By Alyssa Asick, Staff Writer
Susquehanna alumnus and one of the founders of WQSU, Ken Selinger, was welcomed back to campus to speak at a lecture hosted by the Association for Women in Sports Media on March 20.
Selinger is also the founder and owner of CCI Communications and played a major role in using cable TV as a platform for broadcasting sporting events.
Selinger spoke about the work he did while cable television was emerging and the importance of local orientation. Companies had an interest in local origination, which is unique programming to a specific area. This included sports games, and Selinger took advantage of that.
The regional channel called Prism was where most people watched their sports during this time. Most of the sports games went to this channel, but some were broadcasted, and sporting events were the cheapest to film.
Selinger was able to help produce the video of the 1985 Villanova basketball national championship game that caused one of the biggest upsets in sports history. He said that taping this was one of the favorite memories he has of early broadcasting.
This film would not have been allowed to be released because the rights to the game are tied to the bigger companies, such as the National Communication Association and other networks.
In 1985, it allowed for those people to get into contact with bigger networks who wanted the film because of its significance. Selinger stated, “the networking is so important, everything we did seemed to stem into something else.”
In the 1980s the VHS video tape was also coming out, opening up opportunities to work with corporations who wanted informational videos filmed. Selinger said that “if you do things right, people will come back to you again [to work for them].”
One of Selinger’s favorite projects to work on was a golf show that focused on local professional golf players. He said that this show is now in its 22nd season and continues to have a large following.
Sophomore Rachel Cataldo is working with communication professor David Kaszuba to propose a code of ethics for sports journalists. She asked Selinger if he thought it would be a beneficial project, and he said “trying to maintain standards is always important, and if you can come up with something that people can evaluate and use as a guide is always a good thing.”
Some of the advice that Selinger gave about how to begin a professional career in sports media was that there is a wide scope of professional opportunities, some of these being online media, post-game shows and college sports shows. Selinger also said, “you’re always meeting people and finding opportunities…anything that looks like an opportunity, pursue it and see where it takes you.”
With technology constantly evolving, Selinger said it is more important to have personal and creative skills in this process because it will make the applicant stand out.
The other advice Selinger left to students about getting a career was to be aggressive, be confident in themselves and their abilities, and always present themselves well.
