Johnson Supports State Ed Channel
January 19, 1953
No Byline Given
President Robert L. Johnson is spear-heading the University's support for a state-wide educational television channel in Pennsylvania, according to John B. Roberts, assistant professor of radio and speech. $350,000 Operating Costs
Operating costs of the station will be approximately $350,000 annually. These costs are to be covered by three types of donors; The television station mentioned in this article eventually became WHYY-TV, operating on UHF Channel 35. Article from the collection of Gerry Wilkinson
The Delaware Valley Educational Television Corporation of which President Johnson is a member, has made plans for the noncommercial educational channel. The Corporation is composed of the former Executive Committee on Television for Philadelphia.
"It is composed of virtually every educational organization," said Roberts. Membership includes; over 80 civic and educational organizations. The University of Pennsylvania, Franklin Institute, Academy of Art, suburban schools, Junto, etc. are also members.
(1) Sponsor Members, donors from industrial organizations and interested committees. They will not have any vote in the programming.
(2) Contributing Members, consisting of small organizations. Their contributions will be about $1,000 a year. This group will elect one third of the member for the board of directors, who will be in charge of the actual operation of the station.
(3) Guarantee Members, who will give $5,000 a year. Each Guarantee Member will have one vote for every $5,000 given.
At present the committee is seeking state aid as well.
Professor Roberts, founder of WRTI and co-founder of WHYY told us that when he walked into the meeting room for the very first discussions about starting an educational television station in Philadelphia, he was the only one there with any broadcast experience. He said, "they were all educators. They didn't know the difference between a vacuum tube and a toothpaste tube." Roberts' broadcast experience included many programs on WFIL-TV (now WPVI). He also anchored the Channel 6 weekend news from 1952 until 1972. However, John never gave up his "day" job as a professor of radio and television at Temple University.