Rhea Feikin, ‘Be Yourself’

September 29, 2017 Elizabeth Heubeck

(File photo)

Rhea Feikin — whose tenure of 30-plus years at Maryland Public Television has earned her the affectionate nickname of “the First Lady of MPT” — claims to have fallen into her long and illustrious local television career.

But a closer glimpse reveals that her success was no accident.

A Hampden native, Feikin has adored being before an audience ever since she was in her first theatrical play in fourth grade. She performed in plays through college while studying speech therapy, landing a job after graduation as a speech therapist for the Baltimore City Public School System. Feikin was just beginning her career when a rare opportunity arose to get in front of a crowd again.

In the 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission required local TV stations to air educational programming. WBAL chose to focus on speech, turning to the city school system for assistance. Feikin jumped at the chance to get involved, landing the starring role of the kids’ show, “Betty Better Speech.” Noting her talent, WBAL offered her a permanent job, which lasted several years before ending as abruptly as it began.

Feikin managed to survive under several general managers at the station, which according to her is a rare feat in the industry. Then, she and the noted late puppeteer Cal Schumann, with whom she hosted a weather program, heard they were being fired. They decided to leave on their own terms.

On air, Feikin turned to J.P., the puppet manned by Schumann, and said, “I’m really sad to say we won’t be doing the weather anymore because we’ve been fired.” They then walked off the set, leaving the anchor with four minutes of air time to fill.

After departing WBAL, Feikin began her freelance career, appearing in several radio and television commercials. Her most notable appearances have been on MPT, where she continues to host “Chesapeake Collectibles” and the station’s on-air membership drives, during which she sometimes employs an effective tactic she calls Jewish guilt.

“I’ll say, ‘I have to tell you, the phones aren’t busy at all. And I know you’re watching the show.’ It always makes the phones ring,” she says.

Feikin says she makes her appeals for MPT guilt-free. “I really believe all that stuff I say on the air,” she says. “I also truly believe in public television. It doesn’t care who you are. The variety and breadth of people who watch is so fulfilling. You don’t need cable. You just need a TV set. It’s the pathway to amazing programs.”

Feikin ardently supports local arts and culture out of the spotlight, too. She was a founder of Center Stage and has served on the boards of the Baltimore School for the Arts and the Gordon Center for Performing Arts.

But it’s Feikin’s television career that has brought her the most acclaim, as evidenced by several awards, most notable being her induction into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Silver Circle.

Television is where she also seems most at home. Perhaps that’s why she continues to engage audiences after all these years.

“It’s not brain surgery. But you’ve got to be able to be yourself, because it’s an intimate medium,” Feikin says. “And you have to hope they like who you are.”

Clearly, Feikin has passed this litmus test with flying colors.

Top photo: Rhea Feikin, “First Lady” of MPT (Photo by Evan Cohen)