National Educational Television (NET), originally called the Educational Television and
Radio Center, was a non-profit, tax-exempt, independent organization whose primary mission
was to provide national and international programming for the educational television
stations of America. NET provided ten hours each week of distinctive programming in fine
arts and music, the humanities, the social sciences, the sciences, children's programs, and
public affairs. At its demise in 1971, more than fifty per cent of its programming was in
the field of public affairs, with cultural and children's programs comprising the balance.
Non-current programs were available to educational stations through NET's program library
and the NET Film Service, a permanent, self-supporting library administered by Indiana
University, which made past programs available to serve the audio-visual, non-broadcast
needs of schools, colleges and universities, industry, and other adult training and
community groups.
Established in 1952 by the Ford Foundation's Fund for Adult Education (FAE), NET was
organized along lines recommended by the National Association of Educational Broadcasters
(NAEB), with a self-perpetuating board drawn from a wide range of American business,
educational, and civic leadership. During its twenty-year existence, the bulk of NET's
financial support was provided by the Ford Foundation. However, governmental agencies, other
foundations, corporations and industries, and individuals also made substantial
contributions. During its early years, NET's main focus was adult education. The first grant
of three million dollars from the FAE stipulated that from 1953 to 1956, five-sixths of this
amount be expended for liberal adult education programming.
From 1952 to 1953, C. Scott Fletcher, president of the FAE, was acting president of NET,
and in 1953, Harry Newburn, president of the University of Oregon, became president of NET.
Throughout his five year administration, Newburn maintained close contact with educational
leaders and helped bring them to an increasing acceptance of television as a medium of
education. Under his direction, NET also began a program exchange service in 1954, utilizing
programs produced principally by educational stations.
John White, head of Pittsburgh Community Station WQED, was named president of NET in 1958
and began enactment of policies which had been recommended to the Board of NET affiliates.
The organization's name was changed to the National Educational Television and Radio Center
and its headquarters were moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to New York City. At the same
time, NET began to expand its activities and put its full resources into obtaining the best
programming possible. It created a Utilization Department (1960); joined the International
Television Federation (1960); took on many activities formerly conducted by the Joint
Council on Educational Television (JCET); began to expand its role in educational radio;
initiated steps toward possible interconnection of member television stations; planned for
extensive participation in instructional television; and took an active, though temporary,
role in the activation of new educational television stations.
The Ford Foundation assumed direct responsibility for NET support with a three-year grant
in 1956, and a five million dollar grant in 1959. In 1962, NET received an interim grant of
slightly less than five million dollars, while the Foundation began a comprehensive study of
“the position and potential of noncommercial television as a national system,
including its role, content, size and cost.” The results of the study recommended that
NET concentrate upon developing a high quality television program service and relinquish its
other activities. In 1963, the Foundation gave NET six million dollars for its 1964
operations to improve the scope and quality of the national educational television service.
At the same time, NET divested itself of radio and instructional television activities, its
leadership in station activation and maintenance, and its station services activities in
Washington, D.C. Primary attention was given to programming in public affairs and cultural
areas for adult audiences and to daily programs for children.
Subsequent one-year grants of six million dollars from the Ford Foundation, combined with
underwriting from other contributors for the production of specific programs or series,
permitted NET to improve the quality of its total programming service. In addition to public
and critical acclaim for its programming, NET programs have earned such honors as Peabody
Awards, Sylvania Awards, International Film Festival Awards, a Thomas Alva Edison Foundation
Mass Media Award, and an Emmy for outstanding television contributions to the American
people.
When John White resigned in 1969 the Center was indeed the controlling hub of a 4th
Network. As James Day took over the reins, however, the Center was only two years away from
extinction. In January 1971, NET merged with New York's ETV Channel 13. It continued to be a
major supplier of quality programming for the nation's ETV stations, but it relinquished
direct control and administration of the 4th Network to the Public Broadcasting Corporation,
an organization established by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.
To augment this brief historical sketch, the researcher is urged to read. The First Decade of the “Fourth Network,” An
Historical Descriptive Analysis of the National Educational Television and Radio Center
by Donald Neal Wood, The National
Association of Educational Broadcasters: A History by Harold E. Hill, and the
pertinent sections of Erik Barnouw's three volume History of Broadcasting in the United States. All three works are available in
the Historical Society library. Crucial for the background it provides through 1963 is
Wood's work. The researcher who consults it, and keeps its and Barnouw's chronological
tables handy for ready reference, will find his work with the records of NET considerably
eased. With such a work available, it seemed pointless to offer an extended historical
statement here. For the post-1963 chronology, please refer to the processing notes which
include some reference material used during processing, and a folder of personnel
directories and organizational charts for various years. (In a box at the beginning of
Series 2A.) Also, an excellent and brief statement of NET's purpose is in the 1963-Amended
By-Laws of 1952 for NET filed in Series 3.
