Spring2016newsletter(1)(1)

East Carolina University

C-CURRENT

Spring 2016

The Newsletter for Alumni and Friends of the School of Communication

Inform, be relevant are goals of alumnus

by Chandler Harrell

In This Issue: Alum documents Panthers’ success via digital media............................. 2 How to find us on online............................. 3 Student projects benefit community..................... 5

Photo by Chandler Harrell

We’d love to know what you’re up to!

Email Barbara Bullington at bullingtonb@ecu.edu with any •updated information •news (award, volunteerism, job info, etc.).

We also welcome any article/ photo/content ideas for C-Current.

• E ven if you’ve only had a change in phone number, email address or mailing address, please let us know so we can keep you informed about the School of Communication and what we’re up to.

Troy Dreyfus has spent more than a decade helping Pirate fans stay on top of information about ECU athletics.

O

ver the last 13 years, Pirate fans have received their fix of all things ECU with Pirate Radio, but for ECU alum Troy Dreyfus the vision of owning and operating a radio station was not always so clear.

Dreyfus, who graduated from ECU’s School of Communication in 1994, was originally an art major. After completing

four years of the art program, he decided that wasn’t for him and started in communication.

“I was working at the student paper [and] the campus radio station, and realized all my extra-curricular activities were communications-based. So, I changed my major and after graduating I decided to stay in Greenville,” said Dreyfus.

After turning down a job in Raleigh, Dreyfus started working with a company in Greenville where he mainly worked in sales but also had some time on air. He eventually became manager of that operation. The company was sold, however, leaving Dreyfus in a position where he would have to make a career decision. He chose to partner with his friend Jonathan Ellerbe and start Pirate Radio, a station dedicated to ECU athletics.

The company started with three simple goals: Run a successful business, make a difference in the community being served, and provide an outlet for ECU and Pirate fans to stay in touch with the program.

“We never had any of ‘we have to be this at this point’ so we just kind of took it a day at a time, a month at a time, then a year at a time to see how things go,” stated Dreyfus.

Things didn’t start easy for the duo as the first radio station they attempted to purchase fell through. Instead of getting down about their initial goals, continued on page 4

Alumna takes on Carolina Panthers’ digital media

by Lindsay Rayner Christine Jankowski on the field of Panthers’ Stadium.

As the Carolina Panthers were pounding their way to victory in the NFL, East Carolina University Alumna Christine Jankowski was on the 50 yard line to publicize every move.

Jankowski, who served as a digital media coordinator intern for the Carolina Panthers from August 2015 to March 2016, graduated from ECU in 2014 with a degree in communication (dual concentrations in journalism, and interpersonal and organizational communications).

Her responsibilities for the Panthers were keeping all of the social media platforms up to date with content, including Photo contributed by Christine Jankowski articles, photos, videos, GIFS, sponsorship posts, team news and breaking news. She also posted photo galleries, videos and articles to the PanCiara used to date the popular rapper Future. Since we thers’ website.

She emphasized the importance of coming up with creative ultimately ended up beating the Seahawks and went on ways to post content to keep viewers interested. She related to the Conference Championship versus the Cardinals, I that another central aspect of her work was engaging with the used a few Future lyrics as captions of Instagram posts sort of poking fun at Russel Wilson and the Seahawks,” said fans on the platforms.

As an example of how staying up to date with pop culture Jankowski. “Little things like that go a long way with the stories and trends is important when interacting with fans on fans and make for better engagement rates.”

In fact, keeping up with all of the Panthers’ social pages social platforms, she related that the rapper Future was at the game when the Panthers were playing the Seattle Seahawks in and platforms required her to work around the clock.

“My boss and I have come up with this saying, which is the Division Playoffs.

“It’s a well-known fact that Seahawks’ quarterback Russel ‘social media never sleeps,’ and it couldn’t be more true.”

Jankowski credits this to the Panther’s success when the Wilson was dating pop singer Ciara. It was also well known C-Current • Spring 2016

School of Communication • 2

Join us online:

Jankowski cont.

From alumni social events to awards, and scholarships to job openings, new content is added regularly!

team captured the attention of football fans around the country with a 17-2 season. “We have broken almost all of our TV records in terms of viewership and ratings, and have crushed our social and digital numbers from last year,” said Jankowski.

Jankowski said she also put much work into revamping the Panther’s Instagram account to appeal to a younger fan base. “I think when I started we had around 400,000 followers on Instagram, and now we have more than one million. That’s unheard of for a time span of one season.”

During each game, Jankowski constantly updated the scoreboard with tweets and pictures from fans. This included live tweeting the game from the Panthers’ account and finding pictures to post on Instagram.

“There is a lot that goes into gameday, but I think fans really appreciate all of the presentation and hard work from the Panthers staff,” said Jankowski.

The hard-working alumna believes the School of Communication at ECU is one of the best in the country, and helped prepare her for the experience. She said she applied material she learned at ECU to her job every day.

The School of Communication provided me with an amazing advisor, shout out Daniel Wiseman, and also introduced me to Dr. Fraley who was, and still is, the most helpful human being I’ve ever met.”

According to Jankowski, Dr. Todd Fraley, a professor in the SOC at the time, who is now director of the EC Scholars Program, guided her through her through her senior year networking process and introduced her to many contacts within the professional sports industry, several of whom she still stays in touch with today.

At the conclusion of Jankowski’s internship, she relocated to Los Angeles to begin doing public relations for The Agency. “When you are having fun, it’s not work; it becomes your livelihood,” Jankowski said of her journey so far.

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com (search “Comm Crew”) Facebook www.facebook.com (search “CommCrew”) Twitter twitter.com/commcrew For more news (and to see our new site design), go to www.ecu.edu/comm.

Also, check out student-written news stories at www.piratenewsnetwork.net

Special thanks to: Spring 2016 COMM 3310 Copy Editing and Design students for their contributions to this newsletter.

C-CURRENT • Spring 2016

bcb

School of Communication • 3

Dreyfus

Photo by Chandler Harrell

continued from page 1 they stayed at it and eventually landed a station that was not only better, but also cheaper.

After the station was purchased, Pirate Radio 1250 was born. With such early success, they would go on to buy 930 AM, which would double their footprint in North Carolina.

Since then the company has added a website (www. pirateradio1250.com) plus a mobile app to broadcast live programming and archived shows to fans worldwide. They Troy Dreyfus and Jonathan Ellerbe started the journey of forming Pirate Radio in 2003. The station has become the voice of Pirate Nation. have also built a large following through the social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter standard rules of radio. the future, but he often tells them and Instagram.

“Sometimes in Greenville and he doesn’t really know.

Their newest venture includes with East Carolina you got to do “As long as we’re still in busithe recent launch of Pirate Media things a little different, and, well, ness, still being successful, still Creative Services (www.pmgcrewe’re a little different,” stated Dreyrelevant, still making a difference, ativeservices.com), which assists fus. still being innovative, then that’s businesses and organizations with The duo continues to build the good enough for me. You don’t graphic needs, including websites station by broadcasting nationwide always have to reinvent the wheel, and branding. events such as Baltimore Orioles you sometimes just have to keep Even with all the success in baseball games, the Final Four it running good,” he said. the first decade of Pirate Radio and the Super Bowl. Bven with the He noted that goals will continbroadcasting, Dreyfus still doesn’t national broadcasts, Pirate Radio ue to remain high for the station, believe the station has reached continues to pride itself on the with the future bringing more the pinnacle. “We will continue local programming, whether it challenges. to climb, but I don’t think we’ve be “The Morning Drive” with Jeff “I never feel like we’ve arrived,” hit it yet,” he said. “But, looking at Charles, “The Sports Bar” with Clip said Dreyfus. “It’s like a painting the high point so far, it has probBrock or Dreyfus’ own show, “Live that’s never done, like an abstract ably been breaking the Coach Ruff @ Five.” painting. At what point do you firing.”

“That’s the type of stuff that no decide it’s complete? And that’s Pirate Radio did the unprecone does in this industry,” related to say that, with this, we’re always edented for the station and stayed Dreyfus. “But we do because we looking for interesting things to live on-air for six-plus hours with have such a passion for this school make our company better, our only a few commercial breaks. and our business.” programming better, and better Dreyfus added that it didn’t make The radio personality and entrefor listeners and advertisers.” good financial sense and that the preneur said that he has been asked broadcast didn’t quite follow the before where he sees the station in C-Current • Spring 2016

School of Communication • 4

Students benefit selves, community through projects

by Morgan Malicki

T

he Interpersonal/Organizational Communication students of East Carolina University are stepping away from the textbooks and stepping out into the community.

The School of Communication at East Carolina requires a capstone course for its seniors that focuses on service-learning. The students must involve themselves in their community by providing a service to an organization or individual.

“Communication students are very diverse in their area of study and skills, so it can be difficult pinning partners down,” said SOC Instructor Brittany Thompson, Photo by Morgan Malicki while explaining the types of organizations that the students are colMaterials SOC students created for ENC Stop Human Trafficking. laborating with. “This semester my students are working with Eastern Renn. “But it allowed me to handle every aspect of the North Carolina Stop Human Trafficking, Building Hope project on my own and not put any slack on somebody (Community Life Center), ECU Student Veterans Services, else.”

Pet Food Pantry of Eastern North Carolina, Pitt County Not only are students gaining hands-on experience, but Literacy Volunteers, and STAR (Support Team for Adap- the projects could also potentially benefit their image with tive Recreation).” a future employer.

The projects include fundraising, awareness messages, “It gives them experience on their resumes,” Thompson research, human resources, event planning and network- explained. “Of course, it is up to the students to make it ing. work for them. Their success and experience depends on Thompson has the chance to see her students have a how much they are willing to do.” positive impact on these organizations each semester. Last The School of Communication’s goal with service-learnsemester, a group of students raised over $800 for Pet Food ing projects is to influence the students to get a feel for Pantry by holding a Fun Run on campus. what the workforce might be like, as well as giving back to “The service learning project that I did was one of the the surrounding communities. few chances I had to put what I learned in the classroom to “I want the students to be able to apply what they have use in a professional setting,” said School of Communica- learned in communication classes to the real world,” tion alumna Bridgette Renn.

Thompson explained, adding that she also wants students Renn chose to complete her service-learning project to engage in their communities. with a local fire department, focusing on community in“Up until this point, most college students’ lives revolve volvement and public safety awareness. She sought them around themselves, their successes. Not to say that is bad, out individually and worked with them on her own. but as you enter into careers, I believe that it is important “I remember being nervous that I was one of the few stu- to think of your community and to give back.” dents who did not work in a group for this project,” said C-CURRENT • Spring 2016

School of Communication • 5

You can help the School of Communication continue to grow by:

joining CommCrew

for friends and alumni of the East Carolina University School of Communication Name: ______________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Phone: ______________________________________________ E-mail:_______________________________________________

Your membership supports academic scholarships, student journalism, and creative media production.

•Recent Alumni ($25) •Member ($50) •Patron ($100) •Benefactor ($250) •Director ($500)

•Chancellors’ Society ($1,000) • Call me about corporate sponsorship.

•Other (amount) _____________________

Please make your check payable to the ECU Foundation and return to: Dr. Linda Kean, Director School of Communication, 102 Joyner, Mail Stop 524, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858-4353

You can also donate online at: onestop.ecu.edu/onlinegiving/ Please designate your gift to: “College of Fine Arts and Communication,” then “School of Communication,” and under “Other Area” type “CommCrew.”

School of Communication COMMCREW An alumni and community-supported organization for advocacy, fellowship, and financial support of the School of Communication.

It seeks to strengthen the school in four ways: • Increasing awareness of the School of Communication in its graduates’ professions and throughout the community; • Recognizing outstanding alumni and student achievement; • Supporting student scholarships and activities; and • Providing networking opportunities for School of Communication alumni.

Won’t You Join Us? School of Communication 102 Joyner East Mail Stop 524 East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858-4353