BROADCASTING SCHOOLS AND THE LONG RUNNING PELL GRANT SCAM

[RADIO TRUTH]

This topic has not been dealt with before and is particularly relevant to Dallas. There used to be an Elkins School Of
Broadcasting on Inwood Road that was put out of business by the IRS in the 90s. Originally, Elkins was a credible
school when it was owned by the Elkins Brothers and they had various locations including Dallas, Atlanta and Oklahoma City. The Elkins brothers sold all the schools to a guy who let them all erode. This is not just about Elkins
but, about all broadcasting schools (and there are a few still in the Dallas area). Broadcasting schools are trade schools and as such, live and die by Pell Grants. These Pell Grants are a waste of government money. A majority of the people that get Pell Grants for broadcasting schools are barely literate. The broadcasting schools really don't care if they can read. They just want the Pell Grant money. None of these illiterate Pell Grant broadcasting school
graduates ever get jobs but, you see them advertise looking for jobs in the back of Radio World. It would be a much better system if a prospective applicant to a broadcasting school on a Pell Grant had to take some kind of English skills test. These illiterate Pell Grant broadcast school students also hold back the few students in the classes that
are paying cash and have some communication skills.

 

[Rock Chalk]

It was April 15th, 1990. I know. I was the last instructor. Bill Elkins called us all in that day (myself and a few other staffers) and told us we would not be paid for the 1st-15th. And we weren't. At the same meeting were officials from the Dallas Art Institute. They immediately hired me and had me bring my classes over for a tour. The Institute "picked us up" so to speak, so that the last students could graduate. By August of 1990 it was over.

You are correct about the Pell Grants. I had "students" who had absolutely no business being in a broadcast school.

Jason Walker

 

[dfaulkner]

Wow ! I didn't know what became of Elkins. I knew one of the instructors there in the 1980's. Actually, I think he was the one running it at the time. Joe (I can't remember his last name.) He had worked at KWXI & (I think) for The Texas State Network.

(Maybe I shouldn't admit to this. I think they're long gone as well. But I am reasonably literate & did get a couple of jobs & was offered a couple that I didn't take & probably should've.) I was once a student at & graduated from The Columbia School of Braodcasting in Dallas. I'm not sure how many of the students from there went on to work in Radio, but several did & certainly some didn't. I knew when I was going there that many people in Radio found broadcasting schools to be something to laugh about & make fun of & some of that (maybe most of that) was justified. On the other hand, most of our instructors were people with years of experience in Broadcasting. As I recall, The Columbia School put more emphasis on voice training & Elkins was better at teaching the technical side of it. Columbia did offer training in the engineering side of things & it was taught by the man who was then the Chief Engineer for KZEW & KRQX. He taught me a bit about that part of it even though I wasn't taking the engineering course.

I didn't have a Pell Grant or at least not a full one. I paid for most of my training there.

Most of my working life has been things other than Radio. But the school & the time I spent in
Radio were great fun.

 

[RADIO TRUTH]

I knew a few people who taught at the Elkins in Dallas after the Elkins brothers sold to the new owner and before
the IRS closed them up. Elkins, in the old old days, had a very good reputation as both a broadcasting school and a school to prepare to get a first class license. Charlie Tuna went to the Elkins in Oklahoma City and then went on to KOMA and then Los Angeles. The new owner that bought the school from the Elkins brothers, ran both the Elkins in Atlanta and Dallas like a toilet. The equipment never worked. No reputable engineer would ever come to either Elkins to fix the equipment because they knew they wouldn't get paid. The teachers were offered an incentive to keep all the illiterate Pell Grant students through the entire course so the school could get all of the Pell Grant money. There are still broadcasting schools in the Dallas area and other places that live and die on Pell Grant money. Those schools are all whores. They will take any student regardless of how illiterate, uneducated or clueless they are as long as the school can scam the Pell Grant money. These clueless students are promised that they will get a job in broadcasting when most of them can barely read and make cogent sentences. It is all kind of pathetic and as I said before, there ought to be some type of minimum requirements in English skills before anyone can qualify for a Pell Grant for a broadcasting school. If experienced people in radio are losing and can't get jobs, then what chance do these broadcasting school graduates have? If you get Radio World, look in the back at the situations wanted ads, you will see a majority of the people looking have Dallas or Oklahoma
City phone numbers. That is because there are broadcasting schools in both cities doing the same thing with illiterates and Pell Grant money. Until the government changes the rules for a getting a Pell Grant, these broadcasting schools will sucker every Pell Grant dollar they can out of the societal illiterate.

 

[Rock Chalk]

Bill did sell....but he remained on board to the very last day and that was April 15th, 1990. After that, the building was boarded up.

Jason

 

[MikeShannon914]

I was once a student at & graduated from The Columbia School of Braodcasting in Dallas. I'm not sure how many of the students from there went on to work in Radio, but several did & certainly some didn't.

IIRC, the illustrious Russell Martin got all of his radio training at the Columbia School of Broadcasting. I believe CSB is who had the agreement with KGVL and KTLR (KTER?) to let students "practice" over the air. When Martin worked Sunday evenings in Terrell (c. Spring 1982,) he would call one of the unused phone lines at Pizza Inn and set the receiver next to his monitor, and Inn-ployees took turns listening in on him jocking. (Strangely enough, I never did.) Mondays, he was back to work with us, tossing pizzas.

You never hear CSB mentioned anymore. I always chuckle, thinking back to Gilda Radner's post-SNL performance ("Gilda Live," 1980) where, as "Roseanne Rosanna Danna," she delivered the graduation speech at Columbia University. She said something like, "I was gonna say, it's a thrill to deliver the commencement speech at my alma mater today, but I just found out that Columbia University is not the same thing as the Columbia School of Broadcasting."

 

[grantchester]

If experienced people in radio are losing and can't get jobs, then what chance do these broadcasting school graduates have?

Pretty good chance, if they're willing to work for $7.25 an hour.