Jac Venza is a public television producer who is directly responsible for most of the theatre and music programs that have been seen on PBS since its creation in 1970. From the early 1960s until his retirement in 2005, Venza brought such programs as NET Playhouse, Live from Lincoln Center, American Playhouse, American Masters, and Great Performances to millions of viewers.

He began his career on CBS in the 1950s, where he began to notice the scarcity of programming devoted to the fine arts on television. It was his dream to bring more of it to the home screen on a regular basis, but he did not receive a full opportunity to do so until the creation of National Educational Television, where it soon became possible, thanks largely to Venza, to see great dramatic literature regularly performed by some of the world's most renowned actors. A then-unknown Dustin Hoffman made his first major television appearance in a play - Ronald Ribman's The Journey of the Fifth Horse - on NET in 1966. NET Playhouse was perhaps the first television anthology to present commercial-free, full-length productions (rather than one-hour or ninety-minute adaptations) of theatrical classics such as Arthur Miller's adaptation of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. When NET became PBS, Venza quickly launched Great Performances, which is still running today.

Upon his retirement from PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded Venza the Ralph Lowell medal. He held the record for the most Emmy nominations for an individual - 57 - until 2010.

References[link]

Article in "TV Quarterly" [1]

This article about a television producer from the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Creaca
Porolissum Porolissum
Creaca Location of Creaca
Coordinates: 47°9′58″N 23°12′0″E / 47.16611°N 23.2°E / 47.16611; 23.2Coordinates: 47°9′58″N 23°12′0″E / 47.16611°N 23.2°E / 47.16611; 23.2
Country	Romania
County	Sălaj
Commune	Creaca
Development region1	North West Development Region
Historic region	Transylvania
Government
• Mayor	Terec Eugen (Democratic Liberal Party)
Area
• Total	74,5 km2 (288 sq mi)
Highest elevation	650 m (2,130 ft)
Lowest elevation	200 m (700 ft)
Population (2002)
• Total	3,046
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	457096
Area code(s)	+40 260 and +40 3602
Currency	RON
Official language	Romanian
Ambulance	Zalău
Police	Creaca
Fire	Jibou
Car Plates	SJ
Website	http://www.primariacreaca.eu
1The development regions of Romania have no administrative role and were formed in order to manage funds from the  European Union. 2+40 x60: x is a digit indicating the operator: 2 for Romtelecom and 3 for the other ground telephone networks

Creaca (Hungarian: Karika) is a commune located in Sălaj County, Romania.

Villages[link]

The commune is composed of nine villages: Borza (Egregyborzova), Brebi (Beréd), Brusturi (Somróújfalu), Ciglean (Csiglen), Creaca, Jac (Zsákfalva), Lupoaia (Farkasmező), Prodăneşti (Prodánfalva) and Viile Jacului. The largest village in terms of population and area is Jac, and the smallest is Viile Jacului (Szállásszőlőhegy).

History[link]

In the 1st century AD, Porolissum, an ancient Roman city in Dacia was built on the western part of the commune. The city was the most north-eastern outpost of the Roman Empire, and garrisoned 5,000 auxiliary soldiers transferred from Spain, Gaul, and Britain.

Demographics[link]

At the 2002 census, 97.8% of inhabitants were Romanians and 2.1% Roma. 71.1% were Romanian Orthodox, 13.8% Baptist, 12.5% Pentecostal and 2.1% stated they belonged to another religion.

Education[link]

There is a primary school (grades 1 to 8) in Creaca and Jac and only 1-4 grades in the rest of the villages, except Viile Jacului.

Occupations[link]

The main occupations involve the farms around the village. Most of the men are gone to work in other European Union countries. The ones who stayed work in Zalău, commuting between Zalău and the commune's villages. In the communist era, the people worked mostly in Zalău and on state farms.

Gallery[link]

• TheViewofJac.JPG

  View of Jac village

• Marcus Traianus bust in Jac, Romania.jpg

  Bust of Trajan in Jac

• Jac biserica.JPG

  Wooden Orthodox church in Jac

• Old mine in Jac, Romania.JPG

  Old mine in Jac

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site

v t e Sălaj County, Romania Cities Zalău (county seat) Towns Şimleu Silvaniei Jibou Cehu Silvaniei Communes Agrij Almaşu Băbeni Bălan Bănişor Benesat Bobota Bocşa Boghiş Buciumi Camăr Carastelec Chieşd Cizer Coşeiu Crasna Creaca Crişeni Cristolţ Cuzăplac Dobrin Dragu Fildu de Jos Gâlgău Gârbou Halmăşd Hereclean Hida Horoatu Crasnei Ileanda Ip Letca Lozna Măerişte Marca Meseşenii de Jos Mirşid Năpradea Nuşfalău Pericei Plopiş Poiana Blenchii Românaşi Rus Sâg Sălăţig Şamşud Sânmihaiu Almaşului Sărmăşag Şimişna Someş-Odorhei Surduc Treznea Valcău de Jos Vârşolţ Zalha Zimbor

Ronnie Damien Jackson (born May 9, 1953 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a coach and a former player in Major League Baseball. He was the hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox in 2004 when they won their first World Series in 86 seasons.

From 1975 through 1984, Jackson played first base and third base with the California Angels (1975–78, 1982–84), Minnesota Twins (1979–81), Detroit Tigers (1981) and Baltimore Orioles (1984). He batted and threw right-handed.

Jackson was called up to the Angels after hitting .281 in 144 games for the Salt Lake City Gulls of the Pacific Coast League, and made his major league debut on September 12, 1975.

In a 10-year career, Jackson compiled a .259 batting average with 56 home runs and 342 RBI in 926 games.

Jackson played for managers Gene Mauch, Sparky Anderson, Dick Williams and Jim Fregosi. With the Angels, he hit a career-high .297 in 1978, and in 1979 posted personal highs in hits (158), doubles (40), home runs (14), RBI (68), runs (85) and games (153) for Minnesota. In that season, his .9943 fielding percentage at first base broke Rod Carew’s Twins’ record.

Following his retirement as a player, Jackson coached for the Brewers, Dodgers and White Sox systems. The 2006 season marked his 18th year as a major league or minor league hitting coach, and his fourth with the Boston Red Sox. In his first two seasons with Boston, the Red Sox led the majors in runs, batting average, doubles, extra-base hits, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging average. In 2003 the Sox set ML records for extra-base hits, total bases and slugging, finishing one off the major league lead with 238 home runs. The Red Sox tied an ML record with 373 doubles in 2004.

Affectionately nicknamed "Papa Jack" since his playing days, Jackson was a highly respected and popular person among the Red Sox members and Fenway Park fans. However at the end of the 2006 season his contract was not renewed, as the front office decided "new voices" could not hurt.

Jackson served as the hitting coach for the Round Rock Express, then the top affiliate of the Houston Astros from 2007-2009.

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube