Making Headlines in the Media - The University of Scranton

Susan Swain ’76, H’99
E X E C U T I V E V I C E P R E S I D E N T
A N D C O - C H I E F O P E R AT I N G O F F I C E R
C-SPAN
Susan Swain ’76,
H’99 prepares to
interview Howard
Dodson, director
of the Schomburg
Center for
Research in Black
Culture in Harlem,
for the launch of
the American
Writers II series
on C-SPAN. At
center is C-SPAN
camera technician
Bob Reilly.
From the
Ground Up
In 1972, Susan Swain was one of
a small group of students in a start - u p
communications major at the
Un i ve r s i t . yShe was also among the first
g roup of female students during the ye a r
that Scranton became a co-ed campus.
Ten years later, Ms. Swain became
p a rt of a small, start-up cable TV netw
o rk that had begun without its ow n
television camera. And, once again, she
found herself amid a group of women
who we re making their way into a predominantly
male enviro n m e n t .
Today, Ms. Swain ’76 H’99 shares
the post as second-in-command at
the cable industry’s public affairs network.
She is Executive Vice President
and Co-Chief Operating Officer of
C-SPAN, a diverse information service
that provides public affairs programming
to 77 million television
households via nearly 6,500 cable
systems. And she is quick to credit
her liberal arts education with her
rise to the top of public affairs programming
in America.
“Liberal arts is a good foundation
for eve ryone,” says Ms. Swain, who has
maintained her Scranton ties thro u g h
s e rvice on the Board of Trustees (1993
– 1999) and as speaker at the
Un i ve r s i t y’s 1999 commencement, at
which she re c e i ved an honorary degre e .
As Co-chief Operating Of f i c e r, Ms.
Swain is responsible for the C-SPA N
n e t w o rk’s daily editorial operations.
She works with a staff of 275 to deve l-
op programming content and mark e t-
ing and to oversee program operations.
She is a long-time on-air moderator
for Washington Journal, C-SPAN’s
morning program, and a collaborator
on special programming of the network’s
historical series, including The
Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 and
the Peabody Award-winning
American Presidents: Life Portraits.
“I get to make TV while also being
an administrator of it,” she says.
Ac c o rding to Ms. Swain, the cre a t i ve
component of an exe c u t i ve position “is
s m a rt business, because it keeps me so
close to the product.” It’s also what has
kept her at C-SPAN for 20 years.
“I haven’t been promoted out of
what I love,” she says.
Her love of literature is evident in
C - S PA N s ’ newly-launched Am e r i c a n
Writers II: The 20 t h Ce n t u ry. Ms. Sw a i n
is one of the series’ creators and one of
the on-air hosts of this historical series
that examines American history thro u g h
the lives and works of 18 selected writers.
T h e re is a piece of Scranton in this
series. It was through William B. Hi l l ,
S.J., a former Professor of English, that
Ms. Swain developed a full appre c i a t i o n
of literature. Right up until Fr. Hi l l’s
death in Fe b ru a ry 2002, the two staye d
in touch, e-mailing one another about
books, current affairs and the Un i ve r s i t . y
“He was a role model of how to
age with great grace and with one of
life’s great gifts: curiosity,” she says of
Fr. Hill. “Curiosity is the essence of
journalism.”
In fact, it was Ms. Swain’s longing
for a deeper sense of knowledge that
led her to a career in public affairs
television programming.
After graduating from the
University, Ms. Swain spent a year at
WDAU-TV (now WYOU-TV) in
Scranton. And while she appreciated
the opportunity to work in news, she
quickly realized that she didn’t want
to spend the rest of her life chasing
after bullets and fire engines.
She left WYOU for a rather
unconventional job with “Up with
People,” an educational-based performance
troupe.
“I often refer to it as my way of
running away with the circus,” quips
Ms. Swain.
For two years, she traveled thro u g h-
out the world, preparing for perf o r m-
ances and meeting with mayors of
major cities and even kings of countries
– all for just $75 a month.
Anxious to establish some ro o t s ,
she moved to Cambridge, Ma s s ,
w h e re she became a communications
consultant for the federal gove r n m e n t .
Her re n ewed interest in politics ultimately
led her to Washington, D.C.
In 1982, she became a producer at
C - S PAN, which had been formed by
the cable television industry in 1979
to provide live, gave l - t o - g a vel cove r a g e
of the U.S. House of Re p re s e n t a t i ve s .
At the time, she was part of a staff
of 20 who worked round-the-clock to
put C-SPAN on the map.
“ It was great fun and an experience
that is hard to re c a p t u re,” she says.
For all she’s accomplished, she
acknowledges that there is always the
opportunity to do more.
“Throughout my career, I’ve raised
my hand a lot and said ’Let me try.’ I
hope life continues to let me try new
things.”
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