How Does UMD's Visitor Center Use Mass Media to Promote the School?

The University of Maryland Visitor Center, located in Turner Hall on campus, is the first stop for UMD visitors to receive campus maps, parking permits/information, and to sign up for campus tours. According to their website, the Visitor Center welcomes over 40,000 guests every year, and provides them with necessary and useful information to make their visit to the University of Maryland enjoyable. The employees at the Visitor Center make it their job to guide visitors and give them information about the campus, whether it is answering questions or leading them in the right direction to find a certain building on campus. Besides being personably available, the Visitor Center uses mass media to help promote the university and to assist visitors when they arrive. Here, one worker, Mallory McDonald, explains further:

As McDonald states, the Visitor Center uses a website, magazine, and video to provide guests and prospective students information about the school. The website allows you to sign up for private tours and campus visits. Groups of ten or more people can sign up for a tour through the Visitor Center, and the appointment should be made at least two weeks in advance. On the website, you can also find campus maps and parking information, as well as suggestions for where to stay off campus if you are visiting from out of town. Directions to the school from Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washington D.C. are available on the website for conveniently locating UMD.The Visitor Center also hands out magazines to prospective students that give information on the university, and offers a video for guests to watch before their tour, in order to learn some background information on the University of Maryland. 

Could the Visitor Center Use Even More Media?

When asked this question, another employee at the Visitor Center said yes:

listen to ‘How could the Visitor Center incorporate more mass media in promoting UMD?’ on Audioboo

While the university itself has Facebook and Twitter pages, it may be helpful for the Visitor Center to have its own social network sites. That way more information about visiting and touring the school can be sent out to the public. Going through UMD's main website may be too complicated for people to access the information that can be found on the Visitor Center webpage. Social networking sites for the Visitor Center could provide easier access to the website for the public. Another improvement that could be made to the Visitor Center's media usage is a wider distribution to the informational magazines that they hand out. More magazines could be printed and given to high schools so that college-bound students who are searching for the perfect school can have easier access to information on visiting the University of Maryland.

Not all tours of the school are set up through the Visitor Center. Many prospective students sign up for tours that are given by Images, a student organization at UMD that gives free tours to students and their families. When I was applying to colleges, this is how I visited UMD. A lot of the tours that can be seen around campus during the fall and spring are those given by Images, not by the Visitor Center. While some prospective students do schedule visits to the school through the Visitor Center, it seems that more sign up with Images.

listen to ‘Visitor center 2’ on Audioboo

It may seem a little confusing that most tours of the University of Maryland are not given by the Visitor Center, but there are so many tours to be given each year that the Visitor Center could not possibly handle them all by themselves. Students and parents can sign up for tours through Images on UMD's website here. Both Images and the Visitor Center are great ways to tour and learn more about UMD, whether you are a prospective student, alumni, or a group on a field trip from school.

Social Media Changes Interpersonal Communication

Heavy reliance on social media and technology in today's society could be worsening our interpersonal communication skills. Obviously, technology and social media sites allow us to communicate with more people more often, but not face to face. This lack of face to face time could lead us to lose the interpersonal skills we have learned throughout our lives. Also, communicating through technology often leads us to act differently when communicating with others. Rowena Briones, a doctoral student in the Communication department at the University of Maryland, shares her views on the matter:

 

Along with affecting how interpersonal communication is done, social media and technology are also influencing how communication scholars perform their research. Because there are more places where communication is taking place, such as on social media sites, researchers now have more topics to delve into, and more instances to study. Research has become easier to do, and more topics have become available thanks to technology broadening our communication world. Briones reports on this matter here:

 

It is no surprise that technology and social media have majorly affected interpersonal communication and the communication field in terms of research. Technology is now just as much part of society as people are, and it can act as a person itself. Future changes and advancements in media are bound to lead to more changes in communication, whether they are good or bad.

Satellite Radio May Eventually Rule the Airwaves

Since popular satellite radio stations Sirius and XM combined in 2008 to form Sirius XM, satellite radio has been growing in popularity. The higher satellite radio grows in popularity, the closer we get to predicting the answer to the question: will satellite radio ever be as widespread as AM/FM? More importantly, could satellite rise to become a threat to AM and FM stations, posing the possibility of replacing them altogether?

Many people's first argument would probably be no. Nothing could replace our standard AM/FM radio formats, just like nothing could ever replace the novel, or a daily newspaper. AM/FM are free, easily accessed in any car or home (generally), and often, at least in the case of FM, offer music, weather, traffic, and news on each channel. Satellite radio, on the other hand, has a monthly subscription fee, costs more money to have it installed in an older car or your home, and has separate channels for music and news. But, the catch with Sirius XM is the removal of annoying commercials. For some people, that alone is enough to make switching to satellite worth the price, but for many others, it is not. So, having weighed some of the pros and cons of satellite radio, the question still stands: will it ever rule the airwaves? Here, Isabela Guimaraes, who has researched satellite radio, gives her opinion on the matter.

listen to ‘Question 3’ on Audioboo

As Guimaraes states, most new cars being made and sold today are satellite radio capable, making a monthly subscription fee the only thing keeping the new car owner from enjoying commercial free radio as they drive. If more people choose to purchase Sirius XM when they buy a new care, satellite radio will continue to increase in popularity, since almost all new cars have a satellite radio feature already installed. Also, if enough people get fed up with commercials on their radio stations, they may wind up switching to Sirius XM and tucking aside the inconvenience of having to pay for radio.

Though satellite radio is rapidly expanding and reaching more listeners, it may be awhile before it takes over the radio industry completely, if it does, as Guimaraes predicts. She herself mentioned that while she would probably start using satellite radio eventually, it is not on the top of her priorities right now.

listen to ‘Question 1’ on Audioboo

As Sirius XM grows in popularity and acquires more listeners, the rest of us AM/FM fans may begin to hop on board until eventually satellite becomes the preferred method of streaming radio for the majority of the country. Until this happens, the two parties will remain divided- by price, by tradition, or by whatever is keeping AM/FM listeners from indulging in the commercial free world of satellite radio.

Will Apple Plunge Without Jobs?

A few weeks ago, Apple lost their former CEO and co-founder, their friend, and their respected co-worker, Steve Jobs. Jobs had been battling pancreatic cancer for years, and had stepped down from CEO of Apple  earlier in 2011, promoting Tim Cook to fill his shoes. The world was shocked to hear of his death at the young age of 56, and Apple users and fans around the world felt the sadness of such an incredible loss to the technological world. Electrical Engineer Michael Zuzak stated that the day of Jobs' death was a sad day in the electronics industry as it lost one of its great pioneers.

He also feels that Apple could be headed downhill without Jobs working for the company. It will be interesting to see how Cook manages Apple in the next few years. I think many people are looking forward to see if the products Apple releases in the future will live up to the ideas and designs that Jobs had come up with in the past.

During the interview, Zuzak also mentioned Jobs' last words, which were, "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow." The Washington Post published a blog post comparing Jobs' last words to those of Thomas Edison's. The Post also mentioned that the eulogy of Jobs was released over the weekend and published in The New York Times.

Political Radio in D.C.: Is It As Popular As We Think?

Political news is everywhere: in newspapers, magazines, on television broadcasts, and on the radio. Political talk radio is vast in the U.S., and can be found in various places including on AM stations, online, satellite radio stations, and iTunes radio stations and podcasts. Washington D.C. has a few popular AM talk radio stations, as well as a variety of online and satellite stations.Two popular AM stations that serve the Washington D.C. area are WFED and WMAL. WFED was originally founded as an online-only radio station in 2000 as a sister station to WTOP, D.C.’s all news FM station. In 2004, WFED hit the airwaves. At first it was aired on 1050 AM, and currently it can be found on 1500 AM. WFED is also an all news station but it focuses on topics involving federal agencies. WMAL, today owned and operated by Citadel Broadcasting Company, has been around since 1925, and features one of the most famous talk show hosts of today, Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh is a popular conservative radio host whose show is the most listened to radio talk show in America. He receives plenty of criticism for his extreme views and opinions, but has a large enough audience to keep his program successful, unlike that of many other conservative talk radio hosts.

A 2007 Washington Post article stated that conservative radio programs in D.C. have been rather unsuccessful, with the exception of Limbaugh’s show. Many conservative stations have struggled to find a wide audience in the D.C. area, according to the Post. One example of this conservative downfall in D.C. talk radio occurred when Bill O’Reilly’s show was taken off of WJFK’s station in 2007. Though he is an independent, O’Reilly shared many conservative opinions on his show, and was removed from the station to be replaced by a sports talk program.

One would think that since conservative radio shows are so unpopular in the D.C., maybe liberal shows are more successful. However, despite the city being the nation's capital and center of politics, political talk radio in general is surprisingly unpopular in D.C. Some of the country’s most well-known political radio hosts, such as Glenn Beck and Stephanie Miller, have almost no popularity on D.C. AM radio stations because the stations they broadcast on have weak signal here. President of WMAL, Chris Berry claims that the reason political talk radio is not a large facet of D.C. culture is because “people in D.C. are smarter” and “really know the issues,” so they don’t care as much about talk radio opinions (Post).

But besides AM political radio, there are other ways people in D.C. can collect their political news, such as with stations on satellite radio and on iTunes. One of the political stations that Sirius offers, POTUS, features talk shows hosted by various reporters in D.C. including FOX News’ Chris Wallace and ABC’s Christiane Amanpour. Their shows include interviews with politicians and top news in politics. iTunes offers a variety of political radio shows that can be conveniently listened to when listeners tune in on their computers, tablets, iPhones and iPods. There are also podcasts listeners can download, such as Good Politics, that offer political news and talk. Good Politics in particular offers podcasts that are specific to your state, so there is a Good Politics podcast specifically for D.C. The portability of these podcasts and radio stations allows listeners to tune in wherever and whenever they want, which is definitely a plus for today’s hustling and bustling society.

other sources:
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2007/07/06/14552/oreilly-dropped-from-wjfk/
http://www.wmal.com/article.asp?ID=192395

PRWeek: A Public Relations Magazine

PRWeek is a magazine that covers the public relations industry, and is "the essential title for PR professionals in the US" (PRWeekUS.com). It was founded in 1998 and is run under Haymarket Media. The magazine's circulation was 34,000 in 2008, and is published in print and online. The subscription fee is $49 a year, which is high compared to popular magazines that you would find on the newsstands, such as People Magazine.

In the latest issue of PRWeek, the October issue, there are a variety of articles on topics ranging from social media to CEO Q&As. Most of the articles are about media in some way- there is one article that covers social media and its leading role in marketing, an article about USA TODAY, and an article about the world's fastest texter. Besides articles about media and marketing, there are more that cover the the business aspects of the PR world. Some articles are about corporate issues, and others are written by featured PR professionals about their jobs and business strategies. This magazine's niche audience is the working people of the PR industry. PRWeek's content appeals mainly to PR professionals and people in the marketing and media world, and probably would not appeal to a larger, general audience. As long as the PR/media industry remains large (and it should), this magazine will have a sustainable audience. PRWeek's company name is also spread further into the PRWeek Awards and PRWeek NEXT Conference, which are both attended by PR professionals in the US. Since the magazine's name is so large in the industry, it probably will not suffer dramatic losses anytime soon.

sources:

http://www.prweekus.com/about-us/section/165/

http://www.rmdadvertising.com/_resources/PowerfulPDFs/RMD_PRWEEK_071608.pdf

Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was an incredibly successful business owner and publisher in the newspaper industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His father owned the San Francisco Examiner, which Hearst later took over in 1887 after graduating from Harvard University. When he moved to New York City, Hearst bought the New York Morning Journal from its previous owner. Once his Journal business was under way, Hearst hired some of the most famous journalists, including Mark Twain, to work for him. He eventually expanded his business to publishing magazines as well, and at one time, in 1935, owned 28 newspapers and 18 magazines. At the end of his life in 1951, Hearst had owned 16 daily newspapers and 8 monthly magazines including Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, which are still around today. He also owned radio station and movie companies.

While in the newspaper business, Hearst brought new meaning to the term "yellow journalism." When Hearst took over the Journal, he was in competition with Joseph Pulitzer, who owned the New York World. Hearst stole Pulitzer's writing style, and comic character, "the yellow kid." When Pulitzer fought back, the battle between the two publishers became known as "yellow journalism." Hearst furthered yellow journalism, making the newspaper into a "combination of reformist investigative reporting and lurid sensationalism" (Zpub). Hearst wrote his stories to sell his paper, and did not produced well-researched stories that were reliable.

Because of this, Hearst made a huge impact in the newspaper industry. At the start of the Spanish-American war, Hearst was shocked to learn that his editors were not planning on running a news story on an explosion that, to Hearst, meant the war had begun. Hearst had the Journal run this story, and cover the rest of the Spanish- American war in the paper from then on. This war coverage by the Journal was supposed set a standard for how future journalists were to cover important events in society. The stories he published in the Journal, especially those covering the war, were the first to have "banner headlines and lavish illustrations" (Zpub). His first report on the start of the war is claimed to have itself started the war. He wrote multiple stories to enhance the war and turn Americans against the Spanish just for the sake of his newspaper's success. Hearst is also blamed for turning Americans against the Japanese, the Russians, and the Filipinos because of his journalism.

Though he caused many journalistic problems at the time, Hearst made his profits. Later in his life, he bought 240,000 acres of land in California and built a mansion that he furnished with European art and artifacts. However, the Great Depression soon took a toll on Hearst's fortune. He lost a lot of money along with the control over his enormous media empire. His impact on journalism and the media was permanent, though. Hearst created a company that was still one of the largest corporations in the US in the beginning of the 2000s.

Sources:

http://www.pbs.org/crucible/journalism.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,859284-3,00.html

http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/willh.html

http://www.biography.com/people/william-randolph-hearst-9332973

Technology, New Media, and PR

As a Communication major, I learn about all the different ways people communicate in today's world, technology being a huge medium for doing so. I am interested in pursuing a career in Public Relations, which I am sure will require technology to communicate press releases, new stories, and other relevant information to the public. Since we use technology daily (computers, cell phones, iPods, etc.) it is no doubt that many people receive their news via their personal tech devices. Posting articles on websites that people can access from their Smartphones is a quick and easy way to get important information to the masses. Many businesses use blogs as well in order to post articles about the company that spark public interest. In today's tech savvy society, PR would suffer a great deal without the use of technology.

Since PR is all about communication, the more ways of getting the word out there, the better. Many PR agencies have Facebook and Twitter pages, blogs, and LinkedIn accounts along with a company website. One company, Shift Communications, explains how monitoring a blog is an important part to public relations business. Using new media to communicate with the public could be the best way to get information to as many people as possible. More and more people are using the internet to access news and blogs in order to find what they need to know about the world, so it makes perfect sense for an industry working with news to use multiple websites to post their articles. Social media is extremely popular right now, so it is safe to assume that something posted on Facebook or Twitter will go a long way. The more exposure a company gets, the happier the PR representatives are (as long as it is good exposure). And the quicker a PR or news company can get information out to the masses, the better their reputation will be. As long as technology is advancing, pushing information into the media world will be as quick and easy as a click of the mouse (or touch of the screen).