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Volume LXWI, No. 5
Guilford's Communications Entrepreneur
Behind every face of the over
1,000 students on the Guilford Col
lege campus lies a story which
makes him/her special. Each week,
The Guilfordian, will feature an
outstanding student; or just so
meone who's doing something a bit
different.
Today's feature is on senior A.J.
major, Richard Weinblatt. Unlike
his major may suggest, Rich is not
headed into a career in law or law
enforcement but rather has already
begun as a communications en
trepreneur.
The South Orange, NJ, native,
who now resides in Manhattan is the
father of CEI\ Group Inc., formed a
bit over a year ago. Rich is also
President of The National Associa
tion of Rising Communicators, a
non-profit organization which he
recently formed. The CEN group
consists of an entertainment
dissemination unit and a public
relations firm. The son of a TV Ex
ecutive has made a big splash into
the business world with articles on
him appearing inc Variety, Adver
tising Age and The Greensboro
News & Record to name a few.
Q: How did you begin CEN
Group Inc.?
A: Throughout my first two and
a half years at Guilford, fellow
students continually asked me
questions on the entertainment
industry. I figured that there
must be an organized and pro
fitable way to answer these ques
tions. So in April 1984 I published
the first issue of College Enter
tainment News, an ad supported
Guilford Hosts Symposium
GREENSBORO-The Board of
Visitors of Guilford College will
host its sixth annual symposium,
"Creative Approaches to thye
Dilemmas of the American High
School," Sunday and Monday,
November 10-11. Several hundred
secondary school teachers, ad
ministrators and support staff
from throughout the Triad and
around the state are expected to
participate.
Dr. William Friday, president
of the University of North
Carolina, will deliver the keynote
address on Sunday evening in
Sternberger Auditorium on the
College campus. Friday's
remarks will cover the joint
responsibility colleges share with
high schools for solving some of
the dilemma facing schools to
rtav.
The other featured speaker for
the symposium is Dr. Jack
Frymier,senior fellow with Phi
Delta Kappa in Bloomington, IN.
Frymier, author of the book One
Hundred Good Schools, will
speak on "Creative Approaches
to the Dilemmas of High Schools
as Seen in 100 Good Schools."
Frymier, who recently served as
Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C., 27410
entertainment newspaper. I then
distributed the 14,000 copies to
the five area colleges (Guilford,
UNC-G, Bennett, Greensboro Col
elge and A&T University).
Although there was no scientific
way to discover if CEN was a suc
cess - ads were sold - a profit was
made and I saw the paper litering
stalls of bathrooms.
Q: Where does the information
for CEN come from?
A: At first, I contacted people I
knew but then we rapidly began
to build up information. Since
then we have gotten onto over 500
mailing lists ranging from CBS,
Warner Bros, record to public
relations firms nationwide. Much
of this was done through phone
contacts, trips to New York and
the articles that appeared in
several publications.
Q: Could you please explain
CEN's Entertainment news
business?
A: CEN encompasses, the CEN
news service - which
disseminates entertainment
news to subscribing young adult
newspapers and radio stations
across the U.S. and abroad. Dur
ing the summer, the CEN press
syndicate was formed for regular
newspapers. That consists of
"The Entertainment Insider" - a
twice weekly column,
"TV-Pursuit" - weekly TV trivia
and other longer feature stories.
The combined service reaches
over 2 million people.
Q: From the pubilc relations
material we've seen, It seems
that you have recently expanded
Distinguished Visiting Educator
with the Indianapolis Public
Schools, was formerly~chairman
of the faculty of curriculum and
foundations in the College of
Education at Ohio State Universi
ty, and co-director of the Center
for the Study of Motivation and
Human Abilities.
"We have learned over the
years that the most effective
schools offer a superb climate of
trust that fosters a commitment
to learning and a loyalty to the in
stitution, and they have prin
cipals who are effective," says
Frymier. He adds that accoun-
In addition to Friday's and
Frymier's addresses, the pro
gram includes a talk by Dr.
Howard Maniloff, special assis
tant for policy development in the
N.C. Department of Public In
struction, on "The Implications
of the New North Carolina Basic
Education Plan." That plan, in
the first year of a projected eight
year phase, describes the content
of the basic education that should
Guilford Senior, Rich Weinblatt on the line with Hollywood.
into other areas besides enter
tainment news?
A: Yes, we have just formed
CEN Communications which is a
full service public relations and
promotions firm. The firm
already has two clients; OBC
Syndications Company, a print
syndicator, and George Bishop
and the Mighty Majors, a musical
group also operating a 24 track
recording studio.
Q: Richard, I know you are
well known in the business in New
York, but I understand you are
also becoming quite a recognized
figure in Greensboro as well?
A: I've recently been encourag
ed to go on the lecture circuit of
be available to the state's citizens
and outlines the fundamental
resources necessary to deliver it.
Initial projections, according to
Dr. Maniloff, estimate the Basic
Plan may cost North Carolinians
as much as S7OO million.
"While the Basic Education
Plan addresses much of 'what'
that goes into education," says
Maniloff, "the decisions about
'how' that education will be
delivered are left to local com
munities. I think this symposium
at Guilford College is an excellent
forum to raise people's con
sciousness about these important
decisions."
Throughout the afternoon on
Monday, participants will be
divided into six discussion groups
which will address the following
dilemmas facing high schools:
1) How can schools continue to
provide enhanced elective and
vocational options while main
taining their focus on the basic
learning and problem-solving
skills?
2) How can schools incorporate
important social changes, global
issues and technological ad
area colleges and civic associa
tions to talk about the entertain
ment industry and my experience
with forming CEN. In fact, I will
be giving a similar speech at
Guilford on Wednesday,
November 6.1 have also been en
couraged to teach a course on the
entertainment business at
Guilford Technical Community
College in April.
Q: With all of this activity, how
are there enough hours in a day?
A; I really enjoy what I'm do
ing, therefore it never gets dull.
My average day begins at 8 a.m.
and bedtime rolls in about 2 a.m.
Q: Where does schoolwork
come into play?
vances into the curriculum while
preserving the integrity of tradi
tional disciplines like history and
literature?
3) How can schools raise per
formance expectations for the
general student population
without risking intimidating
some into failure or dropping
out?
4) How can school maturely
and responsibly talk to students
about personal moral and ethical
values?
5) How can school principals
and teachers effectively deal
with conflict of interest as it oc
curs with school boards, school
administration, booster clubs and
parents?
6) How are good schools financ
ed?
Approximately 2,400 invita
tions have been mailed to secon
dary school teachers, ad
ministrators and other staff in
the Triad, and an additional 1,400
invitations have been sent to a
wide range of people including
presidents of nine collegs and
universities, county commis
sioners and city council members
in the Triad, members of the
November 6,1985
A: It gets tough at times, but
things get done.
Q: Another activity which you
are involved with should be in
teresting to the Guilford College
community. I'm refering to the
Association we've read about?
A: Through my activities with
CEN, I was looking for an
organization for young people in
the communications field but I
couldn't find one.
Q: So like everything else you
figured, if you couldn't find it
you'll create it?
A: Well, it seemed the ap
propriate thing to do. The non
profit organization is named The
National Association of Rising
CON'T PG. 10
chambers of commerce in the
area, members of PTA's and
local school boards, state
legislators and others.
"Guilford College has always
been vitally concerned about
issues relating to excellence in
education," says William R.
Rogers, President of Guilford.
"We are excited about the oppor
tunities for deeper understanding
by citizens as we support the
creative efforts in the schools. A
major part of our mission here is
to help young people maximize
their potential. But this is not
limited to the collegs and univer
sities, it is something that very
much concerns our high schools
as well. Guilford College is com
mitted to working with the local
schools, their administrators,
teachers and staff, to promote
discussion and exchange on these
important issues."
There are still spaces available
for the Symposium, open to non
education majors on a first come
first serve basis. Any interested stu
dent must call Ext. 154, the
Development Office I\GH to reserve
his space.