Photo: Scott Witzke
WTIU's Regional Emmy Award-winning children's series, The Friday Zone.
A new Common Sense Media study on the media habits of children zero to eight has identified broadcast television as the most widely used platform for educational media among all children, and especially children from lower-income families. While 98% of homes have at least one television, only half (53%) of lower-income families have cable or satellite TV. According to the report, “for the other half, the only way children are going to receive educational content on TV is from public television or the commercial broadcast networks.”[i] The study also reported that children from low income families are more likely to consume educational media than children from higher income homes (26% vs. 17% “often watch”).
The station also produces one of the few remaining local children’s series, The Friday Zone (above), conducts free workshops for caregivers, and distributes hundreds of free books to area children each year.
“For thousands of children in our community, WTIU is the only source for free, high-quality educational television,” said Phil Meyer, WTIU Station Manager. “Our children’s programming teaches important educational and life skills, cultivating and challenging the critical thinkers and innovators of tomorrow. And research consistently shows that our content helps kids from low-income families close the achievement gap; for example, a recent study in classrooms with preschoolers from low-income families demonstrated significant improvement in children’s literacy skill development when participating in a PBS KIDS literacy curriculum combined with teacher professional development.[ii]”
A leader in quality educational children’s programming, WTIU offers PBS KIDS content, trusted, developmentally-rich early childhood television programming available for free. Recent ratings demonstrate that parents are turning to WTIU to be a resource to help their children build critical skills. Science-focused series such as Curious George (Weekdays at 6:30am; Sundays at 7am), Dinosaur Train (Weekdays at 8am) and The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! (Weekdays at 7am; Sundays at 7:30am) and literacy-based Super Why! (Weekdays at 7:30am) consistently rank among the top ten programs for preschoolers and ladies of the household nationally. WTIU serves families in south and central Indiana with 40 hours of PBS KIDS programming weekly on its main channel and 30 hours on TIU Family, digital multicast channel 30.3.
