The Open Mind Becomes Longest-Running PBS Show at 70

The Open Mind, a talk show hosted by Richard Heffner and later his grandson Alexander Heffner, has become the longest-running PBS show in history after passing its 70th anniversary. The show began on radio in 1953 with Eleanor Roosevelt as first guest, moved to live TV on an NBC affiliate in 1956, and relocated to New York's Channel 13 in 1966. Richard Heffner, a Rutgers history professor, conducted intellectually rigorous interviews with figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, and Margaret Mead. He also chaired the MPAA ratings board from the mid-1970s, introducing the NC-17 rating in 1990. After his death in 2013, Alexander Heffner took over in 2014 and continues the tradition. For the 70th anniversary, he produced a series of interviews with city mayors airing on PBS' World Channel.