Dr. Sam Swan

A member of the FreeMediaOnline.org Board of Directors, Dr Sam Swan is an internationally known scholar and media consultant with over 30 years of experience in broadcasting, broadcast management, broadcast education, and research. Dr. Swan began his broadcasting career in 1967 as a radio news reporter and anchor at KFVS-AM in Cape Girardeau, Missouri where he later became news director. He also performed many other duties including sales, production, and on-air music announcing. Swan later served as the anchor/host for a two-hour morning show on KFVS-TV in the late 1960s. From 1968-1970 he served as principal anchor for the 5:30 and 10:00 p.m. newscasts on KFVS-TV.

Following completion of an undergraduate degree in communication from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Swan accepted an assignment to work in Sri Lanka for six months in 1970-71. In Sri Lanka he lived with families in order to better understand the people and culture of the country while consulting with the Farm Broadcasting Service on the development of radio programs designed to reach young farmers.

Dr. Swan served as a radio-television specialist for the University of Missouri from 1972 -1978 where he produced and hosted numerous radio and television programs broadcast on stations throughout Missouri.

He earned a master's degree in communication from Central Missouri State University in 1974 and completed a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Missouri in 1978.

Following completion of his doctorate, Dr. Swan was named Electronic Media Leader at the University of Minnesota. In that role, he led a faculty of five broadcasters in the production and distribution of numerous radio and TV programs that were broadcast throughout Minnesota.

In 1981, Dr. Swan became Head of the Department of Radio-Television at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. At SIU, Swan headed a faculty of 14 and student population of 600 students. He also provided leadership for public radio and public television stations.

In 1985, Dr. Swan became Head of the Department of Broadcasting at the University of Tennessee. In that role Swan led a faculty of 7 and a student population of 400. He was responsible for the donation of a 50,000 watt commercial AM station to the university. He designed and programmed the station as an all-news station for the Knoxville market. He also managed a non-commercial FM station for students at the university. On the television side, Swan conceived and continues to produce a weekly news and public affairs program for WBIR-TV, the NBC affiliate in Knoxville.

Dr. Swan became involved with international media training in 1996. He has conducted many workshops on radio sales and management in Africa for radio managers. Workshops were held in Angola, Tanzania, two in South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria. More than 200 managers from all over Africa have participated in these workshops. Swan has also provided management training for engineers as part of the United States Technical Training Institute.

Dr. Swan has also conducted several workshops in Eastern Europe for both radio and television managers. Most of the workshops have focused on sales and management and one focused on broadcast research. Others have focused on broadcast journalism. Workshops have been conducted in Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Croatia, two in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and two in Latvia. Swan has also conducted workshops in Kazakhstan, Pakistan and India. Swan has conducted several other workshops for Eastern European radio and television managers in Washington, D.C. and in Knoxville, Tennessee. Groups from Slovakia, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and Bulgaria have participated in 1-3 week workshops at the University of Tennessee.

Link to Dr. Swan's web bio