Rowland served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica working in instructional broadcasting and adult literacy projects.
Coming to Annenberg gave me a chance to begin developing a whole new, more critical and culturally conscious approach to media history and policy issues, particularly with regard to public service questions.
That is where he coined the phrase "closed-captioning" for the newly developed process for transmitting the written word on a television screen for the hearing impaired.
[citation needed] In Variety on January 22, 2011[5] he was quoted as saying, "You're spending a great deal of political capital on the Hill just to keep what you've got, instead of being able to look ahead to growing the pie.
Rowland testified before Congress in February 2009 about the Satellite Home Viewing Extension Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) on behalf of PBS.