WGBH (Boston, MA)

Administrative History/Information:

• John Lowell, Jr bequested money for creation of Lowell Institute: provide free public lectures on philosophy, natural history, arts and sciences to Boston public: 1836
• Ralph Lowell embraces Harvard University president James B. Conant's idea of broadcasting lecture on radio: forms Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council (LICBC): 1946
• FCC grants LICBC permission to operate its own radio station, WGBH: 1950
• "GBH" - Great Blue Hill: location of transmitter
• WGBH Educational Foundation: charted as a non-profit corporation
• WGBH-FM debut with live, full-length concert by Boston Symphony Orchestra: October 5, 1951
• WGBH-TV (Channel 2) begins 1955. Other stations: WGBX (Channel 44), 1967 and WGBY (Channel 57), 1971

Related Collections:

• Burt Harrison Papers - Interviews:
  • Albert P. Fredette
  • Albert Hulsen
• Laurence A. Jarvik Papers
• Jim Robertson Papers-Interviews:
  • David Davis
  • Hartford N. Gunn
  • James R. Killian, Jr
  • Parker Wheatley
• Roger Smith Papers

Reference Shelf Materials

Reading Room

Adler, Richard and Walter S. Baer. The Electronic Box Office: Humanities and Arts on the Cable. New York: Praeger, 1974. BCAST REF PN 1992.8 .S9 A3

Cater, Douglass and Michael J. Nyhan, eds. The Future of Public Broadcasting. New York: Praeger, 1976.

• BCAST HE 8700.8 .F87
• 384.574 C (NAB Books)

Dordick, Herbert S., et al. ITV: A User's Guide to the Technology. Washington, DC: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1979.

• NPBA Collection: LB 1044.8 .D67
• LAB Collection: 621.388 D (NAB Books)

Jacobi, Frederick A. "Don't Write Off Public Television," Television Quarterly, Vol. XVIII, No. II (Summer 1981): 47-56. Periodicals

Myrick, Howard A. and Carol Keegan. Boston (WGBH) Field Testing of a Qualitative Television Rating System for Public Broadcasting. 1981. HE 8700.7 .A8 M97 1981

By Request

"2 Turns 25" 1980. Folder: 511

Caption Center News. The Caption Center, WGBH Educational Foundation, 1997-1999. Serials

Duscha, Julia.   "Public TV: why still a stepchild?"  Columbia Journalism Review, November/December 1971: 8-14. Folder: 128

GED Research, Inc. Survey of Public Television Viewing in the Boston, Massachusetts Area. 1970. Folder: 166

Glick, Edwin Leonard. WGBH-TV: The First Ten Years (1955-1965). 1970. Disserations/Theses

Guide to the Administrative Records of the Lowell Institute...and WGBH Educational Foundation. 1995 Index/Inventory

"KQED: Behind the Screen - An Examiner Special Report. San Francisco Examiner. July 22-23, 1990. Folder: 611:

• Armstrong, David. "A Tale of Two Cities' Stations: Boston's WGBH is a Heavyweight in National Productions." July 23, 1990/ Critics rip S.F. Outlet for Lack of Original Programming. July 23, 1990

Pool, Ithiel de Sola and Barbara Adler. Out-of-Classroom Audience of WGBH: A Study in Motivation Viewing. 1963. Folder: 351

Sapolsky, Karen. General Analysis of the Audience of WGBH Boston, Massachusetts. Folder: 541

WGBH Educational Foundation: National Center for Accessible Media. NCAM Media Access. 1995, 1997-1999. Serials

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