If knowledge is power then that would explain why Dick Kernen is, without a doubt, the most high profile member of the staff and faculty at Specs Howard School of Media Arts. As an instructor, career services advisor and Vice President of Industry Relations at Specs Howard School of Media Arts, he has placed thousands of Specs Howard grads in radio and television jobs since he joined the staff in 1972. He also has over 50 years of experience in the business himself.

Students often meet “Uncle Kernen” for the first time in the classroom where he invites students to hop aboard “The Cluebus” and get real about the hard work, ambition and determination it’ll take to achieve their goals in a competitive media industry.

And he isn’t known for being gentle.

Despite the tough love approach he often takes to helping students and graduates find their way, Kernen is potentially their biggest fan. The accomplishments that graduates achieve still impress the heck of him, which is why he opened up this blog to brag about them, as any proud uncle would do.

Kernen’s own career began in 1956 as a mail courier for WXYZ radio. He claims he got the job because he was ‘the only one who applied for it,’ adding that the call his mother put into the station’s program director — begging him to hire her wayward son — didn’t hurt either.

Having discovered the networking process, Kernen spent the next 15 years at the station, assuming the roles of various, mid-level management positions. Then in 1969, he got his big break when FM radio hit the airwaves for the first time and ABC needed a program director to launch 101 WRIF. During his three years at the helm, he brought the now legendary jock, Arthur Penhallow, to Detroit in what could be described as a defining moment in his own career. After all, Penhallow would be the first in a long line of talent that Kernen would help launch impressive careers.

In 1972, Kernen’s own career took a turn and it is at Specs Howard School that he would discover his life’s work. With contacts already in the broadcast industry, helping connect employers and grads came naturally to him and he found his calling in the career services department. Today, he continues to help both recent and experienced graduates find work in the media industry. He also helps the school’s curriculum stay current and relevant to employers and the media industry as a whole.

To send Uncle Kernen your news and updates, you may contact him at dkernen@specshoward.edu.

Member, Board of Directors, Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation, Michigan Production Alliance. Former Cable Commissioner, City of Dearborn; Past Experience includes management and programming positions at WXYZ, WRIF and Starr Broadcasting. Past Board Member, Detroit Producers Association and Detroit Chapter of Media Communications Association – International (formerly International Television Association); former member, Dearborn Teleproduction Commission. Named 1998 “Legend of the Year” by Detroit chapter of Media Communications Association – International. Inducted into Michigan Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, 2003. First man ever elected to the National Board of The American Women in Radio and Television.