Inside HBCU Week: A Conversation with Maryland Public Television's Travis Mitchell

Welcome to the Truth in Us Art. I am your host, Rob Lee. And thank you for tuning in for more authentic stories from creatives from Baltimore and beyond. Today, I am excited to welcome my next guest, a seasoned media executive with over 3 decades of experience known for his groundbreaking initiatives, including the renowned HBCU Week. He's a senior vice president and the chief content officer at Maryland Public Television, please give a warm welcome to Travis Mitchell.

Welcome to the podcast.

Hey. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me, Rob.

Thank you for coming. Always good to connect with a, you know, fellow fellow HBC, you know, with that that sort of energy. So, you know, for starters, I like to kick things off by, like, diving in to the journey. And if you will, Could you share sort of that that key moment or experience that you know led you on your path like You know we there's always that one thing that sticks out, in the the sort of Marvel parlance and the recent Spider man movie folks will say it's a canon event. You know, I had that one when it comes to doing this, you know, There's a former president that says something really ill about Baltimore, and I was like activated That's that sort of pinpoint moment for for you and your career what has been that sort of, like, introductory, the moment, that starting moment for you and your journey?

Well, thanks for the question. And and without a doubt, it's it's my role as a student spokesperson for, the largest student protest in Morgan State's history, when I was a sophomore. See, I came from Raleigh, North Carolina with a, dream of playing basketball. I had a double scholarship. I was a honors student.

I was a basketball player, and things on the, on the court didn't go as I anticipated. And so I was able to red shirt take a red shirt year, my sophomore year, right when the season started. And then it gave me some time to explore what it truly meant to be a student, not just a student athlete. And so I got involved with the campus newspaper, The Spokesman. And, the SGA student leaders came by and, leaders from the panel and the council and said that, you know, we're gonna we're gonna protest tomorrow some of the conditions on campus.

And, we're gonna meet with the administration, and and, you all might wanna come cover it. And so the next day, while sitting in the administration office in Truth Hall, it it at the end, it was, well, we need you to move from being, covering this. We need you to be our spokesperson because you have media experience. And so, I really didn't have media experience. I only had a week or so, on the spokesman in a semester news writing class.

But, but I took the challenge and to become the spokesperson, and, it changed my life. It is something that, you look back on and and and and you don't know, how profound of an impact it's gonna have, but it truly was transformative. 1st and foremost, I was able to equip myself quite well in forming partnerships with, the local media. Many relationships I have to this day, were from that point, which is roughly, 30 years ago 33 years ago to be exact, when when that happened. And so I was able to gain in my confidence, in putting together media strategies.

I was was we won the public relations battle with a very popular governor who happened to be a Democrat of the state of Maryland, William Donald Schaefer. But we won in the court of public opinion. We were able to come up with, a theme, and a saying for, students to remember when reporters inevitably came up on campus and wanted to get the reaction from student body. And that was all of our love, peace, and happiness we're gonna give to Morgan. And so the the net effect of it was that, the media became convinced, that we as Morgan students who were protesting against inequitable funding, which resulted in dilapidated buildings, resulted in not having enough security, on and on and on.

They were convinced that we were right Yeah. And that, it was not fair that the state of Maryland had, for 40 years, neglected Morgan's, State University and the build out of our campus. And so as our protest prolonged, it went from a sit in to our administration building to, a 2 and a half mile caravan that descend descended upon Annapolis and a meeting with the governor and, included a hunger strike, included, on the 7th day when we returned the campus to our administration. It was because we had reached a tentative agreement with the governor. We had discovered in our due diligence that there was a 25 year plan of development for Morgan, that had not been funded.

And so a plan is only as good as the paper is written on if there's no investment in it. And so we kept pressing the government to take action now, and he had in his power to authorize the renovation of our 2 worst dormitories, which back then were the male dormitories that happened to be going under renovation. Again, that's Baldwin and Cummings. Mhmm. And we needed him to go ahead and move those dormitories under renovation.

And so, when we left the building, we did so, with a note to the governor that if he did not show action, that we would come back. And so as the governor delayed to get us to right before finals, Myself and 5 other students, put on trash bags and had a press conference in front of troop hall and said, mister governor, you've trashed your word, and today, we're gonna return your trash to your doorsteps. And we began to walk from Morgan to Annapolis. The funny thing, Rob, is, being from Raleigh, North Carolina, I thought, what it's not a big deal. It's only about 13 miles.

And then I got 13 miles in and saw a sign that said Annapolis 28 more miles. And then I knew we we were we were in for it. And in fact, I think we started seeing some old Negro spirituals at that particular time. But the reality was, you asked me what changed my life, and it showed me that sometimes, you have to understand this saying, which is, you know, yesterday was great. Tomorrow may be greater.

But today, is a gift, and that's why it's called the present. You have to understand something about operating in the now. And so as a result of our labor, I'm pleased to share that, Morgan received we were a catalyst. Let's be clear. We were simply a catalyst to light fire behind something that already existed, a movement that was ready to to burst.

And so the president at that time, doctor Earl s Richardson, who is a mentor of mine to this day, really had already put together a a campus improvement plan. And so we were the fuel to to light the fire behind the state. And in in in 25 years, that plan resulted in about 1,500,000,000 in on campus renovations. If anybody has been up to Morgan, you'll see that, doctor Richardson's vision came to pass. And then doctor Wilson, who replaced, doctor Richardson, our current president, has his own vision.

And and over the last 14 years has initiated some 1,100,000,000 in campus renovation. So altogether, we've had well over $2,000,000,000 of campus renovation since my time at Morgan. And it just says that if you invest seeds of hope and inspiration in today, investing your time, talent and treasure, that it will produce a future tree of success for future generations whom you do not know.

Wow. That is that is the and I don't even know if they even qualified as a introductory question. That was it I Love it like you you crushed 2 of my maybe 3 of my other questions So you know you're making my job easier, so thank you for that and and thank you for for taking us back down sort of like, you know, sort of the inspirations that are there and memory lane, if you will. You know, you mentioned some of the different landmarks on Morgan's campus. I go back to being a goofy 18 year old and, like, oh, man, 2003.

This is great. Right? And, and even, you know, can extend a little bit and relate in this way in in doing this and doing, like, audio and and doing radio and all of that stuff. It it started with this sort of off chance thing at, WEAA through my scholarship program at the grave school. It's like, hey, go over there and, you know, get on, Omar Mohammed's, show and just just talk a bit.

That was me getting bit by the bug, you know?

And it's funny you mentioned Omar Mohammed. Omar and I were roommates, after we graduated from college. We were really close at Morgan, so he's a good man and very proud of him.

Great. I wanna move, a little bit into sort of, you know, your your your current work and sort of this where does, like, sort of that intersection how did the the story with, you know, Maryland Public Television and you, like, you know, your vision, your values, how did those two things, like, align? Their vision, their mission, your vision, your mission as as an individual, how did they align specifically in your role as, chief content officer?

Well, I I think let me let me prep you as well. So, you know, in my time in media, I went from the campus newspaper, The Spokesman, at a very young age, around 23, I was managing editor of 4 national publications, coming out of Baltimore, called a company called Career Communications Group. And they were national trade publications that I was the managing editor of. And I morphed that into a time, where I launched my own media firm for about 7 years, called Between the Lines Communications, and it's in in in that capacity that I snagged a daily television show that I produced out of Washington DC that was national. Then I was recruited, to join an effort by former heavyweight champion, Yvanda Holyfield.

And at the time, Cecil Fielder of the Yankees and Marlon Jackson of the Jackson family. And at that time, world famous, and notable attorney, African American attorney, Willie e Gary, to start a a channel that was a competitor to BET. It was called the NBC Network, and then later it became the Black Family Channel. And, I was the chief operating officer and executive vice president and grew that channel to, we we also were a precursor to what you see happening now. We had exclusive contracts with every HBCU conference.

So you you'd see we did over 300 live football and basketball games. We covered baseball, track and field, and so you name it. I've been working on developing content to support HBCUs for a very long time.

Wonderful.

And, upon successfully scaling that network and it being sold, went back to North Carolina and ran a nonprofit for a number of years. And then the governor of North Carolina, there was an opening on, the board for UNC TV, now public PBS North Carolina. And the governor had his team reach out to me and ask if I was interested with my media background. And so my public media career began in earnest, when I was placed on the board of UNC TV somewhere around 2012. So I was on the board of trustees for this statewide public media channel that actually helped teach me to read.

You see, when I was growing up, my mother had recently divorced, and we were in Raleigh, North Carolina living with my grandmother. And, my mother went back to school to get not one, but 2 master's degrees so that she could create a better life. So I've been from the South, the one thing you know is we don't call, soap opera soap operas. We call them stories. And so when my grandmother, my signal to go to my room was when I heard the theme music for the young and the restless come on.

That was my theme music. That was my signal to go to my room, and we only have 4 channels. We only had ABC, CBS, and NBC, and you had this little channel called PBS. And so when I when I turned to PBS, in my room, that's where my world opened up. I was able to explore the universe through Nova.

I was able to, identify with and and and learn from EasyReader. I knew Morgan Freeman as EasyReader, not, driving miss Daisy. You know, I was able to venture down Sesame Street on my way to a electric company. So so PBS is where I learned how to read. And, so to become the the later, I was asked if I would step off the board by our new general manager and CEO and if I would take the helm as a chief content officer.

And, I have been running a nonprofit at that time, and I said this might be a good time for me to get back in the media. And so it was, destiny to have me be the chief content officer of the very, TV PBS station that taught me how to read. And so my, my longing to return to the Maryland area came from the fact that my daughter, decided to follow in my footsteps as a freshman at Morgan. And I had always wanted to come back what I consider my second home.

Yeah.

And, Maryland Public Television was looking for senior vice president and chief content officer. And so I applied and, came here, left UNC TV on February 25th 2020, got here on February 26, 2020. And then the first order of business was shutting down our programming, and productions because of COVID. And so I was here, but, really, it took about a year and a half for me to really begin to circulate again in this Baltimore area era. So that's really why I came, and and our mission here, is to, enrich lives and strengthen communities through the power of media.

And, because of my background and many of the things I did at in at UNC, TV, it was all community focused programming because I believe that the value of public media lies in our ability to tell authentic stories about the communities that we serve. And the more we do that, the more people resonate with our content because commercial content doesn't necessarily care about you on what's happening in your community, but we do. And so it's it's ingrained in our DNA, and that's why, I believe this was a a good fit for me at the right place at the right time.

Thank you. Well, again, you know, knocking out these questions. So I appreciate you, and I appreciate that that insight there. Yeah. I think when we're in a sort of local, like, content creation and and speaking or being representative of a a community, and it doesn't seem to be reflective at times of the community.

There there's some sort of disconnect. Are you really into the community? And there is almost, like, some sort of sense of, how do we go about this? How do we go about making this happen? How do we scale it?

How do we grow it? And listening to you, there's obviously this the strong track record and knowledge base and knowing, like, yeah, this this fits. This fits. This makes sense. So if you would, could you share, you know, maybe 2 to 3 insights that have kind of guided the way that you go about selecting sort of content and and working in that capacity that's reflective of of the community, that is reflective of, you know, sort of like a a narrative?

So I I think for for public media, a local a local media outlet. And in our case, we serve the entire state of Maryland, Northern Virginia, DC, parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania. It's very important that when people tune in to watch you that they see themselves. And so this also led to me developing, a diverse slate of programming, post George Floyd, and I'll talk about that more in a moment. But I think you have to be relevant by showcasing, the people that are in your backyard, so to speak.

I think you have to give them access to the airwaves so that they can own the airwaves. You know, it's really important for people to own the airwaves, and that's the differentiation differentiator between us and commercial media is that people can actually engage with the content on a regular basis. And then I I think you you have to remember that your content has to have 3 things. It's gotta be entertaining. It should inform, and it should inspire.

Yeah.

So the best content, I think, does the three things. They it's entertaining. It's informative. It teaches somebody, and then it inspires them. You know, evoking emotion out of people, whether it's laughter or empathy, I think, is the sign of incredibly compelling content.

And it's not always how polished the content is. Mhmm. It is how compelling it is. So I try to look for content that moves people, and we try to develop content that fits within our mission, which is to in strength enrich lives and strengthen communities through the power of media. That power is the ability for me media to resonate deeply with people and move them, in some instances, to action, move them to understanding, moving them to do something positive, with the people that are around them.

And so I think those are the filters that I have used to decide what fits for the moment of any channel or any station that I happen to be overseeing.

Wow. That is that's that's great. I'm I'm over here. Like like I said, I'm fanboying out because, like, this is the thing that I've literally been preaching to folks when it comes to this sort of, like, you know, industry building out a podcast and all of that stuff. And, you know, I I talk with folks, and they'll say, oh, I don't think it's gonna be great.

I don't have the best mics and so on. I was like, do you have an idea? Does it make sense? Can you be entertaining? You know, is it inspired?

Things of that nature. And I was like, look at it as a draft. You're gonna eventually find it. You'll eventually get the budget to get that fancy new mic that you really can't. But, you know, but you'll be able to get them some of those upgrades, but really, you know, it's the why.

It's like why are you doing it? Having that sort of, like, North Star, if you will.

Yeah. I mean, if you're not using your cell phone to record yourself, then why spend money on a mic? You you start with where you are. Mhmm. When I started with the campus newspaper at Morgan, it had not been published for 8 years.

That didn't stop me. I went about it. I was the editor in chief, became the publisher. We went out and raised our own money, but I thought my publication was just as important as the daily Baltimore Sun or the USA Today. In fact, I I would call and set up meetings with the publishers and editors in chief because I saw myself eye level to eye level with them.

You're a publisher. I'm a pub publisher. Don't discount me because of my age or your perceived, view of my lack of, of experience. You know, the reality is this is the seat I'm in now. I have some questions.

Let's talk peer to peer. Mhmm. And so, respectfully, but confidently. And I think if you're gonna be in the creative space, you have to go with what do you see inside, and just be patient enough to give birth to it. When you when you when you learn the skills that go along with content creation, you can give birth to what you see internally.

But you also have to be confident enough to know you may not be the best, producer or the best editor or the best host. But if you have the vision, you are the content creator. So if you just attract people to you that can buy your vision, then you're one step closer to being able to to to give birth and produce and bring to the world that concept or that content or that idea whose time has come.

Yeah. I, I've been calling it rotting that wave. Maybe it's in an Aquarius thing, but call it rotting that wave of, like, look, I have a vision of what I wanna accomplish, and sometimes it's a little broader than what it originally looked like. Like, Oh, I didn't even know I had an interest in that. Does it make sense?

This is a line. And but still trying to see it to its fruition. And you have so many different folks that might come in and say, oh, well, maybe you should do it this way or maybe you should change it. And it's, like, not at no no, you know, no disrespect, no qualms about listening to another person and their insight. People may know more than you, but it's, like, I know my vision.

Yeah. So it's just like, it has to fit. It has to fit within my framework. So what what I wanna do in these, like, next few questions, which would ultimately be the final few questions, is I want to talk about HBCU Week. Can we, can we talk about that a bit?

Absolutely.

So tell us about HBCU Week. What's your

I think to get started, I I shared my backstory. He asked me the question about a transformative moment, and it was at Morgan. I grew up on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina where my father was a basketball coach. My my late uncle was a was a chair of the city school board of the county school board. My mother was a graduate of that institution.

It is the oldest HBCU in the south that has given birth to several other HBCUs in North Carolina. North Carolina A and T State University being one of them was birthed on the campus of Shaw University. When I was walking that campus as a child, it's what I now realize was not Wakanda experience. It's the place where I saw black excellence in action. Unapologetic, strong black leaders who demanded excellence from their students.

And and that was an environment that I was raised in that nurtured me. It is the place that gave my parents an opportunity to go to school when majority institutions, PWIs that we call them now, would not accept people of color. Right. And so my parents went to Shaw. They chose Shaw, but Shaw also chose them.

And they loved Shaw University where I now happen to serve on the board of trustees. But when I came to Maryland in the aftermath of George Floyd, our CEO, Larry Unger, said, let's come up with a way to respond and not react to the crisis at hand. And so we developed a multiyear 10 point plan called standing against racism, fostering unity through dialogue. And I said one of the best ways for us to embrace the African American community is through partnership with the 6 HBCUs located in the DMV. Bowie State, Compton State, Morgan, Howard, UDC, and then the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

And I thought that if we could bring to light films that reflected my Wakanda experience walking on the campus of Shaw, leading a protest at Morgan. If we could capture what makes HBCUs American treasures, the original diversity, equity, and inclusion experiments in America where, philanthropists and and and and and and, white people who saw the need to remedy and address the ills of slavery along with, free blacks and along with, newly fled freed slaves would come together and open up the doors to educate a population that was largely illiterate and ignorant because of, the rules of slavery and the oppression of the slave masters. Yet, in a few short years, gave rise to a professional class of newly educated freemen. I thought if we could explain the history of HBCUs, if we could explain the contemporary relevance of HBCUs, for instance, HBCUs produce the lion's share of STEM graduates, annually in this nation. If we could unpack the mystery of HBCUs, we could create an opportunity to increase the value proposition of HBCUs by strengthening, awareness, brand identity, and also, brand equity, so that the community could understand that it is imperative that it supports the local HBCUs.

And so if the African American community was going to heal, no better way for it to heal than to showcase something positive in the midst of so much national division and chaos.

That's that's beautiful. It's it's important. It's it's important to do that. I remember just, you know, during that time and even a little further back with, like, Freddie Gray here in in Baltimore and sort of what that experience is being being like. And, and and being doing this, doing media, doing podcasts, like, you know, I've been doing it as long as I have that, you know, I couldn't exclude it from conversation despite it being a a topic.

And I found that in doing this particular podcast, like, early on when, you know, sort of the George Floyd and all of the the the protests and then the the sort of response to it, I got some of the weirdest DMs from folks, you know, of me, oh, oh, not like, oh, well, you didn't experience that. I was like, oh, you're gonna tell me what my experience is as a black Exactly. In this country. Right. It's like, don't get it confused.

And Oh, yeah. Still this, and it still comes through list this lens. Yeah. Oh, and this is not what it is. But if you want me to get real, I can get real and really share something that's representative of being in this city the entire time I've lived here and having some of the things that I've seen and even more broadly because you you look local, but also you look more broadly.

You look for places that are similar, and you're like, I see this everywhere.

That's right. That's right. I mean, it's you know, so so we have a choice, And and and and people have to understand it. We choose as black men in America to, invest in ourselves so that we can be pillars in our community, but it does not mean, that we don't pay a price. And so I think it's important to be truthful about our truly unique American experience, so that the larger public can understand, but also for the larger public and future generations to see our resilience.

And I refuse, to be denied attitude, just living and walking and striving to progress every day despite the obstacles that we might face. And I refuse to let others hijack the American dream. My foreparents and my forefathers shed their blood for America to be a free nation, and we have to be determined to fight for that liberty, to fight for equal access. And that's what the HBCU experience, I think, teaches us, that we have a responsibility to fight for freedoms. We have a responsibility to address the moment at hand.

Had it not been for the student nonviolent coordinating committee founded at the campus of Shaw University in 1960, It was students who desegregated lunch counters across the country. It was students who marched in Selma and face fire hoses and dogs. It was students who led that charge. So like Hbcu s present an opportunity for the next generation of leaders to be trained and to operate in the now. So had it not been for SNCC, there would have been no civil rights act, no voting rights act, therefore, no Obama.

So there are things that happen on the campuses of HBCUs that prepare students to really truly impact their generations and impact their world. So when you tune in to HBCU week this week, September 4th, starting on Monday, September 4th, all the way through, Sunday, September 10th. You'll see a lineup that celebrates the history, the culture, the legacy of HBCUs, 27 hours, most of which are in prime time. It's unprecedented. It's never been done locally.

It's never been done nationally. 27 hours of content with repeats on Sunday, encore presentations. And Monday night, if I could put in a plug for our alma mater, if you're a Morgan a Morganite, you really wanna tune in because welcome to HBCU Week gives you a preview at 7 on Monday, the 4th. This is Labor Day, Monday, at 4. You get a 1 hour treat where you get a chance to learn, everything that's coming up for HBCU.

Again, it was taped from the campus of the Morgan State University, the national treasure. So there's an extensive interview with our president, doctor David Wilson, along with highlighting, other conversations with dynamic student leaders on campus while we take you on a day by day, sampling of what's to come up, for the rest of the week. So Monday night on MPT is really Morgan night. You you start off with welcome to, welcome to HBCU week from the campus of Morgan State, then you get right over into Dreamer, which is about Jasmine Barnes, a Morgan alum, who commissioned was commissioned to do some some work with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, paying homage to Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, using Mozart pieces. And so she's a dynamic, artist, and you'll get a chance to see her work her work, follow excuse me.

Follow-up by Sounds of the Game featuring, an interview with doctor Melvin Miles, his 49 year career of, being at the helm of the magnificent marching machine, and then we end up with, Morgan Choir, a joyful celebration, which is pays homage to doctor Nathan Carter, legendary choir director at Morgan, and an update with his students and protege. So Monday night is by far packed with nothing but stories about the national treasure and our rich graduates and people.

Wow. I mean, so so Labor Day, we have, you know, the real plate since that's, like, the last time for barbecue, really. And then we have, like, the media plate with all of this, like, diverse and great program you programming you've been describing. I am looking forward to it. I mean, it's it's gonna be great, and that's and the cool thing is you because, you know, media professional, you know, you've answered the last three questions in that last pitch there, so I appreciate that.

Well, we do, Rob, wanna tell people to go to mpt.org backslashhbcu. That's mptdot org backslash HBCU to see the lineup for yourselves. There's great trailers and promotional videos up there. Check it out and tune in. Don't forget to tune in.

Tell everybody. Tell your mom and them. Tell your friends. Tell everybody. Tune in, next week, Monday, September 4th, through Sunday, September 10th for HBCU week.

DVR it. Record it. Watch it over and over again. We need your support.

Absolutely. So in these these final moments here, I wanna I wanna hit these 2 rapid fire questions with you because I think I think they're fun. I think they're fun.

Okay.

This is the first one. And, you know, I see you the you've got your jacket on right now. You know, the exact type have to wear a certain fit. What is your go to, like, accessory? Are you a pocket square guy?

Are you a tie guy?

Pocket square.

Okay.

Whether I wear a tie or not, I I'm known. I just didn't happen to wear it today, but that's become my thing. My daughter kinda redesigned my look, and she wanted me to be known for pocket squares. So I kinda have a a thing for pocket squares.

I'm working on that myself, actually, and I've been working with a weird sort of ascot thing with things that it shouldn't be with. It's like, I'm putting the ascot on. It's like, so the big guy with the ascot, that's he would have talked to you. That's gonna be my thing. This this is sort of the last one.

You mentioned Wakanda earlier, right? And I and I have to mention it. So Wakanda's always been in in in in film, depicted as a technological wonder with black folk at the helm. What is your favorite gadget? Do you have a gadget you like?

Probably my flip phone that I just got. I mean, it's a it's a Samsung flip phone. Yeah. It it it reminds me of when I was a kid, the cool little, tricorder that they had and communicate on Star Trek where they would flip it open. It's it's it's the old flip phone, times a 100.

Right? So, I love this thing. It's my favorite gadget. It's I I run my life through this phone, for work. I'm able to move around and still get connected to the office and do what I need to do from remote location.

So that's my favorite gadget.

That's dope. That's dope. So, one last time for the folks out there sitting in the back, where can they check out the schedule? Where can they check out everything HBCU week that's coming up? Give them that website one more time, please.

Mpt, m as in Mary, p as in Pat, t as in Travis, mpt.org backslashhbcu. You can find out about our programming, and you can also find about ways that you can watch us. It's also live streamed. So if you're in this area and you go to our website and you can't get home, but you wanna check it out, you can live stream it through your phone or you can live stream it through our website so that you can stay on top of, the each day's program.

There you have it, folks. I wanna again thank Travis Mitchell for coming on, the great Travis Mitchell for coming on to the podcast. And I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and a big emphasis on community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just gotta look for it.