Party to honor Southeast media professor, launch memorial endowment

Few have had as lasting an effect on Southeast Missouri as Herb Taylor, a longtime media teacher at Southeast Missouri State University. Red Letter Communications will host a Birthday Bash Concert to commemorate what would have been Taylor's 82nd birthday.

The party and concert Saturday coincide with Southeast's Homecoming festivities. Chicken wings and bottled water will be available, but attendees can bring other drinks.

The party will also serve as a launch for the Herb and Peggy Taylor Endowment for Excellence in Media Communications, which will provide mentoring and financial support to students in the Department of Mass Media.

Jim Riley, cofounder of Red Letter Communications and former student of Taylor, said the purpose of the endowment is to "harness and leverage the tremendous resources to provide career mentoring, professional networking and financial assistance for current students of media and communications at Southeast."

Riley believed the bash and endowment were excellent ways to honor Taylor's legacy and memory. He called Taylor a mentor, friend and inspiration. According to Riley, more than 200 of Taylor's former students now work in communications, media, journalism, marketing, sales and related fields.

"We all had a great time, and learned the fundamental skills of working in media," he said. "We have a lot of positive momentum and many of us are excited to give back to the university and students in Herb's name and honor."

Taylor taught media and communications at Southeast from 1975 to 1990. His numerous classes included Introduction to Radio and Broadcasting Practicum. Most notable among Taylor's many accomplishments was securing the broadcasting license for the radio station KRCU. Taylor served as the station's first general manager when KRCU launched in 1976. The station's signal reach was just less than a mile and only hosted 20 hours of weekly programming. Now, the station broadcasts 24 hours a day, can be heard throughout the region and is the area's host for National Public Radio programming.

In 1981 Taylor cofounded Red Letter Communications with Riley and former students Clint Hasse and Scott Reese. Taylor was chief copywriter from 1990 to 1995. Over the years Red Letter grew from a small business with a local client base to a multimillion-dollar advertising agency. Taylor was Red Letter's creative director emeritus until his death in 2004.

Riley said Taylor's influence was like that of any great teacher.

"In Herb's case, he affected hundreds of students," he said. "We want to instruct, inspire and encourage students just like Herb did for us."

The celebration will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at Red Letter's parking lot and will feature music by Mid Life Crisis.

For more information, contact Jim Riley at 334-7410, riley@rlci.com, or KRCU at 651-5070 or alincoln@semo.edu.