Alumni Oral History: Howard Burkat
Interview with Howard Burkat, July 8, 2025
In the interview, Howard Burkat recounts his childhood in Boston, including his exposure through his father’s role at the Boston Symphony Orchestra to figures like Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. Burkat recounts his undergraduate years at the University of Michigan, and his serendipitous discovery of the then-new Annenberg School of Communications.
He joined the master’s program in fall 1964, with the new dean George Gerbner and a large class of master’s students. Burkat describes the hybrid, shifting curriculum, a joint degree with the Wharton School, his courses with Charles Siepmann and George Dessart, and his master’s project on Philadelphia disc jockeys. Burkat narrates his post-Annenberg career at NBC, CBS, and HBO, where he was a lead in promotions in the network’s early years. He describes his post-HBO years, working at nonprofits, for-profits, and as a consultant.
The interview concludes with Burkat’s retelling of his successful effort to win the Annenberg School’s sponsorship of the HBO Oral History Project, which was conducted in the 2010s under Burkat’s leadership.