Mass Comm alum helps Enterprise give back to the communitySpring 2009 - By Etta-Tamara Wilson
When Alonzo Byrd graduated with a mass communications degree from SIUE in 1981, he probably didn’t think he would eventually be helping Enterprise Rent-A-Car elevate its public image.
As the rental car agency’s assistant vice-president of corporate responsibility, Byrd makes sure Enterprise does the right thing by donating to groups like the National Urban League and partially funding Tavis Smiley’s show on PBS.
“By supporting causes and institutions in the community that are helping make a difference in the community, you are bringing about change,” Byrd said. “There are a lot of groups and organizations who rely on corporations in general to support them, and, when you can do that, it really makes a difference.”
Byrd said his background in journalism at SIUE helped him get the job at Enterprise and much more.
“SIUE didn’t get me a job, it prepared me for a career,” Byrd said. “What was vital in that preparation was the liberal arts education, an education that taught me how to think (and) exposed (me) to a lot of different things in the world.”
While he attended SIUE, Byrd was one of only 10 students accepted into the Capital Cities Apprenticeship program where he got to work at the Belleville News-Democrat, the Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich., and the Kansas City Times. While working at each, Byrd said he learned the inner workings of three very different sized newspapers, ranging in circulation from the 40,000 of the BND to 300,000 at the Times.
Byrd added that he was offered positions at all three newspapers, but accepted the job at the Belleville News-Democrat because it was close to home. While at the BND, he covered the Metro-East area, including the Collinsville city hall and police beat.
His first big story came while he was 23 when 12 children were killed in a house fire in his hometown of East St. Louis. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and ran nationwide. In the face of the disaster, Byrd was able to report because of the skills that had been drilled into him.
“You have to see it for what it is and sometimes you have to put your thoughts and feelings to the side,” Byrd explained. “Having witnessed something that horrific, you find yourself being in the moment as a reporter, having to do what you’ve been trained to do, and that’s to get the facts and thoughts . . . and bring it all into a story.”
After working at the BND, Byrd moved on to a successful career in public relations at the American Red Cross and the PR firm of Fleishman-Hillard. After spending nearly two decades in PR, Byrd made the jump to Enterprise, and said he still uses the basics journalism taught him.
“My philosophy has always been to speak and act like a journalist and just apply the knowledge you have as a journalist to the industry that you’re working in,” Byrd said.
SIUE Mass Communications Instructor Tom Atwood had similar advice. He said his experience working at his college radio station at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., was one of the reasons he was so prepared coming out of college and that WSIE provides a similar background in journalism for students.
“When I came out (of college), I had five years of experience in radio from high school through college and went right into a radio job in Springfield,” Atwood said.
Atwood said that if SIUE students take advantage of opportunities for experience available at SIUE, specifically WSIE, they can be just as prepared.”
SIUE Mass Communications Associate Professor Gary Hicks said he thinks SIUE provides all the essentials because the university has an accredited mass communications program, much like the one he graduated from at Texas Christian University. Hicks also stressed the importance for journalists to have a broad liberal arts education.
“One thing that a journalist has to do is not only be able to write as a journalist and know AP style and know how to go out and get the basics … they have to be intellectually curious,” Hicks said.
But the world of news isn’t the same as it was when these three veterans first joined it. Students now have to deal with multiple script formats, Web-based content and convergence.
“The field is changing so much in terms of what people are doing (like) the Seattle (Post-Intelligencer) is going all online,” Hicks said. “… I think we have a greater challenge now than educators did years ago because it’s not as clear what career paths are and what preparation you need.”
Students graduating with degrees in journalism are most certainly worried about the shrinking job force, like the ones in Seattle disappearing. But the fundamentals learned through writing should be enough to help students get a job somewhere, according to Atwood.
“The hardest thing for anybody these days to find in any related field like marketing or PR or even non-journalism fields is somebody who can write,” Atwood said. “…If you come out of SIUE with a journalism degree or a mass communications degree, I think you’re going to have to be a good enough writer that it’s going to help you in any other field you go into.”
Byrd’s trip through life has evolved around his degree in journalism, but landed him in a job that he said he is happy with. So happy, he manages to get back to SIUE to thank them.
“Even now I find myself getting back on campus and giving back whenever I can, providing advice to students or just being a member of the school’s communications alumni advisory committee,” Byrd said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to have matriculated through SIUE, and I’m certainly of the opinion that those who get through SIUE will be well suited for a career in communications.”