Vernon Bronson
1904-1989
Biographical Information:
Born on February 14, 1904, Vernon Bronson had a distinguished career in educational broadcasting both in the continental U.S. and abroad.
In 1950, Bronson worked for the Dade County School System in Florida. There, he applied for the first educational television construction permit in the country. He applied to the Ford Foundation's Fund for Adult Education for construction funds, got some donated equipment from one commercial station and borrowed facilities from another. As a result, station WTHS (Miami, FL) went on the air in August of 1955, the 12th educational television station in the U.S. Bronson was the station's first manager.
During the 1960s, Bronson served in many capacities for the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB). In January 1961, he was the project coordinator for a NAEB survey under contract with US Office of Education to determine education's needs for TV spectrum space. Then, two months later, he piloted a NAEB project to determine proper allocation of television spectrum space, undertaken under Title VII of the National Defense Education Act. In 1961, Bronson was also a member of NAEB's Awards and Citations Committee. In addition, he represented NAEB concerning educational television facilities grants authorization before the Subcommittee on Communications and Power, House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce in March and May of 1961.
By 1964, Vernon Bronson was the Director of NAEB's Office of Research and Development. In this capacity, he headed the project that redesigned American Samoa educational system, incorporating TV as an integral and central part of the instructional process. In April 1968, he completed a series of three videotaped "briefings" for secondary teachers and principals in American Samoa. By this time, he was the executive consultant to NAEB's Office of Research and Development.
Vernon Bronson won the Miami Alumni Achievement Award in 1958 and the Distinguished Service Award from NAEB in 1971. He died August 16, 1989.
Bibliography:
Articles:- Bronson, Vernon. "Educational Television in the United States," Educational Television in Hawaii, Vol. 3, No. 4 (December 1964): 5-6.
- Bronson, Vernon. "Education's Need for Channels: Report of the NAEB Survey," Educational Television: The Next Ten Years. Stanford, CA; Stanford University, 1962.
- Bronson, Vernon. Presentation. Proceedings of the Conference on Use of Media in Educating the Handicapped (Coral Gables, Florida, May 20-21, 1971)
- Bronson, Vernon. "When Educational Television Goes Public," Educational Broadcasting Review, Vol. 3, No. 6 (December 1969): 12-16.
- Bronson, Vernon and James Fellows. Report on the NAEB study : on the proposed expansion of the Midwest program on airborne television instruction. Washington, DC: NAEB, 1964.
- National Association of Educational Broadcasters. A determination and evaluation of a nationwide assignment of television channels using electronic computer methods, with special reference to the projected needs of education : a report on the assumptions and procedures of the study based upon previously established needs and a proposed detailed table of U.H.F. television channel assignments. Project Director: Vernon Bronson. Washington, DC: NAEB, 1963.
- National Association of Educational Broadcasters. Standards of television transmission: factors affecting microwave relay, and closed-circuit transmission of educational materials. Project Director: Vernon Bronson. Washington, DC: NAEB, 1964.
- National Association of Educational Broadcasters. UHF television channel assignment plan : report of the NAEB study to develop a UHF assignment plan using digital computer methods. Project Director: Vernon Bronson. Washington, DC: NAEB, 1963.
- National Association of Educational Broadcasters. The needs of education for television channel allocations : a survey. Survey Director: Vernon Bronson. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Office of Education, 1962.
