The public television network in Arkansas, AETN, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. This celebration has set me to recalling my more than 40 years of watching AETN programs, a public service which has certainly broadened my horizons, stretched my mind, and entertained me and my family in ways not provided by any other television network. This is not to say that the network is perfect--why must we endure the Lawrence Welk reruns?--but it is a state agency which has affected the quality of life in Arkansas for the better.
Public television underwent a long gestation before it debuted in 1966. In June 1954, interested citizens established the Arkansas Educational Television Association with the intention of taking advantage of the federal government's allotment of a VHF channel to Arkansas for educational purposes. The Association managed to put together a statewide committee representing 90 organizations--ranging from the Farm Bureau to the Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union--but progress was glacial.
With the support of Gov. Orval Faubus, the legislature adopted Act 198 in 1961, which provided a small state appropriation to begin planning in earnest. Additional funding allowed for the hiring of an executive director, and in 1963 former state senator R. Lee Reaves was hired. The 1965 legislature appropriated construction funds, and Conway was selected to be the site of the new station.
The choice of Conway was no doubt aided by the fact that Dr. Silas Snow, president of Arkansas State Teachers College in Conway, was also chairman of the state educational TV commission. The college donated land for the new station, and the Conway Corporation made a substantial financial contribution. The station's transmission tower was located at Redfield in Jefferson County, which provided coverage in an 85-mile radius.
After several false starts and a delay of two months, KETS, Channel 2, went on the air on Dec. 4, 1966. Most of the original programming was educational, intended to augment classroom instruction. But from the very first day, time was given over to general programming, including to a woman named Julia Child who was hosting a "nationally acclaimed" program called The French Chef. Also from the very beginning, Channel 2 made use of foreign programs, most notably those developed by the British Broadcasting Corp. Fred H. Schmutz was the first program director.
Schmutz frequently had to defend his programming decisions. Within two months of the station going on-air, a group of 10 ministers in Mena were protesting the broadcasting of a play by Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People. Only a few days earlier Schmutz had encountered charges of censorship when he canceled the showing of a play by Tennessee Williams, Ten Blocks on the Camino Real, which Schmutz said was "profane and lewd" and that he "could no more air it than [he] could fly."
In addition to facing frequent carping from religious fundamentalists, Channel 2 had to deal with ongoing political interference. In 1969, when it was rumored that commercial stations were complaining about competition from Channel 2, legislators threatened the station's budget of $360,000.
Political opposition to Channel 2 intensified after June 1981 when an aggressive 32-year-old named Raymond Ho took over as head of AETN from the retiring Lee Reaves. Ho, who was of Chinese ancestry, had made a name for himself at public television networks in North Carolina, New York, and Missouri.
Ho wanted AETN to produce more programs locally, an expensive proposition. In addition to pressing elected officials for more state funding, Ho dramatically increased fundraising from public TV viewers. For example, the 1984 spring fundraising telethon called Festival 84 raised $519,000 compared to $198,000 the previous year.
A large part of Raymond Ho's problems with elected public officials was due to his confrontational attitudes, a "personality made for clashing," as one journalist observed. Less critically, one editorial writer viewed Ho as "the Lou Holtz of public television." Despite his fundraising acumen and the many awards he garnered for AETN, Ho resigned in August 1986 to become director of the much larger Maryland public TV network.
Despite having to deal with recalcitrant public officials and some self-inflicted wounds, Arkansas public TV has grown steadily. In 1976-77, Channel 2 became known as the Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN) when a series of six transmitter stations were opened across Arkansas to bolster reception. AETN switched to broadcasting in digital format in 2001. Today all of Arkansas is covered by AETN broadcasts, and an estimated 9 percent of viewers live in Missouri.
While I and many others might quibble about AETN programming, we have a much better network than found in many states. Public TV remains a refuge for those of us who would not be caught dead watching Honey Boo Boo or The Jerry Springer Show. Indeed, AETN reminds us that television does not have to be a wasteland.
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Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living near Glen Rose in rural Hot Spring County. Email him at Arktopia.td@gmail.com.
Editorial on 11/20/2016