Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media

Matthew Lombard, Ph.D., Chair

215-204-5401

lombard@temple.edu

Jack Klotz, Assistant Chair

215-204-5401

jklotz@temple.edu

Department Office:
Annenberg Hall Room 205

Undergraduate Contact:

Bill Mooney, Director of Recruiting
215-204-1884

bmooney@temple.edu
www.temple.edu/btmm

The Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media provides students the knowledge and skills to create, analyze and manage media content and institutions responsibly.

Theory and practice are integrated into all areas of study in the major.  BTMM students learn how to produce, evaluate and manage media content for traditional and emerging media in a variety of genres including information (news and documentary), music, comedy, sports, drama, and commercial and noncommercial persuasion campaigns.  They study institutions that create, distribute and analyze media products (e.g., production studios, television and radio networks and audience measurement companies) and learn how to create and operate successful media businesses.  BTMM students learn to think purposefully and critically about media, and examine media roles in history, culture and society from many perspectives.  And they learn how to act ethically as they interact with the world both in careers in media institutions and as citizens.

The BTMM curriculum is made up of courses in three areas:

1)  Media Production & Performance:  The conceptual and technical tools needed to create media content in a variety of formats and genres.  Students who study in this area develop strong professional skills as well as critical and analytical abilities that enable them to evaluate content for various media.  They are prepared for careers as producer, writer, videographer, and talent in traditional and emerging media.

2)  Media Business & Entrepreneurship:  The practical and ethical ways to start, operate or participate in an enterprise that creates, produces, and/or distributes media content.  Students who take these courses are prepared for careers as media entrepreneur, media production freelancer, and owner/operator of a production company, station or channel.

3)  Media Analysis:  Critical understanding of the roles of media in contemporary life, including media technology as a cultural force; the nature of media institutions, audiences, and texts; and the media as a source of shared social identities.  Students who take these courses are prepared for careers as media consultant, editorial or technical writer, community activist, corporate communication producer and market research analyst.

The flexible degree requirements allow students to emphasize one or more concentrations, including:

-  TV Production

-  Radio Production

-  Media Performance

-  Recording Industry

-  Media Management

-  Media Entrepreneurship

-  Analysis of Social Processes in Media

-  Analysis of Media Institutions

Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

Summary Requirements:

• Temple University Core Curriculum requirements, including completion of library orientation, also known as the Temple Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT).
• School of Communications and Theater requirements.

General Requirements:

• Minimum of 40 credits in BTMM / maximum of 54 credits in BTMM
• Maximum of 71 credits in the School of Communications and Theater
• Each course that fulfils a requirement for the major must be passed with a C- or better
• All prerequisites must be met unless exempted in writing
• No more than 20 transfer credits may be applied to the BTMM major
• Minimum GPA of 2.0 in the major
• No more than 8 credits in Kinesiology and Dance activities courses

Course Requirements:

• BTMM Foundation Courses: 1011 (Mass Communication Theory), 1021 (Mass Media and Society) and 1041 (Media in Everyday Life) must be completed within in the first 45 credits at Temple University.  Students transferring in 45 or more credits need complete only two of the three BTMM foundation courses; at least one BTMM foundation course must be completed at Temple, unless exempted by the Chair of the department.

• At least four courses numbered from 3000- 4999, excluding Internship, Practicum, Independent Study and Independent Project
• At least one of the following: Internship (BTMM 4785) or Practicum ( BTMM 4596, 4787, or 4887)
• BTMM 4039:  Senior Seminar taken during final 30 credits

Internships and Senior Seminar:

The academic experience for all BTMM majors culminates with an internship or practicum and the Senior Seminar.  Together, these courses provide students the opportunity to explore their potential professional futures.

Internship opportunities exist locally (at virtually every media-oriented organization in the greater Philadelphia region), nationally (in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other US media markets), and internationally (in London, England, and Tokyo, Japan, through the School of Communications and Theater's International Studies program.)  To qualify for an internship, students must have Junior or Senior standing, a minimum of 2.5 GPA in the major, and passing grades (C-) in the BTMM foundation courses.

There are three practicum options.  In the TV Practicum (BTMM 4596), students produce a weekly live-to-tape TV newsmagazine that airs on local cable TV.  A summer offering, TV Production Workshop (BTMM 4787), also fulfills the requirement for a practicum and involves the production of various content also for broadcast on local cable.  The Radio Practicum (BTMM 4887) involves work at Temple University's Jazz and Classical music radio station, WRTI 90.1 FM, a National Public Radio affiliate.

Suggested Semester-by-Semester Plan

*Four year total must equal 126 credit hours.