Textile merchant John Lowell Jr. (shown here) leaves a bequest creating free "public lectures for the benefit of the citizens of Boston." The lectures prove so popular that crowds crush the windows of the Old Corner Bookstore where tickets are distributed, and sessions are repeated by popular demand.
The Lowell Institute forms a cooperative venture with Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern and Tufts to broadcast its lecture series. The lectures begin the following February on local commercial radio stations, which donate the airtime.
The Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council (LICBC) receives a license for one of the newly reserved FM radio channels set aside by the Federal Communications Commission for educational use. The WGBH Educational Foundation is incorporated to operate WGBH, the call letters of which come from the Milton location of the station's transmitter: Great Blue Hill.
Conductor Charles Munch gives the downbeat and 89.7 WGBH is on the air with a performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, live from Boston's Symphony Hall. The inaugural date is chosen to coincide with the first Saturday performance of the BSO's 71st season. During the intermission, composer Aaron Copland calls WGBH a "bright new hope among radio stations" and says it's "heartening to know that a station is now on the air broadcasting programs designed to be of interest to an adult mind." William Pierce hosts the symphony broadcasts from the station's inception through the 1989-90 season.
Families gather around the radio for 89.7 WGBH's "Children's Circle." Nancy Harper of the Nursery Training School of Boston at Tufts College hosts the daily program.
Television channel WGBH 2 airs its first program, "Come and See," a show for children from Tufts' Nursery Training School with Mary Lou Adams and folk singer Tony Saletan. 89.7 WGBH fixture Louis Lyons follows with the news. The station operates out of a converted skating rink at 84 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, leased from nearby MIT.
89.7 WGBH and WGBH 2 simulcast a concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra at MIT's Kresge Auditorium, beginning a tradition of music broadcasts unique in the United States.
WGBH adopts as its logo an Aztec ideograph—a complex symbol combining three signs that together signify "family." Over time, small black decals with the gold stick-figure design decorate the windshields of WGBH contributors all around town. The logo is replaced in 1972 by the familiar WGBH drop-shadow, the work of noted design firm Chermayeff & Geismar.
First telecast of a Boston Pops Orchestra concert, direct from MIT's Kresge Auditorium. Conductor Arthur Fiedler (shown here) becomes a familiar WGBH personality.
Programs like "Facts of Medicine" and "Discovery" bring science to the masses. Mary Lela Grimes (shown here) hosts "Discovery," geared to a young audience. Her guests include a spectrum of distinguished Boston-area scientists—and a fair share of frogs, snakes and bats that sometimes run loose through the studio during the live show. WGBH begins recording the programs on kinescope film and distributing them to educational TV stations around the country.
Eight weekly science programs broadcast on WGBH 2 to sixth-graders in 48 Boston-area school systems mark the beginning of what will become "The 21-Inch Classroom." Among the programs offered by the TV classroom are "Parlons Français," two 15-minute leçons a week from Madame Anne Slack, and "Exploring Nature," hosted by professor and mycologist William H. Weston.
WGBH brings the dean of Boston drama critics to the small screen with "Elliot Norton Reviews," conversations with prominent actors, directors and producers that will air through 1982. With Boston a pre-Broadway "tryout town," Norton often becomes part of the artistic process, most famously when, on the program, he suggests that playwright Neil Simon bring back the ditzy Pigeon sisters in the third act of the then-flailing "The Odd Couple."
Fun, games, tooth-brushing and the like are the order of the day every afternoon on WGBH 2's live "Ruth Anne's Camp" with Miss Ruth Anne Flaherty and her eight grammar-school charges. The Boston Traveler writes that while Ruth Anne "doesn't believe in the television set as a babysitter, mothers will bless her in that busy 5-6 supper hour."
WGBH helps launch Durham, NH station WENH, Channel 11. The interconnection between the two represents the first educational TV "network" and forms the basis for the Eastern Educational Network, a precursor to PBS.
Eleanor Roosevelt interviews world leaders on the monthly "Prospects of Mankind," produced by WGBH and carried on a number of educational and commercial stations around the country.
David Ives (shown here) joins WGBH as Director of Development (later president, then vice chair), becoming public broadcasting's biggest booster and a familiar on-air personality, bringing in the pledges and the WGBH Auction bids. In the words of WGBH's own Julia Child, "he raised the industry's standards and held them high for his entire career," which would continue through 2001.
WGBH's "A Time to Dance" begins nationwide telecasts via National Educational TV. Maria Tallchief, Jacques D'Amboise, André Eglevsky and Geoffrey Holder are among the world-famous dancers and choreographers who appear in the half-hour programs, hailed by The New York Herald Tribune as "a superb, historic series."
Federal Communications Commissioner Newton Minow, who decries much of television as a "vast wasteland," calls Channel 2 "probably the best channel in the country."
Fire breaks out at 84 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, and WGBH's facilities are destroyed. The station shares scattered space with local commercial broadcasters and universities until its 1964 move to 125 Western Avenue in Boston's Allston neighborhood. In 2007, WGBH relocates to its current all-digital, green studios in Brighton. Come take a tour!
WGBH produces three programs on French cooking in the basement of a local gas company. Within a year, educational TV's first star, Julia Child, is saying "bon appétit" to viewers around the US! "The French Chef" is the first of her many WGBH cooking shows, and will transform how America eats. And it's on "The French Chef" that WGBH, in 1972, introduces captions for viewers who are deaf—the first of many media access breakthroughs for WGBH.
Civil rights programs like "The Negro and the American Promise" lead The Boston Globe to proclaim WGBH "the nation's leading station in the quality and coverage of this vital issue—far ahead of any other station or even network."
WGBH pioneers TV coverage of tennis with the National Doubles from the Longwood Tennis and Cricket Club, turning Boston Globe sports writer Bud Collins into a sportscaster...and turning tennis into a national passion.
WGBH wins its first Academy Award, for "A Lover's Quarrel with the World," a film about poet Robert Frost. A second Oscar will join it ("Just Another Missing Kid," 1982), along with hundreds of Emmys, duPont-Columbia Awards, Peabodys, and other distinguished honors.
"Morning pro musica" makes its debut on 89.7 WGBH. Ron Della Chiesa takes over hosting duties three years later until 1971, when Robert J. Lurtsema steps up to anchor the signature series. "Robert J" makes the show his own for 29 years, with Beethoven, bird songs and a distinctively deliberate delivery. Della Chiesa goes on to host WGBH opera broadcasts, Tanglewood summers, and the popular "MusicAmerica."
To meet the demand for programs of greater substance "for women with lively minds," WGBH devotes the 2-3pm hour to such TV shows as "A Woman's Place" and "Auto Mechanics."
The first WGBH 2 Auction! The Auction will become a community tradition involving 4,000 dedicated community volunteers per year who help bring in millions of dollars to fuel WGBH's programs and services. In time, it will migrate online, opening the bidding up to a worldwide web of fans and supporters.
Color comes to WGBH with "High Adventure," hosted by Lowell Thomas. Among the early programs to air in color: "Making Things Grow" with Thalassa Crusso. The "Julia Child of horticulture" goes on to star in WGBH's household advice show "Making Things Work," which tackles framing pictures, cleaning silverware, and other home projects.
WGBH's four-and-a-half-hour "Vietnam View-In" special draws on films, panelists, a studio audience, and more than 6,000 call-ins.
When "Misterogers'" (later, Mister Rogers') Neighborhood host Fred Rogers visits WGBH's neighborhood, 7,000 parents and children line up to see him.
WGBX 44 signs on to complement the WGBH 2 lineup, expanding the range of public TV programs available to New England-area viewers and providing an opportunity—long before VCRs, cable and DVRs—for viewers to watch their favorite shows more than weekly. Over time, the channel comes into its own as one of a suite of WGBH TV services.
MIT's Dr. Jerome Lettvin takes on LSD high priest Timothy Leary in a WGBH-filmed debate that delves into drugs, the devil, and dropping out.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Public Broadcasting Act, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which will lead to the 1970 creation of the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. LBJ expresses hope that the airwaves will be used "for the enlightenment of all the people...a great network for knowledge."
As riots grip American cities in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, WGBH televises a James Brown concert live from Boston Garden, repeating the show over and over while Boston Mayor Kevin White urges people to tune in and stay calm. The Mayor writes that the TV broadcasts "contributed as much as any other event to the atmosphere of conciliation which prevailed in Boston."
Premiere of WGBH's "Say Brother," a series by, for, and about Boston's black community. Today, as "Basic Black," it is the longest-running public affairs program in the nation to provide a lens on the African American experience. A who's who of artists, athletes, and newsmakers have enriched the program—from Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, and Louis Farrakhan to Elma Lewis, Hubie Jones, and other Boston-area thought leaders.
WGBH's "The Advocates" offers debate on pressing national issues. During its five-year span, the "PBS Fight of the Week" introduces audiences to moderator (and future Massachusetts governor) Michael Dukakis.
"Sesame Street" premieres on WGBH and public TV stations across the country. Big Bird, ABCs, and so much more become part of the national conversation.
Arthur Fiedler conducts the first telecast of WGBH's "Evening at Pops," which makes the Boston Pops Orchestra's PBS performances a summertime tradition for many years to come. Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Merman, Itzhak Perlman...all the greats grace the popular Pops.
The curtain rises on Masterpiece Theatre (later, just Masterpiece) with "The First Churchill," and Alistair Cooke in the armchair. "I, Claudius...""Upstairs, Downstairs...""The Jewel in the Crown..." television will never be the same. Later, "Rich Man, Poor Man" and "Roots" will bring the dramatic miniseries to commercial TV, demonstrating Fred Allen's famous dictum that "imitation is the sincerest form of television."
National Public Radio gives public radio a national voice, and "All Things Considered" becomes its first—and star—program. 89.7 WGBH joins the burgeoning system as a charter member, also signing on as a member station of the new Public Radio International system (PRI) in 1983.
C'mon and Zoom! WGBH's ZIP code becomes a mantra for the millions of young viewers who send their ideas to this "for kids, by kids" show that will last nine years, win three Emmys, and introduce Ubbi Dubbi to a generation before re-Zooming in 1999.
Ray Smith (shown here) shares his lifelong passion for jazz, big band and swing on "The Jazz Decades." The show will continue for nearly four jazzy decades on 89.7 WGBH.
WGBH introduces captioned television for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. First program to be captioned: "The French Chef" with Julia Child. Over time, WGBH begins to caption feature films and home video and introduces DVS, the descriptive video service for audiences who are blind or visually impaired. WGBH's Media Access Group builds on those successes every day, opening new doors to help Americans with disabilities enjoy equal access to the media that shape our lives.
WGBH viewers join a captivated nation as the cinema verité "An American Family" records the lives of the Loud family of California—divorce, homosexuality, generation gap, and all.
NOVA bows in, "science adventures for curious grown-ups" that set the standard for science documentary filmmaking for decades to come. In time, the WGBH production becomes the number one video resource in high school classrooms across the US.
A giant "2" with the body of a Volkswagen, the 2-Mobile represents WGBH in parades, exhibitions, and community gatherings, reminding viewers and listeners that theirs is the people power that fuels public broadcasting.
"Crockett's Victory Garden" (later, just "The Victory Garden") blooms in a small plot ripped up from the WGBH parking lot, with James Underwood Crockett the first in a succession of knowledgeable hosts. Locally broadcast at first, the series joins the PBS lineup a year later.
NOVA leaps off the screen and into classrooms around the country with the launch of NOVA teachers' guides. Distribution of the teachers' guides reaches 90,000 per year before moving to digital format in 2004. Today, WGBH creates resources for in- and out-of-school learners of all ages, related to a wide range of productions. And NOVA is the #1 video resource in high schools across the US.
Incisive, thought-provoking television: "The Ten O'Clock News" is born, to be joined in '77 by Christopher Lydon.
Eric Jackson steps up to the WGBH mike to fill the evening with jazz. Duke, Coltrane, Ella...the host of "Jazz with Eric in the Evening" introduces listeners to classic and contemporary greats, including those stopping by for conversation with the "dean of Boston jazz radio."
Mai Cramer (shown here) brings the blues to 89.7 WGBH. A mix of rare recordings and live interviews, "Blues After Hours" makes Cramer Boston's queen of the blues until her untimely death in 2002.
We'd love to hear from you. Please send questions or feedback to the below email addresses.
Before contacting us, you may wish to visit our FAQs page which has lots of useful info on Tiki-Toki.
We can be contacted by email at: hello@tiki-toki.com.
You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/tiki_toki.
If you are having any problems with Tiki-Toki, please contact us as at: help@tiki-toki.com
Close