Feature: Celebrating Five Decades of Pioneering Public TV

            After five pioneering decades, MSU’s public television station continues to be cutting edge as they embark on high definition.

            January 15, 1954 may have seemed like an ordinary day to most of the Michigan State College community.  As students perused the State News before their first class, they learned that Joe DiMaggio had married Marilyn Monroe and that MSC President John Hannah would recommend the appointment of Biggie Munn as athletic director later that day.

            But commanding space on the front page was another article related to campus life—a new television station, WKAR, UHF Channel 60, was signing on that day.

            A half century later, WKAR is on the threshold of signing on yet another television station—WKAR-DT, the MSU public television station’s new digital venture.  WKAR has spacious studios in MSU’s Communication Arts and Sciences Building, allowing the station to produce local programming that has been recognized with honors that include regional Emmy Awards.  Programs produced at WKAR have been broadcast nationally on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), while others have been weekly staples on Michigan Public Television stations for decades.  Notable musicians—including Jessye Norman, Yo-Yo Ma, Murray Perahia and Joshua Bell—appeared in WKAR programs early in their careers, as did men and women who are now part of the university’s School of Music faculty, including chairperson James Forger, Ralph and Albertine Votapek, the Verdehr Trio, Deborah Moriarty and Harlan Jennings, among others.

            It is a far cry from the station’s early days, when WKAR was located in the Quonset huts on Kalamazoo Avenue where the Breslin Center now stands.  The former ROTC kitchen had most recently been used to provide cafeteria services to the Brody Complex.  The unit was converted into studios for a developing technology, one that would change the way some university faculty taught classes and how people young and old spent their leisure time.

            “Believe it or not, when the station in the Quonsets first opened, it was considered phenomenal for the university to provide this elaborate building with three studios,” recalls Bob Page, ’54, who began his WKAR career as a student and eventually became the station’s general manager.  “It looked nice and bright and shiny in the ‘50s!”

            Of course, Page recalls, that was before chipmunks built their nests inside the walls and plants came up through the floor! When WKAR signed on, the facility was considered so state-of-the-art the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) held workshops at the station, making it a showplace among broadcasting peers.

            While WKAR was the oldest public television station east of the Mississippi, and is the second-oldest one still operating nationwide, television production had started at MSU several years before the station itself signed on. As a student, Page was part of a unit called “Television Development,” which used the technology for university-related programming.  Page recalls that Dr. Armand L. Hunter, who would become the station’s first general manager, took MSU president John Hannah to the NAEB convention where they “bought the equipment exhibit right off the floor!” he recalls.  “They were convinced this new thing called television was a good thing for a land-grant institution.”

            Of course, even after the station went on the air, few people could receive it, despite a coverage signal radius of 60 miles; most television sets of the day did not have UHF tuners.  Page recalls it was a bit of a joke around the station that President Hannah couldn’t even receive the signal in Cowles House!

            It seems difficult to believe the greatest challenge for the WKAR pioneers during the 1950s was being able to provide enough programming to fill a broadcast day, when there are now more programs and channels than there is time for any person to view. “Remember, there was no PBS then,” says Page. “80 percent of our programming was local.”

            But what programming it was!  Toy Shop, hosted by student Brick Ryder, presented stimulating activities for young children using puppets and imagination and was done completely in the studio.  Other programs in those early years included titles like Let’s Visit School and Symphony Notebook, both premiering on “sign-on day.”

            Page was general manager of WKAR when the station moved to the Communication Arts building in 1981, an acoustically superior facility with large studios. The change was dramatic.

            “If a train went by, or an airplane flew overhead, or if it started to rain, we had to stop and do the scene or segment over again,” he recalls of the early days at the Quonset huts.  This was especially challenging when working with some of the renowned musical artists who came to the station to appear in producer Don Pash’s fine arts programs. “You can only keep stopping these people who are performing so much,” he says, adding that the more talented they were, the easier they were to work with.

            WKAR (and later, WMSB – the station’s call letters during a shared-time arrangement with Channel 10 from 1959-72) produced both university course programming and series used in area classrooms. Youngsters growing up in the Greater Lansing area during the 1960s may well have had their first French or Spanish lesson by watching the program on the station. Michigan social studies was another subject that came into schools during “Classroom 10.”

            Even in its earliest days, WKAR brought topical issue-related programming to its viewers, something the public broadcasting station prides itself on to this day.  Page recalls when, during the station’s first year, the national House on Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) came to Lansing. The station’s remote unit was taken to the Michigan capitol building to broadcast the hearing live, providing viewers with the information to make their own decisions.  Twenty years later, PBS would provide its viewers with a similar experience when it broadcast live the Watergate hearings.

            WKAR’s programming has evolved over the years.  Now part of the university’s Division of Broadcasting Services (which includes WKAR Radio and TV, Interactive Video Services, Radio Talking Book, WKAR.org and WMSU.org), the broadcast station provides television programming for the general public while Interactive Video Services (IVS) works closely with university faculty in development of courses and distance education.

            In the early days, it was different, Page recalls.  With little programming provided through other outlets, WKAR was producing 8 to 10 shows a day, ranging from All Around the Home and to How to Catch a Cold, one of the programs aired on the station’s first day.  Fine Arts programming soon became a respected part of the WKAR production unit, with programs distributed to stations nationwide.  Classroom 10 provided services to the public schools, while the station provided a nightly newscast hosted by Bob Shackleton and Rob Downey in the 1950s and ‘60s. A mobile remote truck allowed production to be done on location and was used to great effect in 1955 when the station produced many programs in conjunction with MSU’s centennial celebrations.

            Perhaps one programming effort many MSU fans residing in mid-Michigan best remember is the broadcast of Spartan sports on WKAR.  In the earlier days of the station, sports such as hockey, baseball and swimming were covered. Then came football.

            “In the late 1970s, the university’s football team was on probation,” Page remembers.  “They couldn’t appear on regular television, but we had special permission from the NCAA to cover the games locally.”

            Even after the probation was lifted, WKAR carried edited, tape-delayed broadcast of MSU games well into the 1980s, anchored by veteran sportscasters Jim Adams and Terry Braverman.  Their weekly program, “Spartan Sportlite,” was a staple on the station for 25 years.

            Page recalls a number of key events in the history of the station, one of the most significant being the development of PBS in 1969.  PBS President Hartford Gunn lobbied to have MSU President Clifton Wharton on the first board of the fledgling system.  Wharton’s efforts helped release WKAR-TV from its shared time arrangement with Channel 10—no longer an adequate outlet for the increased amount of programming available.  Wharton prevailed on the Board of Trustees to apply for a grant and activate the license for new WKAR Channel 23. Page remembers delivering the papers to the Spartan Stadium press box during a Saturday football game so Wharton could discuss it with the trustees with him at the time.

            Page also cites the advent of community fundraising and the rapid advancement in technology and equipment as key developments during his tenure at the station, and recalls the turbulent days of the early 1970s when an MSU guerrilla theatre group, led by Phil (now Anthony) Heald (see p. 13, Fall 1999) – star of television’s Boston Public  – came to the station demanding air time to express the group’s political views. “I can remember how uncomfortable he made my life,” laughs Page, who said that then University Relations Vice-President Bob Perrin had to come in to negotiate a compromise.  Ironically, Heald received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the MSU Alumni Association and returned to campus in 2001 to serve as Grand Marshal of the Homecoming Parade. 

            Page retired from WKAR in 1987, and was succeeded as general manager by WKAR Radio General Manager Steve Meuche, ’66; MA, ’69. Meuche brought WKAR-TV, Radio and Instructional Television together, developing the Division of Broadcasting Services.

            In recent years, WKAR has flourished both on air and off.  “Truly we have become the primary source for statewide programming, seen on all of Michigan’s public television stations,” Meuche says.  “Because our local productions are also available online at WKAR.org, we have reached viewers throughout the world.” Former Michigan Dept. of Community Health Director James Haveman watched “Off the Record” online while serving in post-war Iraq (see p. 14, Fall 2003), while a broadcast of an MSU basketball special streamed online during a membership campaign brought in pledges from other states and “chat” from Europe posted on a sports website.

            Meuche says that one of the most significant accomplishments of WKAR in the past 15 years has been expansion of its reach and services. “Fifteen years ago, we were just a television station,” he explains. “Now people listen, watch and review our programming archives online through WKAR.org. We have multi-channel capabilities on our community cable services and bring expanded children’s programming and adult education to viewers on ‘KAR2 and ‘KAR3. We are also a far more active part of our community, providing teacher education materials, outreach resources, and educational services to parents and providers.”

            WKAR’s partnerships have extended to the university community as well. The station recently partnered with the College of Veterinary Medicine to provide updated and expanded video content to the cable series Vet School Confidential.   “Back to the Roots,” produced in association with the College of Agricultural and Natural Resources, showed how the turf at MSU’s Spartan Stadium was developed by university researchers and transferred to the stadium, while The Gardens: Birth of a Symphony  featured the MSU Symphony Orchestra. Nucleus Factory, currently in production, combines the creative talents of the WKAR staff, the scientific background of those from MSU’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory and the musical composition talents of faculty from the MSU School of Music.  (All these programs are or will be available online for worldwide viewing at WKAR.org.)

            “Those who remember taking instructional television courses during their years at MSU wouldn’t recognize what we now do with Interactive Video Services,” Meuche adds.

            “People all over the university rely on us for videoconferencing services so faculty can meet with researchers or contact colleagues everywhere from France to Japan,” he explains.  WKAR’s IVS also provides supplementary education videos for certain courses, such as Golf Course Architecture in the Landscape Architecture program.  Meanwhile, WMSU.org, a website hosted and maintained by WKAR, features online video of campus events and seminars.

            Meuche’s challenges have been numerous, not the least of which was bringing WKAR into the digital age.  “Our biggest technological challenge to date has been launching a new television station that will ultimately change the way people watch TV,” he says.  The federal mandate requiring television stations to convert to digital has resulted in having to upgrade and purchase equipment exceeding $2.5 million.  Support for digital has come primarily through major donors and grants, but the project is far from complete and station development staff are challenged by raising the additional dollars for digital without damaging the strong program support of membership and the corporate community.

            Yet another challenge for WKAR’s future is maintaining its strong presence in an ever-expanding sea of viewing options that includes cable, satellite, home video options, and now digital television.

            “All broadcast television stations today are being challenged by the number of entertainment options people have today—DVDs, Internet, and cable,” says Meuche.  “Digital television will create even more viewing choices.  We must position ourselves for the future by making ourselves an even more valuable resource both on and off the air, working with schools and providing services or information not available elsewhere.  That’s something much of the competition can’t do.”

            After Meuche retires in January, his successor will no doubt have similar challenges—increased competition for both funding and viewers, integrating emerging technologies that will continue to evolve, and maintaining the freshness and quality that is associated with public television.

Jeanie Croope, ’73, M.A. ’81, has been promotion director at WKAR-TV since 1981.  WKAR’s Diane Hutchens and Joe Barnhart also contributed to research for this article.

FACTOIDS ABOUT WKAR

• WKAR is the second-oldest existing public television station in the country and the oldest east of the Mississippi.
• In 1954, the 1,038-ft broadcast tower on Dobie Road was the third-tallest structure in the world, after New York City’s Empire State and Chrysler Buildings.
• Tim Skubick has hosted WKAR’s “Off the Record” series during its entire 31-year history.  He has interviewed past Michigan governors, presidential candidates, U.S. senators, state senators and representatives, and other leading newsmakers.
• WKAR’s Ready To Learn Service provides more than 600 workshops to parents, teachers and childcare providers each year, affecting more than 8,000 children throughout mid-Michigan.
• The first WKAR studios were in Quonset huts located on the site now occupied by Breslin Center.  The original huts were destroyed by fire on February 4, 1982.
• Current MSU Board of Trustee Dee Cook sang on the program Campus Matinee as Dee Meyer.
• Programs broadcast on WKAR’s first day included Symphony Note Book, Driver Education, Sports Whirl, Let’s Visit School, and How to Catch a Cold.
• On WKAR’s first day—January 15, 1954—Clarence Biggie Munn was appointed athletic director of MSC and Duffy Daugherty was named head football coach.
• The number one song on the radio on January 15, 1954 was “Oh Mein Papa,” by Eddie Fisher. The best-selling rock and roll album of the year was “Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets.”
• WKAR was the first station to lend its studios as a Red Cross Blood Donation Center and do live on-the-air reports and the first Michigan station to televise an official session of the state legislature.
• Mr. Murgle’s Musse, a children’s series, was the first of 27 program series in 1954 to be accepted by the Educational Radio and Television Center for national distribution to educational TV stations.