January, 2020
Lincoln – News of Jim Lehrer's passing makes me recall a visit he made to Lincoln. It was the early 1970s; the Nebraska ETV building on North 33rd Street was new. Jim Lehrer was new to PBS and just starting out a broadcasting partnership with Robert MacNeil.
I was working in the budget division in the statehouse, with responsibilities for ETV's budget. Jack McBride, ETV director, and Paul Few invited me over after work to meet the new MacNeil/Lehrer team, in town for an orientation. They met with a group of us about their approach to broadcast journalism, then chatted with us individually.
From what I had seen of them on the screen, I thought MacNeil was tall and Lehrer short. Just the opposite in person. Both were friendly, engaging, and hugely impressed with the new ETV building. I don't remember the conversation exactly, but I remarked on the meaning of the name, Lehrer, in German, which is "teacher." Jim of course knew it and said he hoped he was living up to the meaning.
The state funded the Nebraska ETV Commission well. Governor Jim Exon, always tight-fisted with the taxpayers' dollars, nevertheless went to bat for equipping the building properly and making the most of the opportunity to deliver educational television to all Nebraskans.
I still watch, whenever I can, what many of us still call the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour. Others in recent days have called it News for Grown-Ups.
