 Rowland was the first vice-president of research during the early days of PBS.That is where he coined the phrase "closed-captioning" for the newly developed process for transmitting the written word on a television screen for the hearing impaired.In the world of public media, Wick Rowland is considered a robust scholar and research "critic" of public broadcasting in the United States and is known for his policy vision and his more ambitious goals for the current status quo of CPB and PBS.