William J. McCarter (1929-2011) led WTTW in Chicago for 27 years, building it into one of the country's most-watched public television stations. He began his broadcasting career in 1953 with WFIL in Philadelphia, where he worked on American Bandstand. McCarter later worked at WHYY, WNET, and ABC. McCarter worked from 1964-1971 at WETA-TV/FM, where he was president and general manager. McCarter served as president of the Eastern Educational Television Network from 1968 to 1971 before moving to Chicago and led WTTW. Programs developed at WTTW during McCarter's tenure include Chicago Tonight, Sneak Previews, and The McLaughlin Group. WTTW and its sister radio station WFMT-FM received 12 George Foster Peabody Awards during this time.
The collection contains testimonies involving a conflict of interest case before the Subcommittee on Communications and Power of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce on April 27 and May 1, 1970, and clippings and testimony regarding WETA. In addition, the collection contains a 14-page article about McCarter featured in the September 4, 1992 edition of Reader: Chicago's Free Weekly.
Dates
1969-1992
Majority of material found within 1969-1970
Use and Access to Collection
The collection is open for research use.
Duplication and Copyright Information
Photocopies of original materials may be provided for a fee and at the discretion of the curator. Please see our Duplication of Materials page for more information. Queries regarding publication rights and copyright status of materials within this collection should be directed to the appropriate curator.
