The Money Room: So What?

The Money Room is a bit of history written by John Kerr, John Carver, and Sam Tyler whose fundraising careers at WGBH spanned three decades.

By John Kerr

When I finally left the station in 2004 and looked back upon all the adventures and schemes that we had hatched, I realized that we at WGBH had launched an amazing set of programs thanks to our contributors and grantors. Without them, there would have been no WGBH — or public radio, television, and media.

Dozens of dedicated people made that possible. Henry Becton, who succeeded David Ives as president of WGBH. David Liroff, who ran the station’s operations. Roberta MacCarthy. Lo Hartnett. Win Lenihan. Mary Toropov. And many, many more.

But it was our programs that attracted the funds.

Michael Ambrosino, Paula Apsell, Peter McGhee, David Fanning, Topper Carew, Marita Riveiro, David Kuhn, and many others turned their backs on commercial television and radio and put their hearts, talents and energies to work launching stunning new programs on WGBH, PBS, and NPR.

Raising money to help do that was always a privilege.

What’s Next?

Now let’s find something that works as well as “pledging” but that does not irritate viewers and listeners quite so much.

After leaving WGBH in 2004 after years as its public spokesman and unapologetic fund-raiser, Kerr shifted to a retirement job to scratch his interest in wildland and wildlife conservation. He became a seasonal park ranger in Yellowstone National Park — a childhood dream.

There, proudly wearing the traditional “flat hat” of a U.S. Park Ranger, John Kerr has been elevating the experience of thousands of visitors he sees annually in America’s first national park, and has encouraged the protection and conservation of Yellowstone’s astonishing natural wonders.

Read more entries in The Money Room series.

Special thanks to Gene Mackles for the series wordmark.