Sunrise Semester
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''Sunrise Semester'' is an American
educational television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable telev ...
series that aired on
WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...
from September 1957 to October 1982 and was at first syndicated by CBS Television Film Sales. It was produced in conjunction with the College of Arts and Science at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
(when the program started, the Washington Square and University College of Arts and Science). During June, July and August, the program was known as ''Summer Semester''. It was one of the first examples of
distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
, telecourses, or
MOOC A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, m ...
s. Lecturers presented NYU credit courses in studio on a wide range of academic subjects, and these broadcast courses were offered for credit to anyone who paid the course fees. The program earned five
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s during its lifetime. The program was so named because it was broadcast in the early morning, in New York at 6:30 a.m.


History and production

''Sunrise Semester'' was developed by Warren A. Kraetzer, director of the Office of Radio/Television at New York University, and Sam Cook Digges, general manager of
WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...
, and started on WCBS before becoming a syndicated program. Thomas Brophy, assistant director under Kraetzer, was the administrator of the program until his retirement in 1973, when he was succeeded by Pat Myers. New York University planned the courses and provided faculty; beginning in 1963, CBS taped and distributed it to network affiliates. The first course was ''Comparative Literature 10: From Stendhal to Hemingway'', taught by Floyd Zulli, Jr., an Assistant Professor of Romance Languages.
Neil Postman Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 – October 5, 2003) was an American author, educator, media theorist and cultural critic, who eschewed digital technology, including personal computers, mobile devices, and cruise control in cars, and was critical of ...
taught a course, ''Communication, The Invisible Environment'', in the Fall of 1976. After a preview broadcast at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 7, 1957, the program premiered on Monday, September 23, 1957 at 6:30 a.m. in New York and aired at varying early times between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m. elsewhere. It consisted of two courses per semester on alternating days from Monday through Saturday, each broadcast half an hour long (90–95 hours a year).Carlisle, p. 55. Initially these were broadcast live, requiring a 4:30 a.m. makeup call for the lecturer. After adoption by the CBS network, the three lectures for each course were taped in a single weekly session, between 11:15 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. The setting was an unadorned lecture room, with a chalkboard and a projector. There was no editing and no provision for retakes; Myers said she advised professors who made "a horrendous goof" to "faint". Payments to the instructors were too low to permit rebroadcasting or the sale of tapes under union regulations: initially instructors received $25 per broadcast. NYU students at first paid a $75 fee to receive undergraduate credit for one of the courses; by 1974 this had risen to $250. Other institutions were free to use the program for their own credit courses, without payment to NYU. Beginning in 1971, NYU also allowed high-school students to take the course for credit before enrolling in the university. A primary source of funding was a grant from the Sperry and Hutchinson Foundation. During the summer, the program was titled ''Summer Semester'' and courses were non-credit; from 1962
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
produced summer courses. In a December 1958 article, John Crosby reported that most viewers of ''Sunrise Semester'' were women between 16 and 60. In the early years, NYU held a social event at which registered students could meet their instructor. There were plans in the early 1980s to improve the production values of the program, but CBS canceled it in 1982 to make way for early-morning news. At that time, according to the network, only 42 affiliates carried the program.


Awards and reception

''Sunrise Semester'' won five Emmy Awards in its first two years. Zulli's first course, viewable only in New York, had 74,000 viewers in the first week, 120,000 by the end of the semester. 150 students enrolled for credit, and bookstores sold out of
Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...
s ''
The Red and the Black ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (; meaning ''The Red and the Black'') is a historical psychological novel in two volumes by Stendhal, published in 1830. It chronicles the attempts of a provincial young man to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing t ...
''.
Jack Gould John Ludlow Gould (February 5, 1914 – May 24, 1993) was an American journalist and critic, who wrote commentary about television. Early life and education Gould was born in New York City into a socially prominent family and attended the Loomis ...
in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it "a refreshing and civilized hit" and praised the instructor's " ack ofcondescension" and "carefully controlled ...theatrical ty. In the mid-1970s, 85 CBS stations were carrying the broadcast, and NYU believed there were up to a million viewers.Carlisle, p. 57. ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called Zulli's course "the first unquestioned hit show of the 1957 television season". CBS did not permit advertising during the program, but the slots before and after it were popular with advertisers. ''Sunrise Semester'' has been described as "a kind of primitive form of a ... MOOC"; in 1962 ''The New York Times'' ran a featured article on a housewife who had completed a bachelor's degree at NYU including 54 out of 128 credits from ''Sunrise Semester'' courses. ''Sunrise Semester'' was cited in a 2021 article in the
Smithsonian magazine ''Smithsonian'' is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' maga ...
as setting the stage for widespread distance learning during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.


See also

*
Continental Classroom ''Continental Classroom'' is a U.S. educational television program that was broadcast on the NBC network five days a week in the early morning from 1958 to 1963, covering physics, chemistry, mathematics, and American government. It was targeted at ...


References

{{reflist, 30em


External links


''Sunrise Semester''
at
IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

NYU tribute page to Sunrise SemesterSunrise Semester episode
with
Neil Postman Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 – October 5, 2003) was an American author, educator, media theorist and cultural critic, who eschewed digital technology, including personal computers, mobile devices, and cruise control in cars, and was critical of ...
Fall 1976 CBS original programming 1950s American television series 1960s American television series 1970s American television series 1980s American television series 1957 American television series debuts 1982 American television series endings Adult education television series New York University Black-and-white American television shows