Montclair’s Strudler: NJ PBS will be a professional news operation — not a student project

Keith Strudler wants to clear something up.

When Montclair State University takes over operation of NJ PBS, it will not be handing a television station to its students. It will be building a professional news operation — with a general manager, a news director, reporters and a full staff — that happens to be housed at a university.

“This is a professional network,” Strudler, the Dean of Montclair’s College of Communication and Media, told BINJE Wednesday afternoon. “The programming that’s built here is going to be professionally guided and developed.”

Strudler, who will oversee the operation, said jobs are being posted now.

The general manager, he said, is the first and most critical hire — the person who will set the tone for everything that follows. Below the GM will be a news director, reporters, a fundraising and membership team and technical and operations staff. More than 20 full-time employees are expected at launch, all of them Montclair State employees reporting through the College of Communication and Media.

Strudler said he expects to attract top candidates considering the current media environment is marked by layoffs, closures and uncertainty at major news organizations.

“Given the state of news media, we expect to see some outstanding candidates for these positions,” he said.

Former NJ PBS staff and journalists from across the state are encouraged to apply. There is no formal preference agreement, but Strudler was clear: the door is open.

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While the contract between Montclair State and the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority formally begins July 1, the real operational launch — the newscast, the full staff, the programming — is Oct. 1.

The state had previously reached extensions with WNET for several parts of the operation, including the evening broadcast — arrangements that predate this agreement and give Montclair roughly three months to hire, train and build.

Three months, Strudler said, is not a lot of time.

“October 1 is not so far,” he said. “We’re hiring a whole staff.”

Strudler said the aim is to cover the entire state. He said he envisions reporters in North, South and Central Jersey. A full-time Trenton reporter also is an aspiration. He also expects the station to potentially partner with the many content creators of news that already exist — as well as with other universities.

All of this will come with growth of audience and support, he said.

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The commitment to news — real news, on deadline, at big moments — is central to Strudler’s vision.

“There is a news desert in the state of New Jersey,” he said.

And the station’s reporters will be expected to think beyond the broadcast from Day One. Breaking news lives on digital and social first, Strudler said. The nightly newscast is the anchor, but it’s just one part of the effort to meet viewers/readers/consumers of media where they are, he said.

It’s a new way of thinking Strudler is determined to bring.

“If you’re producing a 30-minute nightly newscast and you’re only thinking about how to get through the 30 minutes, you’re absolutely doing it wrong,” he said. “Everything we do has to be thought about in terms of where it’s going and how it can serve multiple audiences.”

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As for students, some feared that if Montclair State was made the operator, the school would turn it into a student-run production.

Strudler said students will be there, but in a supporting role. He describes the model as a teaching hospital. A professional staff runs the operation. Students learn alongside them, shadow them, intern across every function — news, social media, fundraising, everything it takes to run a station.

Strudler acknowledged that what launches in October will be a work in progress. The budget is deliberately conservative — built lean from the start rather than forced to cut later. The staff will be small. The ambition is large.

What he did promise is growth.

“What you see on Day One will not be what you see at the end of year one,” he said. “We’re going to spend a lot of time listening and seeing what works and what doesn’t. We expect to grow as we grow.”