[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 64 (Monday, May 16, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               TRIBUTE TO KCPT PRESIDENT/CEO WILLIAM REED

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 16, 2005

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Cleaver and I join today to pay 
tribute to William T. Reed, the President and CEO of KCPT, Kansas 
City's public broadcasting station, who has announced his retirement 
effective June 30, 2005. He steps down after 13 years as head of Kansas 
City Public Television.
  Bill Reed joined KCPT in 1992 and emphasized education, local 
programming and outreach. The station received numerous awards from 
PBS, the National Educational Telecommunication Association NETA, and 
community organizations for its local programming and services, 
including 21 regional Emmy awards and one national Emmy for the 
documentary, ``Be Good Smile Pretty''. Four of the station's signature 
program series, ``Ruckus'', ``Rare Visions'', ``Roadside Revelations'' 
and ``Kansas City Week in Review'', began under Reed's leadership. He 
also introduced viewers to the beautiful writings of Kansas City Star 
columnist Charles Gusewelle, who this spring will produce his fourth 
documentary for KCPT, called ``Stories Under the Stone''. Reed's 
collaboration with Gusewelle also launched KCPT's home video library 
venture. Later this year, children and their parents also will benefit 
from the development of an interactive reading program called ``Bark 
Park Place''.
  Bill Reed made partnerships and collaborations an important part of 
the station's business plan. In 2003, KCPT was named Best Place to Work 
for Community Partnerships by the Kansas City Business Journal. Many of 
those partnerships, like Chalkwaves, a digital instructional media 
service for elementary and secondary schools now used across the 
country, changed the education landscape. Additionally, the Kansas City 
Regional Access Consortium for Higher Education, KC REACHE, a distance 
education effort partnering KCPT with nine area colleges and 
universities, began under Reed's stewardship long before distance 
learning was commonplace. Other successful partnerships include Network 
KC, an in-depth news partnership with the Kansas City Star, KCUR-FM, 
KPRS-FM and UMKC's Back Channel, a student production for the web; and 
Speaking of Women's Health, a partnership with Shawnee Mission 
Medical Center to conduct a yearly health symposium for 1,700 women. 
The TV Dinner and the KCPT Holiday Auction were also created, and a 
partnership developed with the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority for the 
Antiques, Garden and Home Design Show to raise additional funds for the 
station.

  From 1997 to 2001, KCPT successfully conducted a capital campaign 
that raised $10 million to renovate its facilities on 31st Street and 
to purchase digital television equipment. The station was among the 
first stations to go on the air with digital television and was cited 
by PBS as one of seven Digital Pioneers in public television.
  Reed began his public broadcasting career in 1967 as General Manager 
of KIXE, the public television station in Redding, California. He 
joined the Public Broadcasting Service, PBS, in Washington, DC, in 
1974, where he was promoted to Senior Vice President in 1978 and worked 
until 1991. While at PBS, Reed led the planning and implementation of 
PBS Home Video and the PBS Adult Learning Service and the development 
of PBS VIDEO--a service for educational institutions. After leaving 
PBS, he also served as a consultant to the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting, CPB. Reed served the boards of a number on local and 
national organizations: the Public Broadcasting Service Board of 
Directors from 1972 to 1974; the Association of America's Public 
Television Stations', APTS, Board of Trustees from 1995 to 2001; and 
American Public Television, APT, Board of Directors from 1997 to 2003. 
He was elected as the National Educational Telecommunications 
Association's, NETA, first chairman in 1997. Reed served as President 
of the Jackson County Historical Society from 1996 to 1998, President 
of the Public Television Association of Missouri, PTAM, from 1994 to 
1998 and 2002 to present, and Chairman of the Kansas Public 
Broadcasting Council, KPBC, from 1997 to 1998. Reed also served on the 
Corporation for Public Broadcasting's, CPB, Digital Television Task 
Force from 1998 to the present, and was a member of Video Advisory 
Committee to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary 
Education from 1993 to 2000.
  In 1991, the Pacific Mountain Network Board honored Reed with its 
Governor's Award for Distinguished Service to Public Television. He 
also served as a private sector representative in telecommunications 
for the U.S. Department of State to the Conference on Security and 
Cooperation in Europe, 1989-London; as Chairman of the Broadcast Panel 
for U.S.-U.S.S.R. Bilateral Information Talks, 1988-Moscow; and as 
President of the Western Educational Network, 1972.
  Bill Reed was born in Los Angeles, California. He received his B.A. 
in History and, following a year of graduate studies, his General 
Secondary Teaching Credential from the University of the Pacific in 
Stockton, California. From 1963 to 1965, he served in the U.S. Army, 
including one year in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star 
Medal, the Air Medal with Three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Army 
Commendation Medal for Valor.
  Mr. Speaker, Bill Reed and his wife, Mary Ann, will continue to live 
in Kansas City after his retirement. A nationwide search is underway 
for his replacement and his shoes will be very difficult to fill. Mr. 
Cleaver and I commend Bill Reed for his many accomplishments on behalf 
of the Kansas City community during his tenure at KCPT and wish him and 
Mary Ann all the best in the years to come.

                          ____________________