Museum of TV, Radio Opens

Wielding more pairs of scissors than Edward Scissorhands, Time Warner Chairman Steve Ross, MCA President Sid Sheinberg, GTG Entertainment President Grant Tinker, Fox Inc. Chairman Barry Diller, Capital Cities/ABC Chairman Tom Murphy, actress Marlo Thomas and other members of the board of trustees cut the ribbon Thursday at the opening of the new Museum of Television and Radio here.

The seven-story building will house the museum’s collection of more than 40,000 radio and TV programs, ranging from the Jack Benny-Fred Allen radio feud to “The Flintstones” and recent TV-news footage from the Persian Gulf War.

Founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, the museum (formerly called the Museum of Broadcasting) has moved into its new quarters from a smaller mid-town location.

Noting that one recent critic had questioned whether a museum was needed to house the artifacts of commercial television, Tinker, former NBC chairman, said, “Faced with the relentless task of programming all the channels on TV, there are a lot of us who work to improve the mix. But I don’t think we should distinguish only between good and bad--I don’t believe that’s the way (a historical record) works. We should reflect what we watched and listened to.”

An estimated 100,000 people visited the museum in its previous headquarters last year.