The History of Educational Broadcasting Systems

Educational broadcasting systems have played a crucial role in supplementing formal education and providing lifelong learning opportunities to diverse audiences. From the early days of radio to the advent of television and the internet, these systems have evolved to meet the changing needs of learners and leverage technological advancements. This article explores the history of educational broadcasting, focusing on key milestones and the evolution of prominent educational broadcasting systems in the United States and South Korea.

Early Roots and the Rise of Radio

The concept of educational broadcasting can be traced back to the early 20th century with the emergence of radio. State universities in the United States recognized the potential of radio for distance learning, particularly for reaching rural populations. In 1921, the first educational radio stations were licensed, marking the beginning of a new era in education. These stations offered programs on various topics, including home economics, music appreciation, language acquisition, and agriculture, aiming to provide practical skills and knowledge to listeners.

Educators believed that their approach to media should reflect a public-school ethos, emphasizing free access, objectivity, and skills-based content. This contrasted with early commercial media industries, which were primarily promotional extensions of businesses. Educational technologists sought to utilize radio to increase equal access to education.

The Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations (ACUBS), founded in 1925, played a crucial role in facilitating communication and collaboration between public universities in developing distance learning programs. The organization, which would later become the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB), also focused on distinguishing educational models of radio communication from commercial broadcasting and maintaining station licenses.

The Communications Act of 1934 and its Impact

A significant turning point in the development of educational broadcasting was the Communications Act of 1934. This landmark legislation, intended to establish a comprehensive media policy, inadvertently changed the rules for station licensure, imposing demanding technical standards that many universities struggled to meet. As a result, the educational radio landscape was decimated, with the number of educational stations dwindling from approximately 200 in 1934 to a mere 38 by 1935.

Despite this setback, educators regrouped and began to rebuild noncommercial media. The NAEB studied the success of commercial broadcasting and adopted a decentralized distribution structure, relaying quality programming to smaller university stations. By World War II, noncommercial media defined itself as non-profit, focused on adhering to the Communications Act regulations while maintaining an educational vision.

The Rise of Educational Television in the United States

As television emerged as a powerful medium in the mid-20th century, discussions arose regarding the allocation of the television broadcast spectrum. Advocates for educational television pushed for a significant portion of the spectrum to be reserved for educational purposes, recognizing television's potential as a teaching tool.

An attempt to set aside a quarter of the television spectrum for educational television through the Hatfield-Wagner amendment failed. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) promised to continue investigating the feasibility of educational television. In 1953, the FCC set aside 242 educational channels, and station KUHT Houston became the first licensee.

Unfortunately, many educational television stations struggled to secure funding and were forced to sell their spectrum licenses to commercial television owners. As a result, educational television struggled to gain a foothold, even as commercial television flourished with popular programs that captivated audiences.

National Educational Television (NET)

From 1952 to 1970, public television in America was broadcast as National Educational Television, or NET. This era when National Educational Television was broadcasting represents a huge shift in the United States - not only as a pioneering age for television, but socially, culturally, and politically.

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NET was established via a grant from the Ford Foundation in 1952 with the mission of distributing educational programming. The National Educational Television and Radio Center, as it was called until 1963, initially had no equipment or production staff of its own. Rather, NET aggregated programming produced by member stations and other sources of educational material, such as McGraw-Hill or the BBC, and broadcast them to other member stations.

The intellectuals had not yet begun to take seriously television of any kind. And meanwhile, many of the nation’s school teachers and administrators were skeptical of ETV, and even hostile to it. Despite this initial hesitation, the availability of quality instructional material at little or no cost eventually made public television an integral part of the American education - whether the students were receiving a formal education inside a classroom or viewing the programs in their own homes.

Around this time, NET was striving to become a "fourth network" on par with the big 3 networks broadcasting in the 50's: CBS, ABC, and NBC. The network was described as "the fastest growing television service in the United States" in 1961.

National Educational Television brought quality programming on a wide variety of topics into the American living room. It is difficult to stress the magnitude of NET’s programming across disciplines, including public affairs, fine arts, humanities, and natural science. Its earliest products were series for adult education, usually 26-part, 30-minute lecture programs on topics such as physics, chemistry, philosophy, and economics. Later programming involved in-depth interviews with artists, poets, writers, and dancers, including Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Martha Graham, Twyla Tharp, John Updike, Philip Roth, and Vladimir Nabokov. This gap in the market of classroom material led to the creation of the National Center for School and College Television in 1962.

These programs were not only broadcast weekly by local stations, but were also available on film for use in classrooms, community groups, churches and other venues for learning.

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Under the centerpiece program NET Journal, which began airing in the fall of 1966, NET began to air controversial, hard-hitting documentaries that explored numerous social issues of the day such as poverty and racism.

In 1966, NET's position as a combined network and production center came into question when President Lyndon Johnson arranged for the Carnegie Foundation to conduct a study on the future of educational television. The Carnegie Commission released its report in 1967, recommending educational television be transformed into "public television". The new organization would be controlled by the nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (a corporation established by the federal government) and receive funding from the government and other sources. Under this plan, funds were to be distributed to individual stations and independent production centers - which is what NET would have been reduced to.

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) began as an entity in November 1969, with NET continuing to produce several programs and to be the name of the network.

In early 1970, both Ford and the CPB threatened to cut NET's funding unless NET merged its operations with New York City-area affiliate WNDT. WNDT's call sign was changed to WNET on October 1, 1970, as the station and NET's merger was completed. On October 5, PBS began network broadcasting. NET ceased to operate as a network from that point, although some NET-branded programming, such as NET Journal and NET Playhouse remained part of the PBS schedule (now produced by WNET) until the brand was retired 2 years later.

The Carnegie Commission and the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

A turning point for educational television in the United States came in 1964 when Ralph Lowell, a Boston philanthropist and founder of WGBH educational television and radio, advocated for the formation of a commission to evaluate public broadcasting. The Carnegie Corporation took up the idea, leading to the creation of the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television in 1966.

The Commission's report, "Public Television: A Program for Action," published in January 1967, recommended that Congress establish a Corporation for Public Television (CPT) to distribute governmental and private funds to extend and improve public television programming. The CPT would act as a grantee and advocate for local public television stations, supporting the production of educational programming for both local and national audiences.

This recommendation led to the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and with it, public television and radio. President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the bill into law, emphasized the intention of the Act to provide funds for broadcast facilities, launch a major study of television's use in classrooms, and build the CPB to support stations and producers in creating high-quality educational content.

Public television promised to educate the nation through formal instruction and enrichment programming, emphasizing culture, arts, science, and public affairs. It also aimed to provide programming for underserved audiences, such as minorities and children.

Educational Television in Schools: Growth and Evolution

By the 1970s, educational television had become firmly established in American classrooms. Surveys revealed that a significant percentage of teachers used educational television regularly, with science, social studies, language arts, reading, and health/nutrition being the most popular topics.

As new delivery methods for educational television content became available, public schools adopted them. Videocassette recorders, satellite, cable, and broadcast services provided educators with more sources for programming.

Cable in the Classroom

Cable in the Classroom (CIC) was started by America's cable companies in 1989. Beyond its original mission of providing educational television via cable, CIC delivers the following services for K-12 public schools and public libraries:

Free cable/broadband access
Hours of educational television
Educator resources to equip teachers to make the most of student viewing
Online resources to reinforce what was being watched

By 1993, studies indicated that educational television had spread to virtually all corners of the American public school system, with a significant percentage of students being exposed to television or video weekly. K-12 public school teachers were found to use educational television or videocassettes for an average of 88 minutes per week, with public television being the most popular source.

Popular public television programs used in classrooms during the 1990s included children's science programs like Bill Nye the Science Guy and the Magic School Bus, as well as multi-generational programming such as National Geographic, Nova, and 60 Minutes.

The Impact of the Internet and Digital Technologies

The rise of the Internet in the 1990s brought about a significant shift in the delivery of educational programming. As schools became increasingly wired, the Internet promised to change the way educational content was accessed and utilized in classrooms.

The integration of the Internet and digital technologies has broadened the scope of educational television, transforming it into a more flexible, user-controlled, and interactive medium. This malleability enhances video's instructional value, allowing for individualized learning experiences and access to a vast array of educational resources.

Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS)

The Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) is a South Korean educational public radio and television network covering South Korean territory. It is the only major South Korean radio and television network joint venture between the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Education without a separate regional service.

Though nominally a public broadcasting entity, EBS gets most of its yearly budget from advertisements and sales revenue. EBS operates several channels, including:

EBS1: The main terrestrial channel for premium documentaries, preschool, and youth programs.
EBS2: A second terrestrial channel.
EBS FM: A radio channel focusing on language learning.
**EBS America: One pay-television channel, EBS America, in the United States.

EBS provides a wide range of educational programs for children and youth, including animated series such as Piwi-chan! 3D Anime Series, Oops! GO! GO! Giggles, Vroomiz, Super Wings, and Fire Robo. It also airs popular international programs like Rugrats, Teen Titans Go!, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Peppa Pig, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

The National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB)

Affiliates of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) built American public media between 1925 and 1967, making it one of the central trade organizations of American media history.

The NAEB was founded in 1925 as the Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations (ACUBS). The ACUBS’s primary purpose was to facilitate communication between public universities regarding the development of distance learning programs.

The principal anchors of early education radio from the 1920s-1940s were the University of Wisconsin, Ohio State University, Iowa State University, University of Iowa, University of Illinois, and to a lesser extent the Universities of Minnesota and South Dakota.

The NAEB settled on programming genres derived from distance and adult learning coursework, and instituted a decentralized distribution structure. After WWII the NAEB moved to the University of Illinois, and members built a program transcription library for distribution of quality noncommercial programs.

The Transition to Public Radio

In 1967, backers of non-commercial radio won a great victory. Four years after losing its major financial supporter, the Ford Foundation, reformers saw the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 was signed into law, creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Although initially intended to address television only, last minute efforts by educational radio veterans and handwritten and scotch taped additions to the bill expanded its focus to include radio broadcasting in the corporation’s remit.

Now however, the rag-tag group of educational broadcasters who had worked tirelessly with scant funds for decades had to develop an actual service and it some ways, their legacy hurt them as much as it helped them. The backdoor lobbying by educational radio “guerillas” (as longtime public radio executive Jack Michell described them), alienated sectors of educational broadcasting that saw television as the future. The staffers who had pulled off the coup, Jerry Sandler and Edwin Burrows would be ushered out of national public broadcasting positions and would spend the rest of their careers in much smaller locales.

But it was not simply ruffled feathers that educational radio was up against. It was also their own reputation for producing dull, highbrow programming. At a moment when Great Society reformers in and out of government wanted to serve under resourced minorities rather than an older, educated, and affluent audience the rebranding of educational radio into public radio has not been given much historical attention.

With the previous leadership of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters out, the organization looked for new leadership. The Chairman of its Board of Directors, John Witherspoon looked to a different Washington, this time the state, for that new direction. There, in Pullman, a veteran educational broadcaster named Robert A. Mott was well ensconced as the news director for KWSU-AM and the chief writer for a weekly educational radio program called “Science in the News.” This show was part of educational radio’s bicycle network, airing on over 50 stations and the Voice of America.

In his new position, Mott was tasked with articulating a vision for public broadcasting, which meant addressing the elephant in the room, educational radio’s reputation. In the wake of the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act, the CPB was having a difficult time squaring its legal mandate to fund public broadcasting with the variety of non-commercial, educational stations. Essentially, they worried how they would support over 400 stations, some of which were fairly large and professionally oriented but others of which were small, lower powered and run by students.

The question for Mayles was whether to consider a “Patchwork” or “Comprehensive” approach. The latter represented a “beefing up” of existing institutions but would be easier. The latter would require something more transformative and therefore, more difficult.

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