- unitid
-
{"value"=>"24246", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b22832016", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS Batten 1999", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"circa 1970s-1980s", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1970/1989", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Tony Batten Broadcast Journalism collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"50 video_recordings", "unit"=>"video_recordings"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"33 audio_recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Tony Batten (circa 1935 - 1998) was a journalist who worked in radio, television, and documentary film from the 1960s through the 1990s. He made significant contributions to public affairs television with his work on programs like <span class=\"title\">Black Journal</span>, <span class=\"title\">Interface</span>, and <span class=\"title\">51st State</span>. The Tony Batten Broadcast Journalism collection consists of fifty moving image recordings and thirty-three audio recordings."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Batten, Tony", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Tony Batten (circa 1935 - 1998) was a journalist who worked in radio, television, and documentary film from the 1960s through the 1990s. He was notable for his work on the public affairs television programs <span class=\"title\">Black Journal</span> (1969-1972) and <span class=\"title\">Interface</span> (1973-1976). He also executive produced and hosted PBS's <span class=\"title\">FYI: For Your Information</span> (1978-1982), and produced for CBS's <span class=\"title\">60 Minutes</span> (1982-1983), and PBS's <span class=\"title\">The State of Black America</span> (1984-1986). Batten continued producing television documentaries through the 1990s, focusing on topics ranging from the Harlem Renaissance to historic assassinations in the United States.</p> <p>As a journalist and filmmaker, Batten won many awards. <span class=\"title\">Ain't Gonna Eat My Mind!</span>, his 1972 special on WNET's <span class=\"title\">51st State</span> won an Alfred E. DuPont Award and an Emmy. <span class=\"title\">New Religions: Holiness or Heresy</span> (1976), a special for <span class=\"title\">ABC News Closeup</span>, also won a DuPont Award. The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame awarded \"A Profile of Paul Robeson,\" Batten's 1975 special for <span class=\"title\">Interface</span>, the 1976 Film of Distinction award. Tony Batten was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame that same year.</p> <p>Batten also made significant contributions to radio, particularly regarding jazz programming. As program director and host at New York City's WRVR-FM (Riverside Radio), he created the city's first twenty-four hour jazz radio station. In addition to programming on Harlem Community Radio's WHCR-FM, Batten went on to host and produce jazz programs for National Public Radio (NPR).</p> <p>Beyond his reportage and radio hosting, Batten taught journalism at Columbia University (1972-1974), New York University (1974-1976), and City College of New York, City University of New York (CCNY-CUNY) (1984-1989). He also served as executive director of the Frederick Douglass Institute for Aspiring Journalists at Washington, DC's WETA-TV from 1979-1981. After a long illness, Tony Batten died at 63 on December 18, 1998.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Tony Batten Broadcast Journalism collection consists of fifty moving image recordings and thirty-three audio recordings. The video recordings reflect Batten's work in television and documentary, including episodes of <span class=\"title\">ABC News Closeup</span>, <span class=\"title\">FYI: For Your Information</span>, <span class=\"title\">Interface</span>, and <span class=\"title\">51st State</span>. Also among the video recordings are interviews Batten conducted with New York State's Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus. The audio recordings consist primarily of Batten's jazz programs on New York City radio stations and NPR.</p> <p>The collection also includes recordings of cultural programs and other events related to public affairs, among them, proceedings from the 1984 Mega-Cities Conference; and the first International Interdisciplinary Conference on Langston Hughes, held at CCNY-CUNY in 1988.</p> <p>Item dates reflect the earliest noted in relevant documentation. Square brackets indicate that names or spellings are unclear.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Tony Batten Broadcast Journalism collection is arranged in four series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/24246#c1760464'>SERIES I: TELEVISION</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1973-1980s</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Thirty recordings of television programs produced, hosted, written, and/or directed by Tony Batten. This series is organized alphabetically by program title, then chronologically.</p> <p>The series includes several television programs, as well as outtakes and promos. Among the programs are <span class=\"title\">ABC News Closeup</span>, <span class=\"title\">F.Y.I.: For Your Information</span>, <span class=\"title\">Interface</span>, <span class=\"title\">The State of Black America 1984</span>, and <span class=\"title\">51st State</span>.</p> <p><span class=\"title\">F.Y.I.: For Your Information</span> was a public affairs program broadcast on Washington, DC's WETA, largely focusing on stories about or related to people of color across the US. Four episodes, one episode's outtakes, and a recording of promos for the program, all created from 1978 to circa 1982, are included in this series. Throughout these recordings, the program is variously referred to as <span class=\"title\">F.Y.I.: For Your Information</span>, <span class=\"title\">F.Y.I.</span>, and <span class=\"title\">For Your Information</span>. Unless otherwise noted, each episode is approximately one hour.</p> <p><span class=\"title\">Interface</span> was a public affairs program also broadcast on Washington, DC's WETA. This series has seventeen episodes and one episode's outtakes, created from 1973 to 1975. In addition to public affairs, <span class=\"title\">Interface</span> focused on arts and culture, with an emphasis on Black people and other people of color. The episodes in this series cover housing, labor, struggles around desegregation and immigration, aspects of policing and criminal justice, and musicians including Betty Carter, Max Roach, and Gil Scott-Heron. Also included is \"A Profile of Paul Robeson,\" the 1975 special that won the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Film of Distinction in 1976. Unless otherwise noted, episodes of this program are thirty minutes.</p> <p>Also included in this series are Tony Batten's Emmy Award-winning documentary <span class=\"title\">Ain't Gonna Eat My Mind!</span>, as well as the episode of <span class=\"title\">51st State</span>, broadcast on WNET, in which it aired. Two episodes of <span class=\"title\">ABC News Closeup</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The State of Black America 1984</span> television special are in this series as well.</p> <p>Lastly, the series provides some insight into Batten's efforts to continue and expand his work with music programming, with promos for a proposed <span class=\"title\">Birdland Jam Sessions</span> series, and proposed televised performances from the Detroit International Music Festival.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/24246#c1760495'>SERIES II: RADIO</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1973-1984</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Twenty-nine audio recordings of radio programs, organized alphabetically by title, then chronologically. This series consists primarily of jazz programs hosted by Tony Batten, including <span class=\"title\">Birdland</span> and <span class=\"title\">Jazz Alive!</span>, both of which were broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR) stations across the US, and <span class=\"title\">Jazz and All That</span>, broadcast on New York City's WRVR. In 1983, NPR introduced NPR Plus, a satellite service providing three feeds of additional programming for affiliate stations. Batten anchored the jazz feed, which initially consisted of previously recorded programs; these are titled <span class=\"title\">NPR Plus: Jazz</span> here, although some of the items titled <span class=\"title\">Jazz</span> may have also been broadcast as part of this service.</p> <p>This series also includes one recording featuring some of Batten's radio journalism; a piece covering student protests at CCNY-CUNY, and a special report on AIDS, both broadcast on WHCR in 1984.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/24246#c1760525'>SERIES III: BLACK AND PUERTO RICAN CAUCUS</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1985 June-July</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Nineteen video recordings comprising nine interviews that Tony Batten conducted with members of New York State's Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus (BPRC) in the summer of 1985. These interviews are arranged alphabetically by interviewee's last name. At the time of the interviews, the caucus members were all Democrats, and largely New York State Assembly members representing districts in New York City. The items' scope and content notes indicate their positions at the time of the interview.</p> <p>The interviewees are Assemblywoman Geraldine Daniels, 17th District (Harlem); Assemblywoman Gloria Davis, 78th District (South Bronx); Assemblyman Angelo Del Toro, 68th District (Harlem); former Assemblyman Lloyd E. Dickens, 11th District (Harlem); New York City Clerk David Dinkins; Assemblywoman Aurelia Green, 76th District (Bronx); former State Senator Basil Patterson; former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton; and Assemblyman Albert Vann, 56th District (Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn).</p> <p>Internal documentation indicates that at least some of Tony Batten's interviews with the BPRC were conducted on behalf of the Schomburg Center as part of a broader oral history project. In addition to the interviews in this series, Batten interviewed William Frank Boyland, Herman Denny Farrell Jr., Roger Green, Andrew Jenkins, Cynthia Jenkins, Helen Marshall, and Israel Ruiz. See the Related Materials note for additional information about these interviews.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/24246#c1760545'>SERIES IV: OTHER</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1983-1988</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Four audio recordings and one film that were not produced by or do not feature Tony Batten, arranged chronologically. This series includes recordings of proceedings from the 1984 Mega-Cities Conference and the 1988 Langston Hughes Festival at CCNY, as well as other programs from Batten's home radio stations.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Ghislaine Hermanuz, 1999.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Nathan Evans</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Anika Paris</span>, archivist; and <span class=\"name\">Shola Lynch</span>, curator. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2024</span>.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>New York State Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus interviews collection, [cataloged individually].</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project."}
- date_start
-
1970
- keydate
-
1970
- date_end
-
1989
- date_inclusive_start
-
1970
- date_inclusive_end
-
1989
- extent_statement
-
50 video_recordings. 33 audio_recordings
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Tony Batten Broadcast Journalism collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}