Library Digitizes NBC Employees’ Magazine for Study
Media professor helps bring 30 years’ worth of NBC history to SHU library
After three years of work, Sacred Heart University’s Ryan Matura Library now contains the digitized archive of NBC’s Peacock North Magazine, dating back to 1988. It can be viewed on Sacred Heart University’s Digital Commons, thanks to library staff and Professor Joe Alicastro.
Former employees from NBC’s news, sports and entertainment divisions formed Peacock North more than 30 years ago. It publishes a quarterly, 35- to 40-page magazine containing interviews about NBC and its alumni, written by people directly involved in broadcasting at the network.
Alicastro, a professor at SHU’s School of Communication, Media & the Arts, is one of Peacock North’s 400 members. He worked as a producer at NBC for more than three decades and now teaches broadcasting, journalism and multimedia news production at SHU.
Alicastro suggested to Peacock North colleagues that the magazine should have an academic home, making it available to scholars studying the history of broadcasting. His NBC and SHU peers responded favorably to the University housing the archive, and Peacock North members donated the 30-year collection of periodicals to the library in May 2019.
“This is a unique opportunity for the library,” Alicastro said. “To have these magazines, with articles written by media professionals from NBC’s three divisions―news, sports and entertainment―about the network’s history was too good to pass up.”
“The Peacock North project publishes and preserves key documentation for understanding how one of the major media networks developed and who played key roles in it,” said Gavin Ferriby, University librarian. “It is a valuable ‘primary document’ for students’ hands-on research in media studies and can teach them how to interpret personal reflections that were not originally meant for academic study. The project has also further allied the University’s media studies programs with NBC alumni and has increased the University's stature and visibility for them and for the wider media production community.”
Alicastro said he thinks having these magazines is important for SHU, as it provides journalism students with a robust resource for learning about the media industry and its evolution over time. “We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and I think students can learn a lot from these periodicals,” he said. “While students may get their news from social media, they need to know where and how it all started.”
Along with Ferriby, library staff Bev Lysobey and Deana Santoro-Dillon completed the digitization. Alicastro also credited Marilyn Altman, president of Peacock North, for her assistance.
To read Peacock North Magazine, visit SHU’s Digital Commons.