By Olivia Obineme
TU journalism student | March 4, 2010

In a light-colored button down shirt, tucked in some dark slacks, the man who WMJF-TV station members call “Doc”, gets himself ready in his Pennsylvania home and makes his way to Towson University, each morning.

“The drive isn’t bad, although it has changed considerably,” he said. “I take Route 83 south to Baltimore –and when we moved up there in 1976, at 8 o’clock in the morning a couple of cars on the road and there were no slowdowns .”

Associate Professor John MacKerron of the Electronic Media and Film department is the person responsible for bringing a television station to the University. Although he teaches EMF 140, Introduction to Electronic Media and Film as well as television production courses, MacKerron is also the general manager of the campus television station. There are some people who do not know how to juggle multiple tasks at one time, but for MacKerron, he said it is a part of the job.

Towson University Associate Professor and WMJF-TV General Manager John MacKerron works hard to keep the station and its students of their feet. Photo by Olivia Obineme, 2010.

“It’s all a part of my professor responsibilities. I teach –probably the most time-consuming and enjoyable use of my time is working with WMJF, a student managed and operated T.V. station. We [professors] are also required to be involved in scholarly activities, so I’m involved in presenting panels at conventions.”

As a general manager of a campus television station, MacKerron has many responsibilities that consume his day, from making sure each show is following the regulations of the Federal Communication Commission to being available to the students as a mentor.

“I think I meet the minimal responsibility with regard the Federal Communications Commission, but I go beyond that in working with WMJF to make sure that it continues to be a strong educational experience for our students and that they are given a realistic experience of running a T.V. station,” he said.

Nevertheless, it seems to be more of an endless checklist MacKerron must go through, filing quarterly reports on the programming that the station does—a required 3 hours a week of locally produced programming, a required 3 hours a week of educational information programming, a required confirmation that the station does not exceed the commercial limits interments programming, and a required determination of what the local issues are in the local community and then the demonstration of how the station’s programming addresses those issues.

“So, a good amount of my time is making sure that we do that, in both the content that we have on the air and there are some more requirements off the air, paperwork that needs to be done, which I’m responsible for,” he said.

WMJF President Michael Nannetti, works closely to Doc and is amazed about how MacKerron does not seem to be slowing down.

“Honestly I don’t know how he is able to do everything.  Not only does he have a full course load to teach students, grade papers, and advise, he also is filing paperwork with the SGA so our station can get funding, paperwork to keep our FCC license, and on top of that, coming in on weekends when we have live broadcasts to help out.  Doc is always accessible and organized.  Sometimes I think he’s inhuman on how he juggles everything,” Nannetti said.

But unlike Nannetti, MacKerron knows that the time to turn to a new chapter in his life may be soon.

“I’m at an age, where I can retire if I want to and looking into the crystal ball and into the future, I can see myself here at a maximum of three more years,” he said. “And it could be shorter than that –who knows how conditions might change.”

MacKerron joined the EMF department staff in September 1971. Year 2011 will be the professor’s 40^th year at the University.

So, many things have changed for MacKerron, including his commute to campus, but what will not change is the reason for going to Towson everyday.

“Now, when you leave at 8 o’clock in the morning, you will hit stop and go traffic. So, the drive has changed,” he said.

“But I think throughout my entire career, I’ve found getting involved in some form of student run media has been a joy to me and it’s one of the reasons why I love coming to work every day.”