The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Dr. Frederick “Rick” Breitenfeld is a pioneer in educational and instructional television in the United States.

In 1964, Dr. Breitenfeld was director of a research study for the U.S. Office of Education on the long-range funding of what was then called “educational television.” That study resulted in the appointment of the first Carnegie Communication on Educational Television, which led to passage of the Public Broadcasting Act in 1967.

Prior to taking the national stage, Rick Breitenfeld worked as a high school teacher, a university dean, and a resident consultant in communications at Cape Canaveral.

He was appointed by the Maryland Educational-Cultural Television Commission to be founding executive director of what he named the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting in 1966, three years before the first station, WMPB Channel 67, went on the air. Under his guidance, the center became the flagship station and headquarters for a six-station network that continues to deliver a statewide signal from transmitters in Owings Mills (WMPB), Annapolis (WMPT), Hagerstown (WWPB), Oakland (WGPT), Salisbury (WCPB), and Frederick (WFPT).

During his tenure at MPT, “Dr. B.,” as he was affectionately known by employees, led the young organization to national distinction as a production hub for such series as Wall $treet Week, Consumer Survival Kit, A.M. Weather, Hodgepodge Lodge, and other programs distributed across the country.

He also guided the center in a full schedule of locally produced programs and in the development of educational services including Maryland College of the Air and the center-originated National University Consortium for Telecommunications in Teaching. In 2007, Maryland Public Television created the Award for Visionary Leadership in Public Media named for Dr. Breitenfeld, and he was recipient of this inaugural award that year.

During many of his MPT years, Dr. Breitenfeld served as a visiting professor at The Johns Hopkins University. He was also on several other university faculties during his career.

In September 1983, Dr. Breitenfeld was named president and general manager of WHYY, Channel 12, in Philadelphia. WHYY, Inc. is an independent, nonprofit corporation that operates TV12, a community public television station licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, and 91FM, a community public radio station licensed to Philadelphia. He retired from that post at the end of 1997, having grown WHYY’s operating budget from $8 million to $10 million and having doubled the TV station’s viewership.

Rick holds a bachelor's degree in engineering and a master's degree in education from Tufts University. In addition, he earned a master's degree in radio and television and a Ph.D. in communications, both from Syracuse University. Dr. Breitenfeld is also recipient of four honorary degrees.

His publications include articles for The Saturday Evening Post, TV Guide, and Columbia Journalism Review, among others, and chapters for textbooks. He was founding chairman of the American Program Service and was national chairman of the Council of State Telecommunications Authorities; chairman of the National Consortium for Telecommunications in Teaching; chairman of the Mayor's Commission on Literacy in Baltimore; and a member of the FCC's Temporary Commission on Alternate Funding for Public Broadcasting.

Breitenfeld is a former trustee of Bucks County Community College, in Newtown, (PA); Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Inc., in Philadelphia; and Valley Forge (PA) Military Academy and College. He was a director of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. He also served as an executive committee member of the (U.S. Rep. Curt) Weldon Group on a Regional Computing Network. Among his many awards is the Board of Governors’ Award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts & Sciences.

His theatrical credits include character roles in government and industrial training films, a role in the NBC series Movin' On, and an appearance as a stand-up comic on CBS. He performed in the John Waters’ comedy feature film and cult classic Polyester (1981) in the role of Dr. Arnold Quackenshaw.

In recognition of his on-camera work as host of Maryland Public Television productions In Person and Love Letter to Maryland, Rick was awarded a star on the MPT Walk of Fame in 2012. The former program was a multi-year series in which Dr. Breitenfeld interviewed prominent Marylanders, and the latter was a one- hour special that followed the host on a journey across the state to visit landmarks, natural wonders, and small towns that are distinctly Maryland.

Rick Breitenfeld is father of two adult children, Ann and Kathleen. His wife of 44 years, Mary Ellen (Fitzgerald), died in 1998, and his companion of 18 years, Nedra Sanderson, died in 2017. Dr. Breitenfeld lived in Solebury, Pennsylvania.

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com