Jack McBride enriched Nebraskans' lives

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If you have saved those Jane Austen flicks on the digital recorder for repeat indulgence, or find yourself fascinated by “Antiques Roadshow,” you might pay tribute this week to Jack McBride.

As much as any single individual, it was McBride who built the statewide network today known as NET that carries those shows in Nebraska.

McBride ran public television in Nebraska from its inception until he retired in 1996.

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Jack McBride

Jack McBride

His legacy is not limited to television. If you enjoy Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion” or tune in regularly to “All Things Considered” on NET Radio, be advised McBride had a lot to do with developing the network of public radio stations in Nebraska, too.

McBride, who died Monday, was a rare individual who seemed to have the ability to peer around corners at what was coming next. “There wasn’t anyone better at looking into the future,” said Ron Hull, a longtime fellow NET executive and friend.

Poring through yellowing newspaper clippings from almost a quarter-century ago, one encounters McBride using words that remain current today: satellite transmission, video, computer technology.

Although public broadcasting has been criticized nationally as elitist and liberal, the Nebraska system has avoided the worst of that firestorm, due in large part to McBride’s philosophy. “We’ve religiously tried to make sure we had a balance in many different ways,” he said in a 1996 Journal Star interview. “I’ve leaned over backwards trying to make this apolitical, too, even to the point of 10 or 12 years ago of changing my (voter) registration to independent.”

McBride was 27 years old when he was hired in 1953, initially with the plan that he would help develop shows for the University of Nebraska’s television department.

Then a local businessman purchased the two existing local commercial television stations. One became KOLN-TV. The businessman gave the other station to NU. It soon became KUON-TV, the eighth public television station in the country.

McBride’s early years were spent developing instructional programming, including foreign language classes and English composition.

With plenty of help from other interested Nebraskans, he also prodded state officials to expand the system, and in 1963 the Legislature approved creation of a statewide television network.

He formed a love-hate relationship with Terry Carpenter, a state senator from Scottsbluff who was one of the dominant legislative forces in that era. Carpenter was instrumental in securing funding for construction of NET headquarters at 33rd and Holdrege. The building is now named after Carpenter.

In 1989, Union College donated KUCV, a National Public Radio station, to NU. That event triggered development in 1991 of a system of nine public radio stations across the Nebraska.

McBride’s work over more than 40 years enriched and broadened the lives of thousands of Nebraskans. It’s a legacy that should be remembered and celebrated as Nebraskans pay their respects this week.