The Public Broadcast Laboratory (PBL) was a
television program broadcast in the United States, created on November 5, 1967, by
National Educational Television (NET). The program was considered a live Sunday-night magazine program. In 1969, the
Ford Foundation withdrew support and the series was cancelled.
History
The ''Public Broadcast Laboratory'' had the financial backing of the
Ford Foundation, which put over $292 million into
educational television
Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable telev ...
programs, including ''PBL.'' ''PBL'' contained a program of news and other features, in something of what was at the time considered an experimental approach.
The executive director was Av Westin.
The initial ''PBL'' program featured
African Americans with white-painted faces in a one-hour drama.
Only 89 of a hoped-for 119 stations aired the debut program. The entire state educational networks of
South Carolina and
Georgia refused due to the controversial content; both states were embroiled then with social conflict over the
Civil Rights Movement.
The series aired 53 episodes (including four specials) during its two-year run on NET. Season-one episodes ran two hours long, season-two episodes from December 1, 1968, onward ran only 90 minutes long; the program ended its run at the conclusion of the television season. The entire archive of ''PBL'' programs was donated by NET's successor,
PBS, to the
Library of Congress on January 5, 1994.
Episodes of ''PBL'' have been contributed to, and made available in, the
American Archive of Public Broadcasting by the Library of Congress,
GBH, and
WNET.
References
External links
Archive of ''PBL'' episodes and segments*{{IMDb title, tt2410986
1967 American television series debuts
1969 American television series endings
National Educational Television original programming