Show Inspiration

I was lucky enough to grow up in Seattle during the 1950s and 1960s when each local TV station produced a children’s show. KING TV’s Captain Puget took young viewers on virtual excursions throughout the Pacific Northwest. Wanda Wanda, dressed as a jester, performed skits and introduced cartoon shorts. And of course, there was KIRO’s JP Patches & Gertrude Show.

Local children’s TV programming was a gift for my family. My brother and sister were diagnosed with Sickle Cell Anemia, so whether we were at the hospital or at home, we enjoyed watching these programs. The shows welcomed us into wonderful worlds of imagination, story telling and fascinating people in and around our community.

In the 70s, KOMO graced the airwaves with one of my all time favorite children’s shows, Boomerang, hosted by Marnie Nixon. Nationally, children’s TV was on the rise with Mr. Rogers Neighborhood airing in 1968 and Sesame Street debuting in 1969. Finally, in the 80s, Ben Vereen in Zoobile Zoo got my attention. I realized educational television could engage children outside the classroom to get them excited about being in the classroom.

Upon leaving Western Washington University with my degree in Broadcast Communications and a minor in Early Childhood Education, I secured an internship with Boomerang at KOMO TV. Unfortunately I spent my first week responding to upset parents because the show had been canceled.

Now, some thirty years later with the growing achievement gap, especially among children of color, it’s imperative that we use all the tools available to promote school readiness. Television is the most widely available means to reach all children. Television is a tool that can offer preschoolers the chance to get excited about local learning and discovery. Television is a tool that can reach families not engaged in early learning. Television can be a bridge to early learning community venues, such as museums, libraries, day cares and play groups.

We can’t tell you how you’ll get to the places you’ll see on Sesame Street, but we can tell you how you can get to the places you will see on Look, Listen and Learn TV.

- Val Thomas-Matson, producer/host