Public Broadcast Laboratory

Last updated
Public Broadcast Laboratory
Genre News magazine
Created by Fred W. Friendly [1]
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes53
Production
Executive producer Av Westin [1]
Production companyPublic Broadcast Laboratory
Original release
Network NET
ReleaseNovember 5, 1967 (1967-11-05) –
1969 (1969)

The Public Broadcast Laboratory (PBL) was a television program broadcast in the United States, created on November 5, 1967, by National Educational Television (NET). The program was considered a live Sunday-night magazine program. [2] [ failed verification ] In 1969, the Ford Foundation withdrew support and the series was cancelled.

Contents

History

The Public Broadcasting Laboratory was established by the Ford Foundation, which put over $292 million into educational television programs, including PBL.PBL was created to produce "an innovative two-hour Sunday night news program", and contained a program of news and other features, in something of what was at the time considered an experimental approach.

The program was conceived by Fred W. Friendly, former president of CBS News who appointed his CBS protege, Av Westin to head the project and be the executive director. [1]

The initial PBL program featured African Americans with white-painted faces in a one-hour drama. [3] Only 89 of a hoped-for 119 stations aired the debut program. The entire state educational networks of South Carolina and Georgia refused due to the controversial content; both states were embroiled then with social conflict over the Civil Rights Movement. [4]

"Birth and Death," its Season 2 premiere which aired on 1 December 1968, was featured in an article in the 13 December 1968 issue of LIFE . [5] [6]

The series aired 53 episodes (including four specials) during its two-year run on NET. Season-one episodes ran two hours long, season-two episodes from December 1 of 1968 onward ran only 90 minutes long; the program ended its run at the conclusion of the television season. The entire archive of PBL programs was donated by NET's successor, PBS, to the Library of Congress on January 5, 1994. [4] [7]

PBL was not a success, but it did influence the commercial networks. For example, CBS borrowed the format for its famous news-magazine 60 Minutes . NBC's First Tuesday, which later became Chronolog and then Weekend was also influenced by PBL. [1]

Episodes of PBL have been contributed to, and made available in, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting by the Library of Congress, GBH, and WNET. [8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Public Broadcasting Laboratory". The New York times encyclopedia of television. New York: Times Books. 1977.
  2. ↑ "History of Public Broadcasting". Current. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  3. ↑ Sterling, Kittross, Christoper, John (1990). Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting. Wadsworth Publishing Company. p. 389. ISBN   0-534-11905-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 1 2 "PBL (Public Broadcast Laboratory)". tvobscurities.com. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  5. ↑ Public Broadcast Laboratory 201: "Birth and Death" – American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 10 October 2025.
  6. ↑ "A Lesson in Dying," LIFE (magazine), 13 December 1968. Retrieved 10 October 2025.
  7. ↑ "Public Broadcasting Service Donates TV Archives to Library of Congress". News from the Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  8. ↑ "American Archive of Public Broadcasting Search Results". americanarchive.org. American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
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