Douglas A. Ferguson
| Douglas A. Ferguson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Douglas Alan Ferguson October 11, 1950 Lima, Ohio |
| 💼 Occupation | Academic, researcher, media scholar |
| Known for | Media programming research, broadcast television studies, channel repertoire |
| 🌐 Website | https://fergusond.people.charleston.edu/ |
Douglas A. Ferguson (born October 11, 1950) is an American media scholar and professor emeritus of communication at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. He is known for his research on television audience behavior, media programming strategies, broadcast and cable television management, and the adoption of new media technologies.
Early life and education
Ferguson was raised in Lima, Ohio, where he worked as a radio announcer at WIMA-AM (1969–1971) and as a sportswriter for The Lima News (1969). He earned a Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) and a Master of Arts in Speech Communication from The Ohio State University, completing his M.A. thesis on the first major-market cable television failure in Lakewood, Ohio (1973). He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as an undergraduate at Ohio State in 1973.
He went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in Mass Communication from the Bowling Green State University (BGSU) School of Mass Communication (1990), where his dissertation examined selective exposure to television and the role of VCR and cable penetration in predicting "inheritance effects" with regard to audience flow and broadcast programming strategies.
Career
Broadcasting
Before entering academia, Ferguson spent over a decade in the broadcast industry. He held progressive roles at WLIO(TV), an NBC affiliate in Lima, Ohio, rising from Director and Film Editor (1974–1975) to Promotion Director, Program Director, and ultimately Station Manager (1980–1987). Before his work in broadcast television, he also served briefly as Program Director at Gerity Cablevision in Bay City, Michigan, and as a radio announcer and sales specialist at KESM-AM/FM in El Dorado Springs, Missouri.
Academic career
Ferguson joined the faculty of the Department of Telecommunications at Bowling Green State University as an instructor in 1989, becoming an assistant professor in 1990 and associate professor in 1995. He also served as Chair of the Department of Telecommunications (1997–1999), General Manager of WBGU-FM (1997–1999), and Assistant Dean for Resources and Planning in BGSU's College of Arts and Sciences (1994–1997).
In 1999, Ferguson joined the Department of Communication at the College of Charleston as its inaugural chair, a position he held until 2004. He served as inaugural Director of Graduate Studies for the Master of Arts in Communication program (2004–2008), Faculty Coordinator for e-Learning and Online Education (2014–2020), and full professor until his retirement in 2025, when he was designated Professor Emeritus.[1]
Research and Teaching
Ferguson's scholarly work focuses on television audience behavior, media management, and the adoption of emerging media technologies. His early research expanded the concept of channel repertoire—the subset of channels viewers habitually watch from the full set available—and examined how remote control devices, VCRs, and cable television influence viewing patterns.[2]
Notable contributions include:
- An early study measuring remote control device flipping frequency as a behavioral variable (1994), published in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media[3]
- Research on cultivation effects in newer media environments, co-authored with Elizabeth Perse and Douglas McLeod (1994)
- A pioneering study on the World Wide Web as a functional alternative to television (2000), widely cited in media studies
- A methodological article on name-based cluster sampling (2009) in Sociological Methods & Research
- Extensive research with co-author Clark F. Greer on local broadcasters' use of social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest (2011–2022)
- Studies on early adopter behavior toward TiVo and ReplayTV digital video recorders (2002–2005)
His Google Scholar h-index is 26 (i10-index: 40).
Ferguson specialized in teaching research methods, especially surveys. He was cited for his views on how public groups sometimes conduct biased surveys.[4]
Editorial and professional service
Ferguson served as Editor of the Journal of Radio and Audio Media (later Journal of Radio & Audio Media) from 2004 to 2007, published by the Broadcast Education Association. He chaired the Management & Sales Division of the Broadcast Education Association from 1995 to 1997. He continues to serve on the editorial boards of the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Journal of Radio and Audio Media, and the International Journal on Media Management.
He also served as a litigation consultant and expert witness, authoring a declaration exhibit in a Federal Communications Commission complaint filed by Bloomberg L.P. against Comcast LLC (2011).
Books
Ferguson is a co-author and editor of two major textbooks widely used in broadcast and media studies curricula:
- Media Programming: Strategies and Practices (co-authored with Susan Tyler Eastman), published by Thomson Wadsworth in multiple editions (5th through 9th, 1997–2013), with a Chinese edition published by Tsinghua University Press (2011).
- Media Promotion & Marketing for Broadcasting, Cable & the Internet (co-authored with Susan Tyler Eastman and Robert A. Klein), published by Focal Press in multiple editions (3rd through 5th, 1999–2006), with translations in Korean (Hanul Publishing), Chinese (Huaxia Publishing), and Bulgarian (Sluntse Publishers).
- The Broadcast Television Industry (co-authored with James R. Walker), published by Allyn & Bacon (1998).
Selected honors
- Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award, Office of Multicultural Student Programs and Services, College of Charleston (2012)
- Stephen H. Coltrin Award for Excellence in Electronic Media Education, International Radio and Television Society (IRTS) Faculty/Industry Seminar (first-place team, 1992, 1997, 2003)
- Outstanding Ph.D. Student, School of Mass Communication, Bowling Green State University (1988–89 and 1989–90)
- Phi Beta Kappa, The Ohio State University (1973)
References
- ↑ "ResearchGate".
- ↑ Academia: Douglas Ferguson"
- ↑ Psychology Today, September 1992
- ↑ "Plastics industry targets bag bans," The Post and Courier July 31, 2016, front page.
External links
This article "Douglas A. Ferguson" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Douglas A. Ferguson. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
