2004-5-23
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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Faith
Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. Today we bring you a history of children's
television in the United States.
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VOICE ONE:
Television became popular after
World War Two in the nineteen-forties. Successful radio programs
became early television shows. "Howdy Doody" was one of the first
shows for children. The television show began on N.B.C., the
National Broadcasting Company, in nineteen-forty-seven. Soon, it
expanded to five days a week.
Howdy Doody looked like an average American boy. Only he was made
of wood and controlled with strings from above. He had red hair,
although he appeared in black-and-white, like everything else in
early television. And he had a permanent smile.
An actor named Bob Smith, known as Buffalo Bob Smith, started the
show each time with the same words.
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VOICE TWO:
In the early days, local television stations all over the country
produced programs for children. Local actors, artists and musicians
performed live. Often they played movies or animated cartoons like
"Bugs Bunny" or "Popeye the Sailor."
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VOICE ONE:
But Popeye the Sailor and Bugs Bunny were movie stars, really. In
time, cartoons made especially for television replaced them.
Hanna-Barbera Studios created cartoons like "Huckleberry Hound"
and "Yogi Bear."
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VOICE TWO:
Shows like "Yogi Bear" were syndicated. That means local stations
paid for the rights to broadcast the program in different cities.
Tim Hollis is an expert on the history of children's television.
He says that by the nineteen sixties, many shows were franchised. A
local station would pay to use the idea for a show, but then produce
it with local actors.
Two popular franchised shows during the nineteen-sixties were
"Romper Room" and "Bozo the Clown." Tim Hollis estimates that at one
time, the United States had more than two-hundred local Bozo the
Clowns.
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VOICE ONE:
Television presented a new way for businesses to market to
children through advertising. However, in the nineteen-sixties, many
parents grew concerned. They thought their children were seeing too
many commercials for products.
As a result, the Federal Communications Commission limited the
amount of commercial time in children's programs. The government
also barred local children's actors from reading commercials. This
was meant as another way to reduce the influence on children. But
these actions also reduced the amount of money that stations earned.
By the early nineteen-seventies, most local television stations
stopped producing their own shows for children. Many replaced them
with syndicated programs like "I Love Lucy" and "Gilligan's Island."
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VOICE TWO:
In addition to syndicated programs, local stations used national
network shows to fill their broadcast day.
C.B.S., the Columbia Broadcasting System, launched a children's
show in nineteen-fifty-five. Each day, the star wore a red coat with
pockets on the sides. The pockets were big -- big enough maybe even
for a mother kangaroo to carry her baby. So an actor named Bob
Keeshan became known as Captain Kangaroo.
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VOICE ONE:
C.B.S. aired "Captain Kangaroo" for twenty-nine years. In
nineteen-eighty-four, the show moved to public television. There, it
appeared for six more years.
Another popular children's show on
the public broadcasting system is "Sesame Street." This show began
in nineteen-sixty-nine. Today, different versions of "Sesame Street"
can been seen in more than one-hundred-twenty countries.
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VOICE TWO:
Public television also brought
young children an educational show called "Mister Rogers'
Neighborhood."
It always started the same way. "Mister Rogers" -- Fred Rogers in
real life -- walked through the front door into his television
house, put on a sweater and changed his shoes.
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VOICE ONE:
Fred Rogers began the show in nineteen-sixty-eight. "Mister
Rogers' Neighborhood" aired for more than thirty years.
Today, the shows on educational television for young children
include imports like "Teletubbies" from Britain. In general, though,
the programs on American television aimed at children are mainly for
entertainment.
Cable television became popular in the United States in the
nineteen-eighties. There are children's programs twenty-four hours a
day, seven days a week.
VOICE TWO:
One of the most popular cartoons on cable is about a square
yellow sea sponge. He lives deep in the Pacific Ocean, in a city
called Bikini Bottom. His name is SpongeBob SquarePants.
A former marine-biology teacher named Steven Hillenburg created
"SpongeBob SquarePants" in nineteen-ninety-six. The show began on
the Nickelodeon cable channel three years later.
Children consider SpongeBob an honest person -- I mean, creature
-- who always sees the brighter, happier side of life. The show is
also aimed at adults, a lot of whom do find it funny.
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VOICE ONE:
These days, there are hundreds of channels of broadcast, cable
and satellite television to choose from. Plus there are countless
videos and video games. Children can see all sorts of things, and
their parents do not always supervise.
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says
children in the United States watch TV an average of three to four
hours a day. The American Academy of Pediatrics says children under
the age of two should not watch any television at all. And it says
older children should watch no more than one to two hours a day.
Many scientists believe that too much television can cause
attention problems for children later in life. Studies have also
linked a lot of television with children becoming too fat and too
aggressive.
VOICE TWO:
There are also concerns about the limited number of female heroes
on television for girls to identify with. And critics say children's
television is too often simply a method to sell things to young
consumers.
Product marketing tied to shows is a major business. SpongeBob
SquarePants, for example, appears not just on television. He is also
on clothes, bedding, books, school supplies and toys.
Experts urge parents to watch shows with their children and
discuss them. Some of what they see might make them wish for the
days of that puppet with a big smile on his face.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Jill Moss and produced by Caty Weaver.
I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another report
about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program,
THIS IS AMERICA.