DOCUMENT RESUME ED 088 428 IR 000 240 TITLE Children's Television Workshop Annual Report 1S73. INSTITUTION Children's Television Workshop, New York, N.Y. PUB DATE Sep 73 NOTE 40p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.75 HC-$1.85 DESCRIPTORS Annual Reports; *Educational Finance; *Educational Television; Elementary Grades; Financial Problems; Financial Support; Mass Media; Objectives; Preschool Education; *Programing (Broadcast); *Public Television; Television; *Television Research IDENTIFIERS *Childrens Television Workshop; CTW; Electric Company; Sesame Street ABSTRACT The activities of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) for the Fiscal Year 1973, which ended June 30, 1973, are reported. An open letter from the president of CTW summarizes the Workshop's previous successes, its goals, and its financial situation and difficulties. Following this, the major elements of CTW's resea-ch and development laboratory are reviewed. The successes of "Sesame Street", both in the United States and abroad, are noted and details are presented documenting the classroom impact of the "Electric Company." Other topics discussed include the ultimate impacts of the community education services offered by CTW and the extension of the cu,:riculum via other, non-brradcast media. A detailed statement of finances concludes the report.(PB) I 1 1 '':::,',4,;.,:,±;=5::,.::,,,i'..tt..E.;..;',,,,,,;.:-;',A.;;;7.1_:::(,,,,,i.:::::4',...:^.... oco 0 H The Children's Television Workshop is a non- irofit corpor- ation in(,orporated uncle, the New York Stale E Jucation Law The Wr rkshop has been a center for the inve' ligation of the applic.3tior s of le!:?vis,on and :I.ed commL lications tool; for enucalion since il was estaGLttned in 1938. This annual repot covers ils activities during F iscal Year 1973. beginning Jul;1, 1972 and ending June 33. 1972. 4 r President's Letter: Popular Acclaim and Financial Difficulty it approaches its fifth broadcast production sea- ly son, the Children's Television Workshop faces the irony of continuing high level of acceptance and crit- ical acclaim for its two TV shows while at the same time being forced to !,-,ok for fresh forms of revenue. President Joan Ganz Cooney summarizes the Work- shop's goals and financial situation. page 2 The Organizatf on: N.4*.R011. Model Media Laboratory Here is a sketch of the major elements of this non- profit research and development laboratory. The Workshop's research and community education capabilities are unique among broadcast institutions. In the past year CTW has also created units for pos- sible future projects in adult TV programming, cable television and film and videocassette distribution Staff, trustees and advisors are listed on the inside back cover. page 4 Smiling faces reflect reactions of youngsters seeing TV for the first !:Me. Their responses to the medium were recorded by CTW in a research project in Jamaica. S same Street: International: High Acceptance World's Longest Street The experimental series for preschoolers reached The year saw the extension of Sesame Street into an estimated nine million U.S. youngsters in its fourth what one critic called "the world's longest avenue to season (1972-73). New curriccium subjects were preschool learningThe original English-language added to those already found effective in teaching version was seen in 43 nations and territoriesMil- young children and research projects provided feed- lions of other children in the Spanish-speaking coun- back to the producers on the appeal and impact of tries of Latin America, in Brazil and in West Germany various components of the series. A special pene- were viewing original productions based on the tration study o low-income neighborhoods in sev- Sesame Street model. CTW also participated in an eral cities found the program has become "virtually international research project in Jamaica on ihe im- an institution with ghetto child-en- (see box on page pact of he medium on first time viewers. And The 9). page 7 Electric Company made its debut abroad during the year. page 19 The Electric Company: Non-Broadcast: Extending Curriculum Classroom Impact Via Other Media The reading series, in its secor i season, reached nearly six million viewers, about half of them in The growing lsst of books, playthings, records and school materials bearing the name of Sesame Street school and the rest at home. A nationwide study oy the Educational Testing Service found that ynung- and The Electric: Company passed the 100 mark dur- ing the past year. These materials are created by sters who watched the series made significant gains a number of major publishers and manufacturers, over non-viewers in the reading skills the show is in collaboration with CTW, and aim to broaden the designed to teach. (see box, page 12). The program range of the TV productions by providing imaginative, became the first classroom shoe- to win an Emmy. low-cost products from which children can learn the television industry's highest page 11 while they play. page 25 Financial Highlights: Community Education: Educational Bargains Impact Beyond the Screen CTW delivers each of its 130 hour-long Sesame The Workshop's grassroots ut.iization program Street episodes for less than half a cent per viewer reached larger numbers of youngsters, their parents per day, and The Electric Company's cost per daily and teachers than ever before. Community Educa- viewer is short of one cent. But traditional-underwrit- tion Services, which attempts to extend the audience ers of such experiments are reducing their funding and impact of both of the TV shows in low-income so new sources must be found to meet the Work- communities, consolidated its field service efforts shop's $17 million operating budget. (A cumulative into seven regional operations scattered across the list of financial contributors appears on page 30, and country. Examples of projects they undertake are on the auditors' report and financial statements begin page 16. page 15 on page 31). page 29 Popular Acc:aim and Financial Difficulty The Children's Television Workshop approached Along with production maturity, public acceptance its fifth birthday in 1973 as a .-iature television pro- and educational results, the Workshop grappled with duction organization experimenting on the frontiers the fact that popular success does not guarantee of educational technology. financial success. This awarenessdriven home by gradual withdrawal of financial support by founda- During the past year the Workshop maintained a tions and cutbacks in proposed government appro- high standard of quality inits creations. Sesame priations precipitated some hard thinking about Street continued to enjoy both critical acclaim and other ways the Workshop, a non-profit institution, popular appeal, particularly among the inner-city might underwrite its educational experiments. audiences for whom it was primarily designed. The Electric Company, with expanded classroom and at- This challenge was not unanticipated. Founda- home audiences, demonstrated potency as an effec- tions traditionally underwrite demonstration or "start tive tool in the teaching of basin reading skills. To- up" ventures, with no view toward their long-term gether these programs reachea nearly 15 million sustenance, and government monies, particularly young Americans. those earmarked for "experimental efforts," are sub- ject to the vagaries of annual budgets and appropn- Also during the year, the impact of the Workshop ations. Within months of the debut of Sesame Street extended around the globe. Sesame Street was in 1969 it was clear that the Workshop had a respon- viewed by millions of youngsters on six continents, sibility to its substantial audience and to the stations and versions modeled on the original program made carrying the program to keep the series alive and to debuts in three other languages in Latin America offer the new and fresh programming that would al- and Europe. And for the first time The Electric Com- low for continued audience growth and continued pany was seen abroad. educational impact. The Electric Company has re- 2 affirmed and underscored that responsibility. This commitment requires a sizeable financial out- lay. But the Workshop believes that this responsibil- ity is not likely to change so long as there is a need for high quality educational television programs. Against this background, the Workshop has sought to develop new sources of funding from internally generated projects and from previously untapped outside sources. We have taken major steps toward some degree of self-sufficiency. For example, for the past two years the Workshop has worked with a number of manufacturers and publishers to develop educationally-oriented products bearing the Sesame Street and The Electric Company names. The Work- Joan Ganz Cooney shop's royalties from these products are recycled into support for its educational experiments. Cable television, motion pictures, and school and day care materials are other potential areas of revenues for the organization. At the same time CTW has made a serious effort to control costs, in a period of inflation, by trimming some activities and staff positions and 3 producing both of its series in a single studio on a year-round schedule. Even as the Workshop has sought a more secure financial base to support its ongoing programs it has taken on new creative challenges. One of these is a major new prime time television series on health. The program marks a nc,.)arture from previous CTW productions in that , being created for adult audiences, especially young par- Model Media Laboratory ents. But like earlier CTW productions it will undergo extensive research for appeal and effectiveness be- fore broadcasting actually begins, probably in the fall of 1974. The series is an ambitious attempt to use television on a regular basis to convey information The Children's Television Workshop about health in an entertaining way. was created In 1968 to explore ways In which electronic media, principally The Workshop remains open to other possibilities television, could be used effectively to for application of television and related media for teach children.