The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Larry Litwin
2004

Broadcast Pioneers member M. Larry Litwin was born in South Philadelphia, raised in Camden and Pennsauken, New Jersey, lived in rural Iowa for three years, suburban North Jersey for two years and now resides in Cherry Hill, N.J.

Litwin is an established public relations counselor, teacher, mentor, role model and ethicist, and an award-winning public relations practitioner and broadcast journalist, who has left a lasting impression on thousands of students and professionals.

He is an associate professor of communication at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ where his classroom is considered a “laboratory for practical knowledge.” Litwin teaches public relations, advertising, radio, television and journalism. For the past eight years, he has been full time. For 25 years prior to that, he served as an adjunct.

He is a graduate of Parsons College in Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in business. He received his master’s in communication – educational public relations – from Glassboro State College. In 2002, he earned his APR (Accredited in Public Relations) from the Public Relations Society of America. Only 6,000 professionals are APR.

During his 40-years in the communication profession, Litwin has worked as a public relations director for two school districts and as a radio and TV reporter, editor and anchor for ABC in New York and KYW in Philadelphia. He was education reporter at KYW Newsradio for nearly 10-years. He spent nearly two years in the U.S. Department of Labor as a deputy regional director of information and public affairs during Elizabeth Dole’s tenure as labor secretary. He has also served as a public relations and advertising consultant.

Litwin was appointed by New Jersey’s governor to serve as chair of the Open Public Records Act Privacy Study Commission, which recommended cutting edge legislation to assure that government records would be available to the public without exposing personal information – such as home addresses and telephone numbers – that should remain private and out of the public domain.

He is secretary of the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association, a member of the five-person board of trustees of the South Jersey Baseball Hall of Fame and the Board of Directors of the Parsons College Foundation. He has served on the Cherry Hill (N.J.) Economic Development Council, as president of the Township’s Alliance on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and on the South Jersey Scholar-Athlete Committee sponsored by the Courier-Post and Coca-Cola.

Litwin has authored two books: The ABCs of Strategic Communication – Thousands of terms, tips and techniques that define the professions (Kendall/Hunt – 2005) and The Public Relations Practitioner's Playbook – A Synergized Approach to Effective Two-Way Communication (Kendall/Hunt – 2003). He is a contributor to several college textbooks and has written numerous articles for national magazines.

He is the recipient of nearly 250 professional awards including the Sigma Delta Chi (Society of Professional Journalists) Bronze Medallion for Distinguished Service in Journalism and the first ever Grand Award presented by the International Radio Festival of New York.

In 2002, the Philadelphia chapter of PRSA honored Litwin with its Anthony J. Fulginiti Award for “Outstanding Contributions to Public Relations Education” – which honors a person who excels in education, either through their mentoring/teaching, their efforts to help shape the careers of future PR professionals or their contributions to PRSSA (student chapter). Philadelphia PRSA awarded Rowan University’s PRSSA chapter with its Pepperpot for “Excellence in Public Relations.” Litwin serves as the chapter advisor.

Larry and his wife Nancy have two children, Julie and Adam. Julie is a second grade teacher in Atlanta. She and husband Billy, publisher of Georgia Sports Monthly, have a daughter, Alana. Adam, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) fellow, is working toward a doctorate in economics and business.

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com