A TV innovator noted for work with WHYY

Robert Huntington Hall, 70, of Exton, a pioneering television engineer who later cofounded an innovative production company, died of heart failure Aug. 16 at home.

In 1965, Mr. Hall joined WHYY-TV in Philadelphia. The public television station had been established as Channel 12 two years earlier. In the early days it aired mostly educational programs targeted to classroom viewing. News-story photos were shot with a Polaroid camera, said Bill Weber, then a technician at WHYY.

Eventually, Mr. Hall helped develop technology that allowed public stations in other states and in Canada to exchange programs. He filmed groundbreaking documentaries about the Black Panthers - which resulted in threats to his family, said his son, Mark - and civil-rights demonstrations.

Mr. Hall used his the experience he acquired filming and recording summer concerts at Temple University's Ambler campus to document a Philadelphia Orchestra tour of Japan in the 1970s. The program won an Emmy for WHYY.

He collaborated with RCA to improve color-television reception. Technology he developed was used in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Mr. Hall was among the group nominated for an Academy Award for its special effects in 1977. Star Wars won.

"Bob was a visionary and had the people skills to negotiate and sell an idea," said Weber, now vice president and chief technology officer at WHYY. "He was a leader in the business and a mentor to me."

In 1979, Mr. Hall, a WHYY vice president, supervised the station's move from West Philadelphia to a new studio on Independence Mall. Later that year, he left the station to cofound, with Gene Mason, Modern Video Productions, a multimedia studio in Philadelphia.

The men later founded a subsidiary, High Speed Video in Malvern. High Speed expanded internationally, and Mr. Hall supervised the establishment of its plant in the Netherlands. In 1986, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands knighted him for his contributions to the European economy.

Mr. Hall retired in 1988 when Modern Video Productions was sold to Carlton Communications.

A native of Stoughton, Mass., he attended Tufts University and began his broadcasting career with WGBH-TV in Boston.

Before moving to Chester County in the late 1980s, Mr. Hall lived in Camden County for more than 20 years and contributed his lighting and technical expertise to Cherry Hill High School East's theatrical productions.

He enjoyed travel, especially cruises, his daughter Jessica said, and had a growing and eclectic art collection.

In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Hall is survived by another daughter, Rebecca Klahm; two grandchildren; and his former wives, Judith Hall and Barbara Hall.

A memorial service will be private.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association, 625 W. Ridge Pike, Conshohocken, Pa. 19428.