Charlie Jordan Retires After 32 Years as Head of RTV Department

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9/3/2002
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- Visit any radio and television station in the area and you'll find Charlie Jordan's grads, working in jobs ranging from disk jockeys to camera operators to photographers. For more than three decades, Jordan has helped to shape Upstate broadcasting by leading Tri-County Technical College's Radio and Television Broadcasting program that prepares students for careers in video and audio equipment. He retired August 15 after heading the department for the last 32 years.

John Woodson, who was WRIX General Manager, replaces him.

A former professional broadcaster and Hartwell, Georgia, native, Jordan took over the program when he came to Tri-County in 1970. Several years before he had earned a Radio TV and Film degree at the University of Georgia where he directed closed circuit TV production and handled videotaped lectures. For years, the department, organized and directed by retiree Bruce Cannon from 1968 - 70, was the only two-year RTV program in two adjacent states. Today it is still one of the few two-year broadcasting programs in the nation.

Throughout the years, the curriculum has remained popular. Students get practice in news writing and camera work by producing community service projects for chambers of commerce, humane societies, colleges and universities, and area hospitals, for example. In 1985 - 86, the Hospital Association of the Carolinas awarded Anderson Memorial Hospital and our RTV department a Wally, the association's highest award for audiovisual presentations.

Jordan teaches students to be realistic and the curriculum offers true hands-on experience. Students say he goes the extra mile and describe him as tough, honest and devoted.

The RTV program received a high recognition when the South Carolina Broadcasters Association (SCBA) began its endowment to fund a scholarship in honor of Cleatus Brazzell, a highly respected broadcaster in the state. Each year the SCBA funds two scholarships at Tri-County for students studying broadcasting.

Jordan also teaches photography (another love of his) and has his own studio in his home in Townville.

Rick Caperton, of Rick Caperton Photography and Custom Portraiture, in Anderson completed a photography certificate program taught by Jordan. Caperton says: "I had the privilege over the past two years to attend photography classes at Tri-County. I took classes taught by Charlie Jordan and feel fortunate to have done so. Charlie takes a genuine interest in the students and is an extremely talented photographer. I hope one day that my photography comes on par with his. I opened my photography studio in September 2001. My success in this business is due to in many ways to the knowledge that I gained in the classes that I took with Charlie.

Several years ago, Jordan was awarded a fellowship degree in photography from the South Carolina Professional Photographers Association. He was one of only two photographers to receive the associate fellow and the fellow simultaneously.

He has received first-place honors in the wedding album and in the men's portraiture category of the Association's annual competition. He also won the Fuji Masterpiece Award for best wedding album in the state.

He and his wife, Jennifer, live in Townville. They have a son, Ben.
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