Assistant Professor Kent Murray, 59, has been at Georgia Southern University for 22 years, and to prove it, his office is filled with decades worth of papers, video projects, and books.

For around three decades, Murray has taught college students, and along his journey toward teaching, he has gathered plenty of broadcasting experience.

Asssistant Professor Kent Murray in the director's seat of the broadcasting vehicle rented by Georgia Southern, Voyager 1. He shows students the step required to broadcast live sports coverage.

“When I was in high school, I liked photography, because I was the photographer for the yearbook and newspaper. My instructor said that I should take a radio journalism class my junior year,” Murray says. “During my senior year, I took a television journalism class, and that’s what I’ve been doing since then.”

He was first recognized for his broadcasting abilities in high school when he was awarded the Silver Microphone by the Florida Association of Broadcasters. In that way, he became interested in broadcasting early in his educational career.

Murray started his college education at Gulf Coast Community College, in Panama City, Fl. and later served three years with the military during the Vietnam War between 1969 and 1972.

“Based on that broadcasting experience in high school and two years in college, when I went into the military, the experience paid off, because I got promoted twice in one day,” he says.

Murray worked with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network -Europe during one of his assignments overseas, which was an organization responsible for seven stations and 45 transmitter sights throughout Europe. He also operated radio and television facilities for the military from an island in the Pacific.

Murray went on to earn recognition with the America Forces Radio and Television Systems (AFRTS) during his three years of service. He left the military during the Vietnam Phase Down, and because of his broadcasting background, he was chosen to interview the Commanding General of the European U.S. armed forces command to inform all troops about the post Vietnam impact on troops.

Following his time in the military he completed Bachelor or Arts and Master of Arts degrees from his studies at the University of West Florida and the University of Florida.

When Murray came to GSU in 1985, he was the only fulltime broadcasting faculty member. Today there are five others, who are involved in the student-run programming on Channel 97. He was an instrumental part in finding and purchasing the equipment used today to produce shows and edit clips. Professor Reed Smith, who also helped establish GSU’s part in Channel 97, works with Murray to plan programming and coverage of graduation events. The two plan for the Eagle News Network to continue growing in the future.

“We had done programming with Northland Cable on the local access channel in the late 80s and 90s, but it cost us to submit programming,” says Murray.

He explains that most cable systems are expected to have governmental, educational, and community service channels and Northland cable did not have any at the time. So he and his colleagues decided to create a new governmental/educational channel. Northland Cable had no investment in the channel, because the equipment was funded in part by the University and the city of Statesboro.”

Murray is the faculty member responsible for creating the opportunity for student-produced live coverage of GSU football games for the past two years, which has aired on Comcast network and reaches about 5.6 million cable subscribers.

Murray’s favorite part of teaching at GSU is taking a part in live sports broadcasts for Comcast, CSS, Fox and other networks. The school rents a professional broadcast production truck to cover Eagle football games.

“What I enjoy most is training students on live productions through live sports coverage, so that students get to work on network quality equipment while meeting contacts in the industry,” says Murray. “Once they have trained on the truck, they can go out and compete as a freelance worker for various networks.”

He teaches several classes at GSU, including beginning and advanced video production, broadcasting applications, beginning and advanced audio production, media law and ethics, and digital video editing. Sometimes his students may think he’s hard on them, but he believes it ultimately helps them out in the future.

“His class is definitely challenging and tests your knowledge, but he makes it interesting,” says journalism senior Cameron Rocker. “I can tell that he is passionate about what he teaches and because of his classes, I feel better prepared for the real world.”

“Murray encourages and monitors students to do a quality level of work that he knows will be required of them when they go into broadcasting stations after they graduate,” says Prof. Smith.

His dedication to his profession has impacted former students currently working in broadcasting. “I have very high standards, and that may not be favorable with my students right now, but alumni say that we prepared them for the real world by teaching them like professionals,” says Murray.

Over the years Murray has influenced thousands of students’ lives. He encourages his students to treat the classroom as a professional workplace to develop their skills for the future.

“Go beyond just doing the basics in the classroom, seize the opportunity to show initiative and it will reflect positively in your resume and you’ll make a lot of contacts,” says Murray. “Many of our intern sites prefer our students over other institutions not only because of their skill, but because of their attitude.” He adds that many times we get more requests for interns than they have students to send.

Murray hopes to update production equipment used by students. He also hopes to develop a stronger connection with Bulloch county schools and other community, governmental and educational entities to further the programming on Channel 97.

“For the future, we would love to see Bulloch County schools take a more active role in providing material,” says Murray.

Eventually, Murray hopes that Communication Arts Department will develop a graduate program for broadcasting majors. “If we can eventually get a graduate program, those students could take on staff management roles in the daily operations of Channel 97,” he adds.

Murray says that a long range-goal would be for the University to purchase a quality video production truck so students could do more local coverage pertaining to both GSU and community events and rent it out to generate money for GSU.

Channel 97 Facts
Local programming
Monday – Thursday
Statesboro City Jobs 6:15 p.m.
City Beat 6:30 p.m.
Understanding the Arts 6:45 p.m.
Eagle Network News 7:45 p.m.
Southern Cooking with Gas 8:00 p.m.
Community Calendar 8:15 – 9 p.m.
SCOLA (International news)
Monday – Thursday 9 a.m. – 6:15 p.m.