During the Spring 2021 semester, students from Rosemary Martinelli’s COMM 471 class and contributors to Be Greater Creative, the student run marketing and public relations agency, worked with the National Museum of Broadcasting (NMB) and presented recommendations on how the non-profit could continue to honor the legacy of broadcasting and electronic media and its origins in Pittsburgh. Today, NMB is one step closer to establishing a permanent home to share the history and technology of electronic mass media.
On Tues, Nov 2, the 103rd anniversary of the launch of commercial media, The NMB Board of Directors, along with The Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission, PA Senator Jay Costa, (D) 43rd District, and community leaders from East Pittsburgh and the Mon Valley will announce plans to build an historic museum to broadcasting and electronic media, saluting the origins of broadcasting in Pittsburgh. In addition to this announcement, they will present a long-term plan that will help to revitalize the Turtle Creek Valley and its legacy of manufacturing and innovation through tourism, economic development and the museum’s educational programming.
For nearly 40 years, a small group of volunteers has been working to make the vision of a national museum in Pittsburgh a reality through their collection and preservation of radio and media history. They amassed and stored written materials, photographs, recordings, and media artifacts, including the actual Pittsburgh garage where amateur radio operator, Frank Conrad, a Westinghouse engineer, built the radio transmitter that inspired the birth of commercial radio.
Martinelli, a lecturer in business and communications at Penn State Greater Allegheny and faculty adviser to the student newspaper the GA-Zette serves on the Board of Directors of NMB and helped to make the connection for Greater Allegheny students to work with NMB. That project is just one example of Martinelli’s efforts and commitment to providing students practical experiences they can share with future employers. To learn more about Be Greater Creative visit the agency’s webpage.
(Banner Imagery by Alisha Tarver, Class of 2021)
