William Franklin Baker (born September 20, 1942) is an American broadcaster, author, academic, and explorer. Baker directs the Bernard L. Schwartz Center for Media, Education, and Public Policy at Fordham University, where he is a Journalist in Residence and professor in the Graduate School of Education.[1][2]
In 1972, at WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio, Baker created The Morning Exchange, a morning program that provided news and weather updates at the beginning and end of each hour, and he used the remaining time to do general-interest and entertainment topics.[5] He later became station manager.[1]
In 1978 Baker was hired by Westinghouse Broadcasting Company first as VP & General Manager of WJZ, Baltimore, then to Hollywood to be president of Group W Productions where syndicated PM MAGAZINE[6] to over 100 stations, then in 1979 was made President of Westinghouse Television (NY) and Chairman of Group W Satellite Communications.[7]
At Westinghouse, Baker introduced Oprah Winfrey as a talk show host.[8]
Baker was involved in the early stages of the Discovery Channel and the Disney Channel launches. He established WNET's Educational He was president of PBS New York flagship PBS station from 1987 to 2008.[2] There he expanded the MacNeil/Lehrer news program (later PBS News Hour), and grew Nature, Great Performances and other major national series. He launched Charlie Rose and established the Educational Resources Center, which taught multimedia teaching techniques.[9]
Baker is among the few individuals to have visited both the North and South Poles. His first South Pole expedition took place in December 1974, followed by a North Pole expedition on April 15, 1983, and a return to the South Pole in December 1988.[6] He is the owner of Henry Island, Nova Scotia Canada (since August, 1992) and part-time lighthouse keeper of the working light.[1]
In 2025, Baker produced Wisdom Keepers, an eight-episode series for national telecast on PBS and streaming on PBS.org.[10] A companion book for the series is also scheduled to be published by PBS Books.[11] Baker has produced many films and television programs and the 2020 Religion News Service podcast BELIEFS.[6]
Publications and productions
Baker has co-authored several books, including:
The World's Your Stage: How Performing Artists Can Make a Living While Still Doing What They Love (AMACOM, 2016)
Every Leader is an Artist
Leading with Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results
Down the Tube: An Insider's Account of the Failure of American Television
Baker has a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Communications Sciences and Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University.[16] He is a former chairman of the National Parks System Advisory Board and serves on the board of Westinghouse Broadcasting Company (1979-1987) Rodale, Inc. in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, Leitch Electronic(Canada) and Freedom Communications.[2] In cooperation with Fordham University, he taught Juilliard's only business course, The Business of the Performing Arts.[17]
He is married to Jeannemarie Gelin, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, in 1968.[6]
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