2022 Honoree
The career of Ron Hull spans decades and his influence crosses international boundaries. Hull, 91, shaped Nebraska Public Media into state-wide network with four television and two radio channels. When he joined the fledgling organization 68 years ago to produce a creative writing series, it was only the eighth educational television station in the country: KUON-TV at the University of Nebraska.
In 1966, President Johnson tapped him to act as television programming advisor to the government of South Vietnam, and that was only the beginning of Hull’s international broadcasting work. He returned to Vietnam years later to film a PBS documentary, “Beyond the Fury. “When he returned from Vietnam in 1968, he served as program manager of the Nebraska ETV Network.
From 1982-88, he directed the Program Fund at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, funding “Nova,” “The American Experience,” “The Metropolitan Opera” and “Reading Rainbow.” Returning to NET in 1989, he became station manager, then transitioned to working for both PBS and NETV, while earning a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. In 1999, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to teach international broadcasting at Cheng Chi University in Taipei, Taiwan, then returned to NET and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln several years later.
He is on the advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center, the boards of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association, and the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, is special advisor to Nebraska Public Media and Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska.