The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Pittsburgh Tries Educational TV Paul A. Walker, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the other day that the invention of television...
...The rest, $125,000 a year, is to come from the public in the form of regular dues...
...The station's broadcasts started on April 1. The staff has had only three months for experiment...
...There is no smell of the schoolroom, not a touch of the schoolmaster...
...Very soon, there appeared a board of directors and an advisory board all set to build, equip and run Station WQED...
...Through the Guild, they can attend meetings, take part in discussions and bring pressure for the sort of program they prefer...
...But only 5 per cent of the population has ever entered the doors of that great institution...
...The people in Pittsburgh have a notion that they have more need of education and inspiration via the TV screen than do citizens of other towns...
...They say, for example, that they have 10 million inhabitants in their 10-county metropolitan area, 85 per cent of whom have TV sets...
...The reason the steel capital has got ahead in this field is not that it has greater need, but that it has people with more life and imagination...
...Governmental agencies can set up stations like this...
...The whole town is in on it...
...The 5-o'clock show is for children at home...
...I am especially pleased at what is happening in the South...
...In Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana and Alabama, things are moving fast...
...An hour or two in the early afternoon is devoted to in-school broadcasts...
...New ideas are being tried out almost everywhere...
...And the country is ready for its opportunity...
...Where will this money come from...
...The only Pittsburgh television station, Dumont, has given unlimited support...
...THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Pittsburgh Tries Educational TV Paul A. Walker, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the other day that the invention of television offered "an opportunity equal to the invention of printing...
...Three funds, all Pittsburgh institutions, quickly put together $300,000 for the building and equipment of the station...
...Everyone about the town seems to agree that the whole affair is bright, gay, interesting...
...In the field of what is unimaginatively called "educational television," there is tremendous activity...
...For the service which they will receive, the schools are preparing to pay 30 cents per pupil per year...
...A couple of evening hours are for adults...
...From the start, the top people of the area were involved...
...And, incidentally, you will see telecasts without advertising...
...Every $2 contributor in the Pittsburgh area is a part of the show...
...It all began with the reserving of 12 per cent of the TV channels for the use of educational agencies...
...This impressive argument applies to other towns besides Pittsburgh...
...An educational foundation thoughtfully provided $50,000...
...The folks down there have not been caught asleep under the magnolia blossoms...
...But fewer than one out of every hundred residents has ever heard the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra play...
...Building a station is, of course, quite different from running one...
...For that, they receive membership in the WQED Guild and the monthly Program Previews...
...Pittsburgh has, in the Carnegie Institute, one of the finest cultural centers in the world...
...The new Station WQED in Pittsburgh seems fairly typical of what, in the course of time, we may look for from coast to coast...
...Away back in April 1951, Mayor David L. Lawrence called together the leaders of the 14 colleges in the area, the public-school officials, and representatives of the most influential business and civic groups...
...It is estimated that operation will cost about $500,000 for the first two years...
...This is what I like...
...That means 242 channels—enough to cover the country and weave us all into the web of this magic new means of communication...
...I am sure he is right, but his idea of TV's importance is based on something other than its present performance...
...The people of the area, all sorts of people, are to be the sponsors—with nothing to advertise except their loyalty...
...But the general lines along which the program is to develop seem well set...
...If I devote most of my space to this one outfit, bear in mind that five similar stations are on the air—and others will be starting in rapid order...
...They are giving $2 a year...
...The whole field of television is shot through with ambition and excitement...
...In every section, cities are jumping the gun...
...Westinghouse Radio Station, KDKA, has offered the use of its antennae tower...
...From this source, the managers figure on getting $250,000 during the first biennium...
...But educators are changing their ways...
...But WQED can be a far better station because it is free...
...Don't be scared by the name: True, in the past the word "educational" has meant something dull, routine, traditional, uninspired...
...If you keep your eyes open, I promise you that within the next few years you will see education that is full of life and color and excitement...
...On April 5, the Pittsburgh Press editorialized: "It may be that not even the most enthusiastic backers of WQED fully realized what this station can do to make life better...
Vol. 37 • July 1954 • No. 28
