Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 26, 1993 TAG: 9301260170
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COLLEGES HAVE `GOOD REASON' TO BE ON RADIO
In recent years, college professors have been fighting some bad publicity.They've been depicted as lazy, or as lab rats, spending hours on research that doesn't really matter. Studying the presence of cockroaches in one-story houses owned by middle-aged dry cleaners, for example.
College leaders have tried to reach out to the public to offset that stereotype, to spotlight professors who teach, who do work with relevance, who care. And now, they're taking their message to the airwaves.
"With Good Reason," a new radio show of half-hour interviews with professors, can be heard on public radio stations across the state every other Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
The show features topics ranging from AIDS, medical research and the black American experience to job displacement, the Middle East and Civil War battlefield preservation.
"A lot of the problem colleges have been facing was that people were losing sight of what they're really up to," said Mike Marshall, editor of Inside UVa., the University of Virginia's internal newspaper.
Marshall came up with the idea for the show, though he says he doesn't feel comfortable taking the credit.
Marshall started contacting schools with his idea during the summer. By fall, a consortium representing the state's senior colleges was scanning faculty lists, looking for professors who could communicate about issues that would matter to Virginians.
"I guess I liked listening to the [National Public Radio] talkshows," Marshall said.
Producer and host of the show is Laura Womack, a broadcast journalist who has worked for Voice of America and KQED-FM, a public radio station in San Francisco.
Womack, who moved to Harrisonburg in June, spends her days driving to college campuses setting up in their studios and interviewing professors.
In August she approached Harrisonburg station WMRA-FM about hosting a public affairs show at the same time the State Council for Higher Education was discussing options for its new program.
Mike McDowell, public information coordinator for the council and this program, said he hopes in future months to turn "With Good Reason" into a weekly show.
But the original plan was to complete 26 half-hour programs, choosing people from the state's 39 public colleges and universities.
WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke was the first station to air the show two weeks ago.
The second show, which airs tonight at 7:30, features Richard Keeling of UVa, one of the leading educators on AIDS. Keeling will discuss why college students, who get information on AIDS, still take risks when it comes to sex.
"This is a good way for the faculty to show what they're doing," said Gordon Davies, director of the State Council. "If a person understands more about the issues that faculty are addressing, they'll have a better idea of what colleges are addressing."
And these days, as the state takes more and more funding away from universities, colleges may have to rely on more public support.
"There are college faculty out there who really are working on things, who really are interesting," Marshall said. "Part of the reason for this program is so that the public can get some benefits from what they're working on."
Ideas in everyday life are tested first at the nation's universities, Marshall said. "It's like a greenhouse where you propagate plants. You use special conditions, do new things."
He hopes the show will make people aware of that.
So far, "With Good Reason" has been produced with only a few minor glitches.
One of the microphones went out when Womack was conducting her interview with poet Nikki Giovanni at Virginia Tech.
And the first recording of the theme song, composed by Hampton bassoonist Kevin Puccini, didn't come out exactly right.
Other than that, no problems.
"All of the things we imagined - that faculty would be jealous and say, `Oh, there's a UVa guy on again,' - none of that happened," Marshall said.