Fri, Nov 27 2009
|
|
Published August 10, 2008 12:13 am - Anyone who watches anything on cable television has Tom Whitehead to thank. Clay T. “Tom” Whitehead graduated from Columbus (Kan.) High School in 1956. It was then called Cherokee County Community High School. He died of prostate cancer in July at age 69. He was living in McLean, Va., at the time of his death. Columbus grad paved way for cable television By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com Anyone who watches anything on cable television has Tom Whitehead to thank. Clay T. “Tom” Whitehead graduated from Columbus (Kan.) High School in 1956. It was then called Cherokee County Community High School. He died of prostate cancer in July at age 69. He was living in McLean, Va., at the time of his death. Whitehead, during the administration of President Richard Nixon, became the country’s first telecommunications policy adviser, according to his obituary in The Washington Post and other national papers. As director of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy from 1970-74, Whitehead set the stage for what was known as Open Skies, the policy that led to the creation of the domestic satellite system that brought cable television and lower-cost long-distance phone service into American homes. His efforts allowed the cable television industry to get its own programming channels to a national audience using satellites. Before then, cable companies were required to lease land lines from monopoly provider AT&T. He was sometimes a critic of broadcast television networks, whose news programs he said in one noted speech reflected a liberal bias, calling them purveyors of “elitist gossip” and “ideological plugola.” He later apologized for those comments before a Senate committee. His sister, Betsy Conerly, said by phone from her home in Alpharetta, Ga., that rather than being a political partisan, her brother was a proponent of free markets and competition. “To us, he was just Tommy,” Conerly said. She said he kept business and family life separate. “They never got the Kansas out of him, thank goodness,” Conerly said. After his time in the Nixon administration, Whitehead became president of Hughes Communications, a satellite manufacturing subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft Co. While there, he developed the Galaxy program of commercial communications satellites. He went on to establish SES Astra, a satellite television service in Europe in the 1980s. Its programming reaches more than 65 million homes and is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion. ‘He was kind of a geek’ Conerly, 61, said their parents, Clay B. and Helen Whitehead, moved with her, her brother and her sisters, Susan Whitehead and Nancy Whitehead, to Columbus in 1951. She said before that, they had lived in Fredonia and for a brief time in Parsons. She said their mother died in 1965 and their father died in 1986. Both are buried in Columbus. She said her brother was interested in amateur radio. He had attached his radio antenna to a telephone pole outside their house, which she said she enjoyed climbing as a child. 
•
Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.
More from the Local News section
Hundreds served at churches, shelters in Joplin area Budget cuts, enrollment declines take toll at some Kansas schools PSU planning forums to discuss latest round of Kansas budget cuts |
Print this story
E-mail this story
Post to del.icio.us
Discuss this story
Locals react with dismay to new breast cancer screening guidelines w/ new cancer screening recommendations and American Cancer Society response
 |
 |
: Special Offer For New Subscribers
:
 |
|||||||
|
|||||||
 |
|
|
Published by Newspaper Holding, Inc. 117 East Fourth Street, Joplin, MO 64801 Using our site is your agreement to the terms and conditions. News: news@joplinglobe.com • (417)623-3480 Advertise with the Joplin Globe Copyright © 2006 The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO All rights reserved. 
|
Popular Business directory links - Joplin Apartments | Joplin Attorneys | Joplin Auto Dealers | Joplin Auto Parts | Joplin Auto Repair | Joplin Beauty Salons | Joplin Car Rental | Joplin Dentists | Joplin Doctors | Joplin Flowers | Joplin Hotels | Joplin Insurance | Joplin Loans | Joplin Mortgages | Joplin Movers | Joplin Pizza | Joplin Realtors | Joplin Restaurants | Joplin Storage | Joplin Tax Preparation | Joplin Travel | Joplin Featured | More...
|
|
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI Classified Advertising Network • CNHI News Service |
