Educational television for Boston and the rest of the country may be a reality soon, if action expected this month from the Federal Communications Commission is any indication.
The FCC, according to reliable sources in Washington, will announce around March 25 that it has given final approval to the allocation of over 200 TV channels for educational purposes. Boston is scheduled to receive Channel 2, in the very-high-frequency band. David W. Bailey '21, Secretary to the Corporation, says the University will be "vitally interested in helping to make use of it."
Lowell May Act
But Bailey also says the University "has no plans to go into the television field except through its participation in the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council." The Council, a nonprofit organization of Boston's universities and cultural institutions, now runs FM radio station WGBH.
Parker Wheatley, the Council's director, is keeping quiet on what, if any, action the organization will take in applying for an actual permit to build a station, once the reservation of Channel 2 has been made by the FCC.
The Council's hopeful statements on the proposed allocation during FCC hearings last spring, however, indicate that it may take charge of filing for the construction permit soon, with the full approval of all its member institutions, including Harvard
Council Plays Safe
Wheatley can hardly be blamed for playing safe, since the history of educational TV's battle with commercial interests for F.C.C. sanction has been a long, confusing, touchy subject.
The whole business apparently started with Miss Frelda Hennock, a vociferous, crusading member of the F.C.C. itself. Miss Hennock fought more or less single-handedly during 1949 to have at least 25 percent of all the available 1,900 channels reserved for education. But in July of that year, the Commission released tentative allocations which completely ignored non-commercial culture.
By October, 1950, the F.C.C., faced with Miss Hennock's needling, and a growing support of her plans, had changed its tune. It again started consideration of allocations questions and as an outgrowth of a meeting of prominent national educators at that time the Joint Committee on Educational Television was formed. This committee, composed of members from such organizations as the National Association of Land Grant Colleges, has since agitated for 10 percent of available channels: its demands seem certain to be met this month.
Tentative Allocations
Last March, the Commission announced its tentative allocation scheme, by which at least 200 channels would be approved for use solely for educational purposes. Then the fight began as "comments," favorable and unfavorable to the proposals, were filed with the F.C.C.
The Lowell Institute Council, bucking pressure from at least four "commercially-interested" parties in this area, including CBS, duly filed its laudatory comment. It consists mainly of favorable letters from persons representing the Council's member groups, such as President Conant, B.U. President Harold C. Case, and other interested individuals such as Mayor John B. Hynes, and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (R.-Mass.).
The section by Ralph Lowell, trustee of the Council, probably gives the best indication of what's in store for the future. It states that Council members have been "vigorously engaged in exploring the best means for taking advantage of the proposed reservation of VHF channel 2...They are agreed that the (Council) is the proper agency to coordinate their efforts, and the rising of funds...The Council is actively seeking these necessary funds and is more than reasonably confident that they can be secured (if the channel is reserved in Boston.)"
An additional statement, filed by E. L. Chaffee, Director of the Laboratories of Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics, gives technical information on the clearance of "a non-commercial educational television station...to be located on Great Blue Hill, ten miles south of the center of Boston." This is the present site of WGBH's transmitting facilities.
Since last September, the F.C.C. has been deliberating on these comments and 500 others like them. It's now ready to announce approval of the proposed allocations, after which building can begin.
The joker is, of course, that allocations will probably be made for a limited time only: if they are not picked up by educators in a year or so, they'll be wide open for the commercial interests again.
The so-called television "freeze," instituted by the F.C.C. in 1946, has prevented actual licensing of new stations until the Commission could figure out which of the hundreds of applicants should have a chance. Reports are that the freeze will be lifted at the same time the tentative allocations are announced.
Future?????
Right now, it seems certain that no University in this area is going to stick its neck out and build a television station all by itself. But almost all have approved of the Council's actions so far, and have indicated they'll donate in the future. Though its officials aren't talking, it seems safe to predict that the actual station on Massachusetts' Channel 2 will be run by the Lowell group.
The other possibility might be state control, but the state has already once turned down its TV educational opportunity. A law authorizing the State's department of education to build a station failed to pass the House in early 1951. An estimated $500,000 for construction and $250,000 yearly maintenance crimped the measure.
John J. Desmond, Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, however, has gone on record as favoring the Lowell Institute's statements, and has promised "every cooperation in making this a success."
Even though Miss Freida Hennock, contacted in Washington, remarked to the CRIMSON: "You've got a lot of money at Harvard. Why don't you get busy and apply for your own station?", the University itself, according to Bailey, is better off as a member of the Lowell Institute. Less money is necessary and more recourses are available.
The University and the state consider themselves fortunate to have such an organization at hand, even if all it has been able to express so far is a desire to "secure funds ... and coordinate efforts." Especially in regard to the rest of the country, where educational TV is having tough sledding.
High Finance
Massachusetts is hardly alone in the problem of who's going to take over the actual television stations themselves. Though almost all college authorities and educational officials are in favor of educational TV, very few are going to shell out on their own hook.
New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, where educators have filed comments supporting not just one, but a network of TV stations are probably the exception. Elsewhere, financial problems and the ever-present commercial interest menace are working hand in hand.
There is always the question of just how to make adult education palatable, by TV or any other method. The educators are trying to figure this one out; for example, the American Council on Education is sponsoring a five-day seminar on educational TV programming in New York this April, an institute planned in part by Dean Keppel of the Graduate School.
The commencement of actual television exclusively for non-commercial education is probably at least a year off in this area. It looks as if "Uncle Miltie" may be hogging the TV screen for some time to come.
Read more in News
THE WEATHER
