Corporation for Public Broadcasting: John W. Macy Files

Administrative History

The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), as a nonprofit corporation chartered in the District of Columbia with the task of promoting the growth and development of the nation's noncommercial radio and TV systems. CPB provided strong national leadership to achieve the aims of diversity, excellence, and public response to the resource of public broadcasting. CPB's primary purposes included developing high quality programs, establishing a system of national interconnection to distribute the programs, and strengthening and supporting local public TV and radio stations.

In January of 1969, CPB negotiated with AT&T to interconnect 140 stations, creating the first true national public television system. This interconnection management system became permanent in November 1969 with the establishment of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The establishment of National Public Radio in 1970 ensured equal interconnection between public radio stations.

CPB involved a cross-section of Americans in public broadcasting through the formation of the Advisory Committee of National Organizations (ACNO) in 1969. This committee helped insure CPB's responsiveness to public needs.

Through the years 1968 to 1972, CPB funded and encouraged local and nationally distributed programs on public television and public radio. It added to program diversity by enabling local stations to produce programs for national distribution. Besides supporting the productions from National Educational Television, CPB designated seven stations as the major program production agencies for PBS. These stations were: WGBH (Boston, Massachusetts), WETA (Washington, D.C.), WQED (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), WTTW (Chicago, Illinois), KCET (Los Angeles, California) and KQED (San Francisco, California). Along with the Ford Foundation, CPB also funded many programs such as the Forsyte Saga and The Advocates . From 1969 to 1970, CPB extended its partnership with the American Film Institute, granting $100,000 to encourage the production of films for use on public television. CPB also participated in the creation of Sesame Street, contributing $250,000 toward production and in arranging special morning-hour interconnection for its national distribution. CPB also helped finance Artists in America, a joint project with the National Endowment for the Arts. Finally, in 1971, it granted WQED a $500,000 grant to produce The Turned-On Crisis .

Beginning in 1969, CPB launched an effort to strengthen public radio through competitive awards for programming grants and the creation of a viable national public radio service. That year it created a Radio Advisory Council, set standards for eligibility for support, and gave the first direct aid through the "Sounds of Radio" competition. In 1970, it gave special grants to the National Association of Educational Broadcasters for a conference to map the course of instructional radio, and to the National Educational Radio Network for program acquisition and development. That same year, National Public Radio was established with funding from CPB.

From the beginning, CPB had an interest in future and present technologies, especially concerning distribution. At the invitation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), CPB formed the Satellite Task Force in 1969. On November 28, 1969, NASA approved a task force proposal allowing the first full-scale experiments in the use of satellites to transmit television signals domestically. In 1971, CPB was an active participant in FCC deliberations in the plans to establish a domestic commercial communications satellite system for nationwide radio and television coverage. CPB was also active in FCC deliberations in the regulation of community antenna television system (CATV) as it sought to assure a maximum place for public broadcasting.

Biography of John W. Macy

John Williams Macy, Jr. was born on April 6, 1917 in Chicago, Ill. He got his B.A. from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, in 1938. Macy began his three decades of government service in 1938 as he worked as a government intern at the National Institute of Public Affairs from 1938 to 1939. From 1939 to 1940, he was an administrative aide of the Social Security Board. Then, from 1940 to 1942, he worked as a personnel specialist for the War Department, working in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois. He continued work for the War Department as an assistant director of civilian personnel from 1942 to 1943, and again from 1946 to 1947. During World War II, he served in the Army beginning as a private and rising to the rank of captain from 1943 to 1946, fighting in the China theater. From 1947 to 1951, Macy worked as the director of organization and personnel in the operations office of the Atomic Energy Commission. Then, from 1951 to 1953, he was the special assistant to the undersecretary of the Army.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Macy as executive director of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), a post he held from 1953 to 1958. This position was at the time the highest non-appointive position in the civil service. After working as executive vice president of Wesleyan University from 1958 to 1961, Macy returned to the Civil Service Commission under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations as chairman from 1961 to 1969. During his second tenure at CSC, Macy advocated making federal salaries commensurate with prevailing wages in private industry and spoke out against racial and sexual discrimination in the federal service. Macy also upgraded civil service positions, thus attracting a greater share of the most talented managers and thinkers in civil service. During the same years, he directed the newly created Personnel Appointments Office in the White House.

Macy served as president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 1969 to 1972. He was forced out after three years in a dispute with the Nixon administration on the future direction and financing of public broadcasting. Specifically, the Nixon administration saw him as an obstacle to its efforts to discourage the corporation from financing public affairs television programming.

Besides many consultancy positions, Macy served as the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 1979 to 1981. He also served on many boards, including the Board of Directors of WETA from 1981 to 1986. Macy wrote several books including Public Service (1971) and To Irrigate a Wasteland (1974).

John W. Macy died on December 22, 1986.

From the guide to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Records: John W. Macy Files, 1965-1972, 1968-1972, (Mass Media and Culture)