A small announcement in The Boston Globe caught my attention.
It was 1951, and I was a 17-year old junior in a Boston high school and fascinated with radio broadcasting. The one column-inch notice read that a new FM radio station would begin broadcasting from studios in Symphony Hall. Next day, I road the streetcar from Jamaica Plain to the Symphony MTA station, then to the Stage Entrance, up to the second floor to find WGBH.
The chance invitation to work here at WGBH placed me in an environment that was a perfect fit for my temperament and aspirations as a professional and as just a plain person. Once here, I recognized, gradually, why it felt so right as a place to work and associate.
Six WGBH Alumni — Fred Barzyk, Michael Ambrosino, Olivia Tappan, Bruce Bordett, and David Atwood — tour the studios and offices at 125 Western Avenue, WGBH’s primary home from 1964 to 2007. Recorded in June 2006.
At a December 4, 2007 meeting of WGBH staff, longtime President Henry Becton ceremoniously passed the baton to Jon Abbott, who stepped in to the presidency in October after serving as Executive Vice President and COO. According to Cynthia Broner, their remarks met with a prolonged standing ovation for Henry’s nearly 38 years at WGBH. Henry remains at WGBH part time as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees as well as senior editorial advisor.
Written by WGBH Vice President Lance Ozier. Performed 3/21/07 at the “Liroff Liftoff” farewell event by “Henry Becton and The Platform Agnostics”
Here are David Liroff's farewell remarks from his going away party, the "Liroff Liftoff," on March 21, 2007.
From “The first 24 years: A somewhat random compendium of milestones along the way”
John Lowell Jr., leaves a bequest creating free “public lectures for the benefit of the citizens of Boston.”
Bob Larsen in Studio A Control Room (with Judy Larsen in the background) — August 1955
Performance — String group — Nov. 1955
Click on the images to see the original memo. Read the text, below.
Television and radio, New Television Workshop, educational services, more
Just how far have we come? How many programs, series, co-productions and other projects have borne the WGBH logo over the past 50 years? In that time, an enormous and varied community of richly talented human beings have transformed a modest “educational” broadcasting effort into one of the major engines of modern “public” broadcasting.