a high-quality daily newspaper (THE NEW YORK TIMES or THE WALL STREET JOURNAL), reading the "Annals of Communications" articles which appear occasionally in THE NEW YORKER, subscribing to WIRED magazine, surfing the World Wide Web and visiting the Internet's news and interest groups. Other important trade magazines include ELECTRONIC MEDIA and MULTICHANNEL NEWS. ASSIGNMENTS: On the first day of class, students will be assigned in groups of six to make two presentation/reports. PROJECT #1: Strategic Plan Ñ Groups will begin by assigning roles to each team member: General Manager, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Engineer, Director of Programming, and Head of Sales/Development. Your team will then select a real- world broadcast station (radio or television, commercial or non-commercial) and interview your "counterparts." What do they see as the major challenges facing their organization? How is their station coping with change? Who do they perceive as their customers? How are decisions made within their organizations? What is the management style used by senior managers? Based on this information, you will write a strategic plan for the organization (20 pages). This strategic plan will include: ¥ executive summary ¥ mission and vision statements ¥ SWOT analysis ¥ customer needs analysis ¥ list of goals and performance indicators ¥ summary of interviews with your "counterparts" The in-class presentation component should be no more than 30 minutes, involve all members of the team in some part of the report, and include appropriate visual support (slides, posters, electronic graphics, etc.) This presentation should be of corporate-level quality, well rehearsed and smoothly delivered. PROJECT #2: Briefing Paper Ñ Working in the same team as project #1, you will prepare a briefing paper for your general manager or board chairman. Your team will select a topic (see below) or suggest another topic (instructor's approval is required). This briefing paper will provide the following: ¥ a general overview of the topic ("executive summary") ¥ specific details about the topic ¥ benchmarking what other broadcast facilities are doing ¥ an in-depth analysis of the implications for your organization ¥ recommendations for your organization The briefing will take two forms: a 10-page written document and a 30-minute in- class presentation. Topics from which to select: ¥ Competition Ñ from other broadcast stations, from other entertainment and information providers ¥ Information Access and Quality -- Role of telecommunications in democratic societies ¥ Income Generation Ñ fragmentation of the audience, diversification of advertising media ¥ Programming Ñ fragmentation of audience, changing demos, availability and cost of programming ¥ Technology Issues Ñ changing technology, infrastructure costs ¥ Change Management Ñ coping with change, strengthening customer focus, internal communications The goal of the presentations and reports is to develop the written and oral communications skills appropriate for media management. Both will be judged by corporate standards. ASSIGNMENT WEIGHTING: Presentation #1 Written Report 15% 30 points Oral Presentation 15% 30 points Presentation #2 Written Report 20% 40 points Oral Presentation 15% 30 points Class discussion 10% 20 points Quiz #1 (multi-choice, short answer) 10% 20 points Critique by your colleagues 5% 10 points (5 pts per presentation) Class Participation/Attendance 10% 20 points The "critique by your colleagues" will be done by your teammates and will be based on your performance on the team projects. Effectively evaluating staff performance is a critical skill for managers; this will provide you an opportunity to conduct an evaluation while offering valuable input to your colleagues. Grade Interpretations A = 186-200 Generally speaking, an "A" suggests the work is of A- = 180-185 the highest professional quality; minor or no revisions B+ = 174-179 are necessary. A "B" suggests that minor revisions to the B = 166-173 work are needed, but overall the work is above average. B- = 160-165 A "C" suggests the work is acceptable, but the research, C+ = 154-159 writing and/or presentation need to be refined to be C = 146-153 considered above average. A "D" suggests major revision C- = 140-145 is necessary before the work is considered acceptable. D = 120-139 F = below 120 ATTENDANCE AND GRADING: University policy and the policy of this course is that students are responsible for all material covered in all class sessions, to participate actively in all group work, and to contribute regularly and effectively in class. These requirements are the academic equivalents of managerial responsibilities: show up for work, work in teams, be a contributor to your organization. Attendance is expected. Each student will be permitted one absence without penalty; each two absences thereafter will result in lowering your grade by one-half letter grade. The due dates for assignments are listed below and assignments should be delivered to the instructor in class. All late assignments will receive a grade of "F" without exception. Members of a group may or may not receive identical grades, depending upon the quality of individual oral presentations and other factors. If some group members contribute substantially less than others to the finished product, I will take it as a failure of the whole team in working together productively. COURSE EVALUATION Students and professionals are evaluated on their work daily, with formal evaluations at regular intervals--in this course, there will be two quizzes and two presentations. But courses and instructors are evaluated only once, with a formal instrument. I will be changing that, with an evaluation of the instructor and course offered at mid-term (while there is still time to improve and correct problems.) I hope you will take the mid-term and final evaluation opportunities seriously, and take time to offer constructive and thoughtful comments. COMMUNICATIONS 487 SYLLABUS Spring 1996 LECTURE DATE TOPIC/ASSIGNMENT 487.1 Tues. 9 January Class cancelled: Blizzard of '96 487.2 Thursday, 11 January Introduction, Review Syllabus Readings: 487.3 Tuesday, 16 January The Telecommunications Environment Readings: pg. 1-33 487.4 Thursday, 18 January The Management and Competitive Environment and Preparing for Presentation #1: What is Strategic Planning? Readings: pg. 34-51 and 52-66 487.5 Tuesday, 23 January Management Issues: Keeping a Customer Focus 487.6 Thursday, 25 January On-line/Interactive Technologies: A "Case" Study Readings: pg. 67-80, 156-158 487.7 Tuesday, 30 January Management Issues: Models, Trends and Organizational Structures Readings: pg. 97-119 487.8 Thursday, 1 February Management Issues: Teamwork Readings: pg. 93-96, 120-130 487.9 Tuesday, 6 February Management Issues: Change Readings: pg. 81-92 Guest Speaker: Mark Erstling, GM, Penn State Public Broadcasting 487.10 Thursday, 8 February Management Issues: Meetings and Facilitation Guest Speaker: Kelley Fhillips Asst. to GM, Penn State Public Broadcasting 487.11 Tuesday, 13 February Quiz #1 487.12 Thursday, 15 Febuary Project #1 Groups 1 and 2 487.13 Tuesday, 20 February Project #1 Groups 3 and 4 487.14 Thursday, 22 February Project #1 Groups 5 and 6 Mid-course Evaluation 487.15 Tuesday, 27 February Project #1 Groups 7 and 8 Mid-course Evaluation 487.16 Thursday, 29 February Feedback on Projects Preparation for Project #2 4th-8th March Spring Break-no classes 487.17 Tuesday, 12 March Television programming in the new media environment Readings: pg. 131-155 487.18 Thursday, 14 March Radio programming in the new media environment 487.19 Tuesday, 19 March Management Issues: The value of marketing research Guest Speaker: James Meyer, Dir. Marketing Research, C&DE 487.20 Thursday, 21 March Management Issues: Financial Management Guest Speaker: Brian Sickora, Dir., Business Office, PS Public Broadcasting 487.21 Tuesday, 26 March Program Decisionmaking Readings: 487.22 Thursday, 28 March Intellectual Property and Copyright 487.23 Tuesday, 2 April The Electronic Republic Journalism, Information Quality, Access Readings: pg. 159-200, 211-218 487.24 Thursday, 4 April No Class (Easter weekend) 487.25 Tuesday, 9 April Project #2 Group 5: Playboy Channel Group 7: WINK 487.26 Thursday, 11 April Project #2 Group 1: Nickelodeon Group 6: Discovery 487.27 Tuesday, 16 April Project #2 Group 4: WKPS Group 8: C-NET 487.28 Thursday, 18 April Project #2 Group 3: WATM Group 2: B103 487.29 Tuesday, 23 April Project Feedback 487.30 Thursday, 25 April Course Summary/Evaluation Note: Definitions for many new media terms can be found in the readings packet on pages 219-231.