From 1969 to 1971, he wrote and produced Right On!, a public affairs television series for WCAU-TV.
During this period, he also received his master's degree in Communication Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania, where Gandy grew close to his mentor, George Gerbner.
In 1973, he enrolled at Stanford University as a Ph.D. student in communication, where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow.
From 1977 to 1987, Gandy was an assistant and then an associate professor of communication at Howard University.
Gandy joined the faculty at Annenberg in 1987, where he taught until his retirement in the Spring semester of 2006.