WGBH History Book
Paul Noble on John F. Kennedy, Mrs. Roosevelt, Music, Art, and More
Paul Noble was hired through the Boston University Scholars program. Starting in 1959, he and his crew created a strong relationship between WGBH executives and staff, a culture based on humor and fun.
Read MoreFred Barzyk’s Video Archive
From Fred Barzyk For the last decade, I have been gathering my shows and transferring them to digital format. These videos will be released as a highlight reel of my archive to be housed at WGBH and Marquette University. This highlight reel is directed toward researchers in the year 2100. It is my attempt to…
Read MoreWhy has WGBH had such an impact? Five views
Fred Barzyk: “I have asked several long time producers at WGBH to take a crack at the question of ‘Why does WGBH, a local public TV station in Boston, have such an impressive impact on media, culture and innovation?’ What follows are several responses to the question.”
Read More“The Negro and The American Promise” (1963)
Featuring interviews with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin, this program made headlines in spring 1963.
Read MoreFred Barzyk’s Snapshots: Scene 6 – The Waiting Room
I love actors. I love how they are willing to give of themselves, to be vulnerable to critics, to wrap themselves in personas not their own, and how they love what they do.
Read MoreThe Making of “The Lathe of Heaven”
Fred Barzyk: It is still amazing to me how many people of a certain age remember watching this TV movie. I mean it was 1979 when it aired!
Read MorePaul Noble Remembers: Eleanor Roosevelt
In the fall of 1959, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt began her series of monthly discussion programs for National Educational Television. It was called “Prospects of Mankind,” and was a production of WGBH-TV
Read MorePaul Noble Remembers: Elliot Norton and Rodgers and Hammerstein
They came into the studio and taped a half-hour show with Rodgers at the keyboard and Elliot and Hammerstein standing behind the piano.
Read MoreHenry Becton tours 125 Western Avenue
The Harvard Innovation Lab invited Henry Becton, President of WGBH Educational Foundation from 1984 until October 2007, to tour 125 Western Ave., the iLab’s new home.
Read MoreA stranger in a strange land
From Fred Barzyk: Bill insisted I try to get into the scholarship program. You studied for your graduate degree at Boston University and worked three days a week at the Educational Television station. Free tuition and you got $600 to live a year in Boston!
Read MoreJean Shepherd tells his first WGBH story
From Fred Barzyk: I first heard Jean on the radio in Boston. It was 1961. I was babysitting my young son and, while idly scanning radio stations, I heard this person, this intense personal voice, talking to me.
Read MoreWe’re in the “understanding business”
The chance invitation to work here at WGBH placed me in an environment that was a perfect fit for my temperament and aspirations as a professional and as just a plain person. Once here, I recognized, gradually, why it felt so right as a place to work and associate.
Read MoreIn a World All Its Own (1955)
From John Nadeau — 3/2007 When we did simulcasts on radio and TV, my station break announcement sounded like this: “This is the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council…WGBH-FM at 89.7 megacycles and WGBH-TV, channel 2, in Boston.” I joined the staff of WGBH-FM-TV in 1955. The two stations identified themselves as “noncommercial and educational” because…
Read MoreWGBH Timeline (1946-1978)
From “The first 24 years: A somewhat random compendium of milestones along the way” 1836 John Lowell Jr., leaves a bequest creating free “public lectures for the benefit of the citizens of Boston.” 1946 The Lowell Institute forms a cooperative venture with six Boston colleges (spearheaded by Ralph Lowell) to broadcast educational programs on commercial…
Read MoreStories and photos From Studio A (1955)
Images From John (Rocky) Coe Bob Larsen in Studio A Control Room (with Judy Larsen in the background) — August 1955 Story by Michael Greenebaum Performance — String group — Nov. 1955 The photo of the chamber orchestra … is of the first televised concert of Harvard’s Bach Society Orchestra, conducted by me. For all…
Read MoreThe original dream factory — Mass Ave. Studio A (1950s)
For years, the original Studio A at 84 Massachusetts Avenue was a truly magical place. So many careers were launched, or at least nurtured, its environment. It’s magic blossomed from the drive to produce programming that one could feel pride in, with the ongoing and exhilarating drive to overcome obstacles, with the almost mythic experience of being forced by necessity to achieve the impossible through sheer persistence and ingenuity.
Read MoreA Viable Alternative to the “Vast Wasteland”
From Larry Creshkoff — 2000 In his piece, One Way to Run a Railroad, Ray Wilding-White observes that WGBH “…was made a reality with hairpins and bailing-wire by the heroic efforts of a bunch of dedicated, overworked and underpaid young maniacs who hardly knew a microphone from a zebra when they started on radio and…
Read MoreOne Way to Run a Railroad (1946-59)
From Ray Wilding-White: The station was made reality by a bunch of dedicated, overworked and underpaid young maniacs who hardly knew a microphone from a zebra when they started on radio. I know. I was there.
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