Edward “Ted” Sherburne, who was at the helm of public television pioneer WGBH-TV when it went on the air in 1955, died last month (November 22nd) at the age of 91. According to an obituary published in The Charlotte Observer/Legacy.com, after being discharged from the U.S. Army in 1945, Sherburne worked at the Naval Special Devices Center where he helped test the instructional value of television. In 1949 he was a producer for Manhattan Spotlight, broadcast from New York City (an interview program, it ran from January of 1949 to April of 1951 on DuMont). On May 2nd, 1955 WGBH-TV signed on the air, broadcasting from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sherburne served as the station’s first program manager and helped set it’s first schedule. In 1959, he became involved with the American Association for the Advancement of Science; in 1966 he became president of what is now Society for Science & the Public.
(Found via WGBH Alumni)
