![]() area with a degree in Elementary Education. I had just graduated from college in the Washington, D.C. I was writing, directing, producing, playing a character on their local kid's show and even working on their affiliated FM radio station with Adrian Cronauer (later his Vietnam story was used for the movie"Good Morning, Vietnam"). Here is where fate collides with opportunity. Greg came from WDBJ-TV, a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia. Greg Rose had been hired as a WBTV local salesman in early 1972. At that point, the only locally-produced children's show on the WBTV schedule was “Fred Kirby's Little Rascals” co-starring Uncle Jim.įred Kirby was a legend and his Sunday afternoon show was a Carolina tradition. One bonus point for getting your license renewed by the FCC was to have a locally produced educational children's TV show! In the Spring of 1972 these factors were on the mind of Fred Barber and his successor John Edgerton as well as Pat Lee, the head of WBTV creative services. The FCC also tightened up the licensing procedures for granting TV licenses. The plan backfired, for most local stations just stripped in game shows. The reason was the FCC wanted local stations to do locally originated programming. Another rule was that the FCC forbid the networks from providing programming in the 7 to 8 PM hour. They made all the networks divest themselves of their production companies. There was, however, still a great deal of pressure from the FCC for local stations to do "local programming." That included children's programming. The last blow for daily local children's TV was the FCC decision in 1971 to ban local children's show hosts from doing commercials within their shows. Many local stations just gave up on daily morning or afternoon children's shows. The urban-hip show with the Muppets and a carefully crafted educational slant along with clever merchandising and funding became the juggernaut and force to be reckoned with by local commercial children's shows. The final "shot heard 'round the channels" was the creation of Sesame Street for PBS in 1969. Add to that the increasing cost of producing local TV programming and local children's shows began their long decline. TV advertising-sales demographics shifted to older teens and sponsorships for a local children's show was a tougher sell for the local TV sales department. As they came on the air they programmed old sitcoms and classic TV and some stations carried syndicated children's shows and program strips as their niche in the increasingly crowded dial. In the mid 1960s the FCC mandated that all TV sets had to receive UHF TV signals and that led to many UHF stations finally becoming economically viable. One was the end of the official baby boom in 1964. As television matured in the 1960s several programming issues affected children's programming. WBTV, like all local stations in the Golden Years of TV, produced more than its share of children's shows.
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