Some authors call her an activist, while others call her the “mother” or the “Joan of Arc” for educational television (O’Dell, 1997, p. 143; Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 46). When studying her career, one can say that she paved the way for women in the broadcasting industry and developed educational television as it is known today – the public broadcasting system. Nevertheless, it seems that her value was not showcased by most and was “reduced to a single line or footnote in many textbooks (Head, Sterling, & Schofield, 1994, p. 464, as cited by Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 45). Brinson (2002) researched Ms. Hennock for several years and uncovered that she was a woman guided by her desire to serve the public and her desire to fulfill her personal interests (p. 6). Frieda Hennock proved to be a leader.
Frieda Barkin Hennock was the youngest of eight children and immigrated to the United States with her family from Poland. Although she was a very talented musician, she went against her family’s wishes of pursuing music and became the youngest female lawyer to join the New York Bar Association in 1926 (O’Dell, 1997, p. 135; Brinson, 1998, p. 412). She practised in both criminal and corporate law, which later gave her the poise to be in politics. She became a strong campaigner and fundraiser for Mayor William O’Dwyer, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, and then a strong supporter of the Women’s Division of the Democratic National Committee who pushed the Truman office to put more women in government positions (O’Dell, 1997, p. 137). She later became the voice for women’s rights when she led women through the “front doors of the Union Building at the University of Michigan” in the 1950’s (Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 45). Ms. Hennock had accomplished many “firsts” in the so called “man’s world” (Brinson, 2002, p. 2). Her accomplishments are the outcome of her upbringing and personal drive – being the youngest of all her siblings, growing up as a Jewish female during her time, making her voice heard, having a public image, and having the desire to serve the public. She was a politician.
All authors noted that the achievement that Ms. Hennock was most known for was her appointment by Truman as the first female commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This is where she made her mark in the public eye. She was the only female among the group of commissioners; she was the only Democrat; and she was the only one who lacked knowledge of the broadcasting industry. She would be able to provide a fresh perspective to the organization. Ms. Hennock saw her role as “representing the women of the country who make up 90% of the radio listeners” (Roth, 1948, p. 278, as cited by Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 46) and worked hard to learn about the technical information that she would need to know in all aspects of broadcasting for both television and radio. She did not know what she wanted to accomplish as the commissioner until she found her cause in educational television.
Educational television was on the back burner and was an idea that the FCC and commercial broadcasters resisted for many years (Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 46); however, Ms. Hennock brought it to the forefront. She saw how the issue of educational television served both public and personal interests especially if she wanted to show her integrity and “establish her political recognition” (Brinson, 2000, p. 249). Prior to the FCC allocation hearings to determine channel assignments, Ms. Hennock spoke to educators, women’s organizations and the public to raise the awareness of educating many children and adults using the technology of television. She displayed her political finesse through her eloquent speeches. “Television can operate for the common good and be an important part of our educational system and not just a money-making medium, if educators take an active role in its use” (Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 49). She also stated, “Insofar as adult education is concerned; television will provide a classroom without physical boundaries” (Brinson, 1998, p. 417). She rallied educators and the public to support her. The educators managed to submit over 800 sworn statements and exhibits to advocate for educational television (Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 47). At the allocation hearing, she was the only dissenting opinion to reserve television channels to “meet the present and future needs of education” and “provided the legal and moral platform on which the educational movement” would stand (Hull, 1962, p. 340, as cited by Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 46). By her actions, she wanted to ensure that the channels were used for only educators and not for commercial use. She devoted two years of her time to create educational television. While putting so much effort into her cause, she opened herself up to criticism, did not really listen to others’ opinions and made “possible” mistakes.
Brinson (2000) discussed that Ms. Hennock did not see obstacles that arose in the development of the educational television movement due to her political agenda (p. 248). Some of the obstacles, such as the deficiencies in the range and picture quality of ultra-high frequency (UHF) and the “FCC policies governing their [UHF] use” (p. 249), were quite complicated for one person to address. Although this was Brinson’s finding, she still felt that if Ms. Hennock placed more effort into learning about the issues, then the development of educational television and UHF would have been stronger and perhaps progressed differently (p. 265). This is quite a critical assessment of Ms. Hennock’s actions; however, in her defense, having no prior knowledge of the broadcasting industry and its technical difficulties that even the experts had issues with, Ms. Hennock did her best and did try to improve the situation when she realized that it was affecting the growth of educational television. Beadle & Stephenson (1997) felt that “[s]he correctly anticipated the problems ahead for the UHF stations” (p. 48). By this time, politics was no longer in the equation for Ms. Hennock. According to Brinson (1998), she removed her name as a nominated candidate for a federal judge position and educational television became her personal interest for the next four years (p. 423).
I share the gratefulness of your host of friends for the splendid contribution, which you have made to the cause of educational television. You [Ms. Hennock] would be the first to argue that there is still a long way to go to attain the status which educational television rightly deserves, but you most certainly can, with pardonable pride, claim to be the most outspokenly constructive crusader in the history of the entire educational television movement (Dameron, 1955, as cited by Brinson, 1998, p. 423).
Although Ms. Hennock made some controversial decisions and made herself unpopular with her fellow commissioners and others from the broadcast industry, she did obtain the support from many others and managed to see her vision become a reality when the first educational television station, KUHT-TV in Houston, began broadcasting in June 1953 (O’Dell, 1977, p. 145). Although Ms. Hennock expressed concerns of “lack of funding, UHF reception and the influences of commercial interest” (Beadle & Stephenson, 1997, p. 49), these concerns became important factors that helped to shape educational television, as we know public broadcasting today. Ms. Hennock was an activist, a leader, a politician. Although it started as a political agenda, educational television became her purpose.
References:
Beadle, M., & Stephenson, A. (1997). Frieda Hennock: Leader for educational television. Techtrends, 42(6), 45-49.
Brinson, S. (1998). Frieda Hennock: FCC activist and the campaign for educational television, 1948-1951. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 18(3), 411- 429.
Brinson, S. (2000). Missed opportunities: FCC commissioner Frieda Hennock and the UHF debacle. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(2), 248-267.
Brinson, S. (2002). Personal and Public Interests: Frieda Hennock and the Federal Communications Commission. Westport, CT: Praeger.
O’Dell, C. (1997). Women Pioneers in Television: Biographies of Fifteen Industry Leaders. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?id=74fnsRmeeZcC