NAEB Newsletter (July 1952)

JEFFERSON SERIES READY FOR SEPTEMBER RELEASE The principles and ideas of Thomas Jefferson as applied throughout the course of American history are to be depicted in a series of radio programs on "The Jeffersonian Heritage" that soon will be presented under the auspices of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters* The NAEB Board of Directors has authorized the release of the series as of September lit, 1952* In announcing the new thirteen-week series, Seymour N. Siegel, President of NAEB, disclosed that the broadcasts on Jefferson will be the first of many sets of programs devised to give the radio-listening public a lively insight into matters of histori¬ cal and contemporary significance.* FAE Grant Financed Series Broadly conceived to afford a perspective on significant topics that will at once inform, entertain and educate, the new NAEB programs have, been made possible under a $300,000 grant from the Fund for Adult Education established by the Ford Foundation* V ; \ \ • The special adult education committee of the NAEB which has planned and will produce the new sets of radio program series consists of George Probst of. the Uni¬ versity of Chicago, chairman; Parker Wheatley, Lowell Institute Cooperative Broad¬ casting Council; Richard B. Hull* Iowa State College; Harold. B. McCarty, Uiiversity of Wisconsin, and Mr* Siegel, Director of the Municipal Broadcasting System, New York City* The forthcoming series will be broadcast riot only by member stations of the NAEB Tape Network but also will be made available to United Nations Radio, The Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation, The Canadian Broadcasting Corpora¬ tion, the Australian Broadcasting Company, and All-India Radio. The programs will be made available to commercial station operators on a sus¬ taining basis and it is expected that at least one series of those to be produced will be broadcast over a national network* The sets of series are planned to fit into a broad pattern of four main outlines — The American Heritage, The Nature of Mai, and International Understanding and Pub¬ lic Affairs. Since the project is flexible, the ideas to be worked out in some of the later programs and their presentation Will depend in some measure on public re¬ sponse to the opening series* The American Heritage The initial series on "The Jeffersonian Heritage" will seek to explore the enduring ideas that are best summed up in our Declaration of Independence, among American historic documents and best exenplified and symbolized by Thomas Jefferson as an Individual. Avoiding any emphasis on biography > the programs will seek to translate into living terms through dramatic action the Jefferson embodiment of the spirit which should animate men and the general principles which should guide them here and now. From the "Living Declaration," opening program of the first series, throughout, this radio venture will seek to make real and vibrant the principal features of the American Heritage as passed down from Thomas Jefferson through a.national history richly endowed with his ideas. These features are seen as* one rich, fair land, offering vast opportunities; one diverse people, melted into a national unit; one background of knowledge and skills inherited from the many races of our ancestry; and lastly, the timeless and universal ideas of a new land*