Judith Chalfen

From Judith Chalfen – 2000

Delighted to hear of the WGBH Reunion. I must be (along with Larry Creshkoff) one of the oldest alums, having been hired in January 1950 to work as a secretary for the Lowell Broadcasting Council the forerunner of WGBH.

No one quite knew what to do with secretaries (I had worked at WOR in New York and was hired through the “Harvard Wives” since my husband was in graduate school there). So we did type, but also edited tape, clipped newspapers, ran an ancient switchboard at 28 Newbury St. (a glamorous address), ran around to prominent politicians getting support for our FM license.

After our move to Symphony Hall where our first on-air event was the Boston Symphony broadcast, I announced the courses and had a generally exciting time when celebrities such as Arthur Fiedler dropped in. I left in June of 1952, reluctantly, being 5 months pregnant. That’s what one did in those days. We did bring our first born to appear on Ruth Anne’s Camp during a week that included a raging blizzard.

My next brush with TV was in 1968 when along with Lillian Ambrosino, Evelyn Sarson, and Peggy Charren, I helped start Action For Children’s Television, to protest the rampant commercialism and exploitation of kids by the networks (not PBS of course) and helped it become a national organization.

Looking forward to seeing who else turns up at the reunion from those very early days. I won’t bring a picture of me in those times, because I look exactly the same.