Lew Klein

Inducted 1999
Born: September 5, 1927, Philadelphia, Pa.  

Lew Klein, retired Gateway Communications Inc. president, is recognized as a television programmer whose experience spans the growth of television. Prior to his association with Gateway, Klein was director of television programming for the six television stations in the Triangle Group.  Klein's work includes more than twenty years with WFIL-TV (now WPVI-TV), Philadelphia, where he was executive producer of American Bandstand, hosted by Dick Clark, as well as the award-winning Frontiers of Knowledge and College News Conference, telecast nationally by the American Broadcasting Company.  He also developed and produced live television programs for national distribution, including Here Come the Doodletown Pipers, Dear Julia Mead, and Stump the Stars.  For fourteen years he produced the Phillies baseball telecasts.   

Klein is an adjunct professor in the School of Communications at Temple University in Philadelphia and has taught there for more than forty-five years.  He is coauthor of the popular programming textbook Broadcast/Cable Programming, which is widely used in broadcast classes throughout the country.   

Klein is past president and one of the founders of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE).  He is the founder and president of the NATPE Educational Foundation, which promotes educational activities between industry professionals and university faculty and students. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.  He served on the Board of Directors of the Broadcast Education Association and on the Board of the Association for Maximum Service Television. 

In 1980, Klein received the NATPE President's Award.  In 1983, the Broadcast Pioneers Philadelphia Chapter honored him as The Broadcaster of the Year. He was named PAB's Television Broadcaster of the Year in 1990, and in 1993 he received the coveted PAB Gold Medal Award.  He received the Distinguished Education Service Award from the Broadcast Education Association in 1996. 

Klein's civic activities include three years as chairman of the Board of the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia.  He received PAL's Community Service Award in 1975. In 1997, he received PAL's 50th Anniversary Award for service to the PAL organization and the City of Philadelphia.  He has served on the boards of  the Einstein Medical Center of Philadelphia, Rodeph Shalom, the Cheltenham Art Center, the American Heart Association, the Belmont Center for Comprehensive Treatment, and the Corporate Alliance for Drug Education.