October 20, 2005
Communications Alumni Baker inducted into American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Case alumni Dr. William F. Baker, chief executive officer of Educational Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), licensee of Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21 in New York, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on October 8. Baker holds three degrees from Case: a Ph.D. in communications and organizational behavior (‘72) and an M.A. (’68) and B.A. (’66) in communications.
Baker is in distinguished company: also being inducted into the AAAS this year is Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist (who was inducted posthumously), journalist Tom Brokaw, architect and sculptor Maya Lin, actor and director Sidney Poitier, and many more.
Baker has been head of the head of EBC since 1987. His career spans four decades. Prior to assuming his position at Thirteen, he was president of Westinghouse Television and chairman of the cable and programming companies. During his 10 years at Westinghouse, five cable networks were launched, including Discovery Channel and the Disney Channel. He established the successful national program PM Magazine and introduced Oprah Winfrey as a talk show host.
Baker has been honoured by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with its national Trustee’s Emmy Award. He has won six Emmys as a television producer, two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards in Television and Radio Journalism – the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize – and the Gabriel Award, among many others. In 2004 he was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, and in 2005 elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Baker serves on the boards of the Public Broadcasting Service, Rodale Press, Freedom Communications, Inc., Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Consumers Union, and Leitch Technology Corporation. He is also on the Advisory Board of the National Park System.