Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Paley Center


The Paley Center is named after its founder, William S. Paley. Paley was extremely involved in radio broadcasting during the 1920s and 1930s, he bought United Independent Broadcasters at age 26 and turning it into what we know as today one the biggest media broadcasters, CBS (Columbia Broadcasting Systems). Paley saw radio as an opportunity to present news in a distint manner, which CBS did and is to this day well respected new source. The company evolved along with technology with the rise of television, broadcasting epic shows like Playhouse 90, 60 minutes and M*A*S*H.

The Paley Center for Media was founded by William S. Paley in 1975, his mission was to collect and preserve media and keeping this media available to the public. On November 9th, 1976 the Museum of Broadcasting opened its doors to the public to explore its 3 floors of media in its first home on East 53 St. The Museum changed its name to the Museum of Television and Radio to keep up with the changing media in 1991. Later that same year the museum moved to the William S. Paley Center on West 52nd St. In 2007 the center is named after its founder, William S. Paley.


While exploring the Paley Center for Media's website I became very interested and intrigued by the "Screening Room", which online offers clips from the collections that can be found in the center itself. Many of the videos are of actors, directors, and writers being interviewed about their shows and what their characters and creations mean to them. It is so interesting to hear and see people who are behind the scenes of my favorite shows and the face of my favorite shows speaking about the process, which has helped me get a better understanding for what I watch. I hope to visit the Paley Center very soon and see all the wonderful media collections it has to offer.

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