Donald Schein, a pioneer in the development of public broadcasting in New York State, was executive producer and general manager of WMHT, the Capital District's public television station. Schein was born in Kansas in 1920. In 1955 he was hired as an associate producer by the Mohawk-Hudson Council on Educational Television (MHCET), the Capital District's educational television consortium, which had been founded in 1953 under a charter from the Regents. In 1956 Schein became MHCET's executive producer. Initially, MHCET broadcast educational programs during airtime donated by local commercial stations. By 1962 MHCET had acquired a station of its own, WMHT, which began broadcasting that year on Channel 17. In 1967 WMHT became a charter affiliate of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). The station grew throughout the 1970s, broadcasting national PBS productions and producing its own programming. Starting in 1978 WMHT was the first Capital District television station to receive network programming via satellite. The political program Inside Albany received the Alfred I. DuPont Award in 1979. During the 1970s WMHT also expanded into radio. WMHT-FM, a classical music station, went on the air in 1972, and by 1975 it was broadcasting 24 hours a day. In 1978, WMHT began to transmit the Radio Information Service (RISE), a radio reading service for the visually impaired, and to broadcast NOAA weather bulletins. By 1982 WMHT was broadcasting 24 hours a day. In 1986 MHCET acquired the commercial UHF station WUSV and turned it into WMHX, a second public television channel. In 1986 Schein retired as general manager. During his departure the station became embroiled in a controversy over the size of its reserve fund. Following his retirement from WMHT Schein served for a year as the volunteer Executive Director of Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady. He died in 2002.
From the description of Donald Schein papers, 1920-2005. (University at Albany). WorldCat record id: 613225403
