Landen Residency Brings Cable and Broadcast TV Programmers to Campus

He works with Regis, she with Emeril. He works in broadcast television, she in cable. Both have helped develop popular television programs, and both will be at Ithaca College for three days in February to give master classes and classroom presentations and to meet informally with students in the Roy H. Park School of Communications. Arthur Moore and Judith Girard, both of whom are also Ithaca College communications graduates, are this year’s Skip Landen professionals in residence in the Park School. They will give a free public lecture, "Cable vs. Broadcast: And the Winner Is . . ." on Tuesday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m. in Park Hall Auditorium.

Moore is director of programming at WABC-TV and executive in charge of production for the nationally syndicated program Live with Regis. Girard is senior vice president and general manager of the Food Network, which serves up programs featuring Emeril Lagasse, the "Iron Chef," and Martha Stewart, among others. While on campus they will give joint master classes on the topics of "How to Launch a TV Show," "Programming: The Difference between Broadcast and Cable," and "Finding, Keeping, and Promoting Yourself in and out of a Job"; critique a student-produced broadcast on ICTV; and speak in television production and programming, advertising, public relations, and telecommunications management courses.

After graduating from the College in 1966, Moore began his television career at a station in central Pennsylvania, where he directed regional commercials for Sears and J. C. Penney. From there he went on to produce and direct a morning variety program, children’s programs, and news shows for WKBW-TV in Buffalo. He also directed game telecasts for the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres and the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills.

Moore then joined WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, where he served as executive producer/director of the popular morning program AM/Philadelphia — a show he helped develop for the station. In 1978 he was promoted to director of station promotion and advertising. Since 1989 Moore has been director of programming for WABC-TV in New York City, where Live with Regis is produced. He is also executive producer of three syndicated programs by film critic Joel Siegel — Road to the Academy Awards, Summer Film Hits, and Joel Siegel’s Holiday Film Preview. The Park School honored Moore in 1992 with its Ceracche Distinguished Achievement Award.

Following her 1968 graduation from Ithaca, Girard started at Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV and then held programming and other management positions with several stations before joining WNBC-TV in New York in 1987 as director of operations and programming. In 1989 she was named director of broadcasting for WNBC-TV. In that position she helped pioneer a new programming genre with the Sunday late-night sports update Sports Machine. Girard was also instrumental in developing successful syndication partnerships between NBC-owned stations and such talk shows as Phil Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael. In 1991 she was appointed vice president of broadcasting for WNBC-TV.

Girard left broadcast television to become senior vice president of programming and production at the Lifetime cable channel, then took a position as senior vice president of programming — in charge of video and interactive services — for Americast, a joint venture of Disney, BellSouth, SBC Communications, Ameritech, and GTE. She is now senior vice president and general manager of cable’s Food Network, where she is responsible for programming, content on FOODTV.com, and marketing and promotions for the network.

Girard is also an associate professor at New York University, where she has taught courses in television production and sales. She is a 1989 recipient of the Ceracche award.

The Skip Landen professional in residence series was established in the Park School to bring media professionals to campus each year to meet and work with students. The series is named after filmmaker and professor emeritus of cinema and photography Skip Landen.