Changing Definitions of ‘Educational’ in Children’s Television from ABC/123 to I Love

You/You Love Me: The Unintended Consequences of the Three-Hour Rule

A thesis presented to

the faculty of

the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

Master of Arts

Caitlin E. Malone

August 2008

This thesis titled

Changing Definitions of ‘Educational’ in Children’s Television from ABC/123 to I Love

You/You Love Me: The Unintended Consequences of the Three-Hour Rule

by

CAITLIN E. MALONE

has been approved for

the School of Media Arts and Studies

and the Scripps College of Communication by

Norma Pecora

Professor of Media Arts and Studies

Gregory J. Shepherd

Dean, Scripps College of Communication

ii ABSTRACT

MALONE, CAITLIN E., M.A., August 2008, Telecommunication

Changing Definitions of ‘Educational’ in Children’s Television from ABC/123 to I Love

You/You Love Me: The Unintended Consequences of the Three-Hour Rule (110 pp.)

Director of Thesis: Norma Pecora

This thesis examines the children’s programming being aired by ABC, NBC,

CBS, and FOX owned and operated stations in Manhattan, New York in compliance with

the Three-Hour Rule during the first quarter of 2008. A case study of WABC, WNBC,

WCBS, and WNYW comparing children’s programming before the Children’s

Television Act, after the Children’s Television Act, and after the Three-Hour Rule

revealed that the Three-Hour Rule has not brought significant changes in the amount of

programming for children, but that more prosocial programming was produced as a result of the regulation. In addition, this research examines the Form 398 filings from each of

the Manhattan stations. The theme of each core program was coded as social, emotional,

educational, or other. In sum, this research discovered that stations are meeting the minimum amount of hours required of them by the Three-Hour Rule, but that the

expectations of educational programming as defined by Action for Children’s Television,

those dealing with academic topics of literacy and mathematics, are not being met and are

instead replaced with prosocial programming dealing with issues of friendship, honesty,

and self-esteem.

Approved: ______

Norma Pecora

Professor of Media Arts and Studies

iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Norma Pecora, Dr. Duncan

Brown, and Beth Novak for allowing me to write this thesis. I know there can be extra work involved with sitting on a thesis committee and your time spent reading my drafts, providing suggestions, and meeting with me was much appreciated. I would have never had the opportunity to write this thesis if not for Dr. Brown who encouraged me to apply to the graduate program. I thank him for his guidance through both my undergraduate and graduate programs and for helping me plan the best route for finishing my degrees on time. I would like to thank Dr. Pecora for her positive attitude and continued support. I knew I could always have my spirits lifted with a visit to her office when I was feeling overwhelmed. Thank you to Beth Novak for always finding the time to help me with this thesis and for being there when I needed advice. To my friends, Regina, Evan, Jing, Lisa, and Tang Tang, thank you for believing in me and for many study breaks and good conversation in the grad lab.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

ABSTRACT ...... iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... iv

LIST OF TABLES ...... vii

CHAPTER 1: THE CHILDREN’S TELEVISION ACT AND THE THREE-HOUR

RULE ...... 1

History of Government Regulations ...... 3

CHAPTER 2: CHANGES IN CHILDREN’S TELEVISION BASED ON

GOVERNMENT REGULATION ...... 14

Analysis ABC: ...... 16

Analysis: NBC ...... 21

Analysis: CBS ...... 25

Analysis: FOX ...... 29

Conclusion ...... 32

CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 37

Summary ...... 51

CHAPTER 4: METHODOLGY, DATA & FINDINGS ...... 54

Methodology ...... 54

Data ...... 55

Findings ...... 68

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 72

Then and Now: Comparing Past Studies with Original Research ...... 73

v E/I Program Themes ...... 75

Quantity of E/I Programs ...... 76

Recommendations ...... 78

REFERENCES ...... 82

APPENDIX A: TV GUIDE PROGRAM LISTINGS 1987, 1993, 1999 ...... 86

APPENDIX B: WEBSITE TITLES AND URLs FOR INTERNET MOVIE

DATABASE (IMDb) SOURCE ...... 88

APPENDIX C: FCC FORM 398 ...... 91

APPENDIX D: CODING SHEET ...... 103

vi LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1A: 1987 ABC Schedule ...... 18

Table 1B: 1993 ABC Schedule ...... 19

Table 1C: 1999 ABC Schedule ...... 20

Table 2A: 1987 NBC Schedule ...... 22

Table 2B: 1993 NBC Schedule ...... 23

Table 2C: 1999 NBC Schedule ...... 24

Table 3A: 1987 CBS Schedule ...... 26

Table 3B: 1993 CBS Schedule ...... 27

Table 3C: 1999 CBS Schedule ...... 28

Table 4A: 1987 FOX Schedule ...... 30

Table 4B: 1993 FOX Schedule ...... 31

Table 4C: 1999 FOX Schedule ...... 32

Table 5: ABC Programs and Themes ...... 56

Table 6: CBS Programs and Themes ...... 57

Table 7: NBC Programs and Themes ...... 58

Table 8: FOX Programs and Themes ...... 60

Table 9: Social Themes by Station ...... 62

Table 10: Emotional Themes by Station ...... 63

Table 11: Educational Themes by Station ...... 65

Table 12: Other Themes by Station ...... 67

vii CHAPTER 1: THE CHILDREN’S TELEVISION ACT AND THE THREE-HOUR

RULE

The Children’s Television Act of 1990 was the Federal Communications

Commission’s (FCC) first set of regulations addressing advertising and programming of

children’s television. Prompted by complaints and suggestions from parent advocacy

groups, including Action for Children’s Television, the FCC set specific guidelines to

ensure that broadcast television stations were serving the educational and informational

needs of children. Through a rather vague definition, the FCC described programming

that best serves these needs as that which “furthers the positive development of children

sixteen years of age and under in any respect, including the child’s intellectual/cognitive

or social/emotional needs” (FCC, 1995). In 1996, additional requirements were added to the Children’s Television Act which further defined the way in which commercial broadcast television stations were to meet the educational and informational needs of the child. It was at this time that the FCC enacted the Three-Hour Rule. The Three-Hour

Rule required that commercial broadcast stations air an average of three hours of core programming per week over a six month period. Core programming was defined as that which is specifically designed to meet the educational and informational needs of the child or that serves the social and emotional needs of the child. The programming must also have a significant purpose and have entertainment value (National Association of

Broadcasters, 2007).

In order to ensure license renewals, commercial broadcast stations are required to submit Form 398, to report the way they meet the standards for core programming to the

FCC (FCC, 2008). The educational or informational objective and target audience of the

1 program must also be reported on Form 398. Core programming is to be regularly

scheduled, a minimum of thirty minutes in length and aired between 7:00 AM and 10:00

PM. In addition, core programming is to be labeled with the E/I symbol, denoting that

the program is educational/informational, during the entire program along with a message

or indicator of the target age group. The E/I and age group labels are also to be reported

to program guides (National Association of Broadcasters, 2007). Since the arrival of the

Children’s Television Act and the Three-Hour Rule, there has been much discussion over whether or not broadcast television stations are doing their part to provide programming that suits the educational and informational needs of the child.

This thesis will attempt to determine how commercial broadcast television programming labeled E/I provide educational or informative material to children.

Preliminary research of children’s programming through the network websites of ABC,

NBC, CBS, and FOX revealed that commercial broadcast stations are meeting, and even surpassing the three hour requirement for children’s television programming per week.

The E/I programs aired are exclusively offered on Saturday mornings, the traditional airing time for children’s television on broadcast stations. Though the program hour requirement is being fulfilled by each of the three networks, it is questionable whether the majority of these programs have any true educational or informative value. It is the goal of this research to examine the network programming before and after the Children’s

Television Act and the Three-Hour Rule to determine the type of programs currently used to fulfill the Three-Hour Rule.

In addition the children’s programming aired in compliance with the Three-Hour

Rule during the first quarter of 2008 by the ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX owned and

2 operated stations in Manhattan, New York will be examined. A comparative case study

of WABC, WNBC, WCBS, and WNYW (FOX affiliate) was conducted examining the

children’s programming available before the Children’s Television Act, after the

Children’s Television Act and after the Three-Hour Rule. In addition, a content analysis of the Form 398 filings for each of the four Manhattan owned and operated stations categorize the programs into one of four categories, educational, social, emotional, or other. This research will provide a breakdown of the themes present in E/I programs available for children in order to determine the amount of programming that is prosocial versus educational in theme and to provide an analysis of the landscape of educational/informational programming presently available for children.

This thesis will attempt to answer several questions about E/I programming on four major commercial stations in Manhattan, New York, WABC, WNBC, WCBS, and

WNYW:

a.) How has commercial children’s television changed over the years due

to new regulations set forth by the FCC?

b.) What is the ratio of academically themed programs compared to those

with prosocial themes?

c.) How do programs meet the E/I requirement; are the themes social,

emotional, educational or other?

History of Government Regulations

Dale Kunkel (1991) explained the impact of Action for Children’s Television on the implementation of the Children’s Television Act, reporting that 1970 was the first

3 year that the FCC considered policy for children’s television. This interest stemmed from

complaints made by Action for Children’s Television (ACT). ACT was an advocacy

group made up of concerned parents, founded in 1968 in Newton, Massachusetts. ACT’s

original request to the FCC was much grander than what is in place through the

Children’s Television Act today (Kunkel, 1991). According to McGregor (1984), ACT

requested three things:

a.) each station air fourteen hours of age specific educational television for

children per week

i.) programs for 2-5 year-olds aired between 7:00AM-6:00PM daily

ii.) programs for 6-9 year-olds aired between 4:00PM-8:00PM weekdays

and 8:00AM-8:00PM weekends

iii.) programs for 10-12 year olds aired between 5:00PM-9:00 weekdays,

9:00AM-9:00PM weekends

b.) commercials be eliminated from all programs targeted at children

c.) performers on children’s television programs be prohibited from the use or

mention of commercial products (no host-selling) (McGregor, 1984)

According to Clark (2004), one of ACT’s original concerns stemmed from

animated television shows which were aired during the late 1960’s on Saturday

mornings. The group of twenty parents began meeting to talk about the need for more

educational programs and the elimination of violence in existing programs. Researchers

at the time were concerned with the violence of such television shows as Wile E. Coyote and Sylvester the Cat, and the violent actions made by children after viewing these programs. ACT realized early on that violence in television was a difficult problem to

4 take on and define. Judith Chalfen, founder of ACT stated, “We were most concerned with the violence. But we got off of that. Violence is so hard to define and really it's just part of the whole picture of poor quality. The poor quality was something we were all aware of. This is one thing we've never had to explain to any mother" (Clark, 2004).

Though the group quickly moved away from addressing problems of violence in children’s television, ACT continued to push for quality programming.

Captain Kangaroo was one of the programs that ACT used as an ideal for quality programming; it was an hour-long program aired weekdays on CBS that dealt with themes of good behavior through stories and lessons. ACT used the program as part of their first public activity in 1969 when the organization demanded the preservation of

Captain Kangaroo after a local Boston CBS affiliate began cutting the second half of the

show. The affiliate began airing a locally produced, highly commercialized show after

the first half-hour of Captain Kangaroo. The members of ACT picketed outside the

station and soon after the full program was returned to the network. This demonstration

brought ACT national attention and the support of various organizations including the

National PTA, National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting, the American Council for

Better Broadcasting, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

At this time, ACT was also granted support from the Ford Foundation (Clark, 2004).

Encouraged by Newton Minow’s Vast Wasteland speech in 1961, ACT wanted a

change from highly commercialized television programs that not only advertised for

products during breaks, but also promoted product use in its actual programming. ACT’s

mission was to “educate the community and government [about the problems of

children’s programming] through articles, letters and lectures” (Clark, 2004). One of the

5 main goals of ACT was to eliminate commercial advertisements during children’s television shows all together. In an analysis of Romper Room, a half-hour program which was labeled as a “typical children’s program,” the group found five minutes of advertisements during breaks plus an additional seven minutes of product placement of toys and other items that were played with by children featured on the program. ACT claimed, through further analysis, that on average seventeen minutes of a half-hour children’s program were dedicated to selling an item. CBS agreed to meet with ACT to discuss some of the changes to children’s television that they were requesting. When

ACT asked CBS to eliminate commercials during children’s program, the network refused, stating that they would have to give up twenty million dollars in revenue if they eliminated advertisements from these programs (Clark, 2004).

Eventually, in 1970 the FCC considered ACT’s request for no commercials during children’s programming, no host selling, and fourteen hours of age specific programs per week on commercial broadcast stations. The Commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking explaining the possible regulations. In order for the FCC to pass these regulations, they first needed the support of citizens. ACT urged parents to write letters to the FCC. Within the six months that followed, ACT was able to get over five- thousand letters written to the FCC from concerned individuals (Clark, 2004).

CBS, in the mean time, stated that these rulings, if passed, would be considered unconstitutional and would be dealing with issues of the First Amendment. NBC also stated in response that they would not be able to air children’s programming without the

support of commercial advertisers. These and other broadcasters began changing their programs and limiting their advertisements in hope that the FCC would not enforce these

6 rulings. CBS spent six-hundred thousand dollars on research of violence on television.

ABC and NBC both conducted studies on the effects of violence on television and

children for five years and two years respectively. In the end, the FCC decided that the

broadcasters were doing an adequate job of self-regulating and that if they were not seen

as working for the public interest it would present a problem when it was time for license

renewals (Clark, 2004)

The three main broadcast networks followed through with their efforts to improve

children’s television, partly in fear of the FCC creating set regulations and to continue to

appear to be self-regulating. ABC created School House Rock in 1971, a program that

presented different lessons on history, math, science and more through music, in efforts

to expand their educational programming. During that same year, CBS aired new

versions of a 1950’s children’s program featuring Walter Cronkite, You Are There, which

re-enacted historical events. In 1972 NBC created some new educational programming

and worked to cut back on commercial time in part by eliminating commercials

altogether during half-hour programs directed at the three to six year-old audience (Clark,

2004).

Despite additions in educational television made by ABC and CBS and limitations on commercials by NBC, ACT was not satisfied with the self-regulation of broadcast stations. ACT continued to petition the FCC for regulations in children’s

television. In 1974, the FCC put out the Children’s Television Report and Policy

Statement mandating that broadcast stations better serve the interest of the child viewer in

order to receive license renewal. According to McGregor (1984), the Policy Statement

detailed commercial broadcast stations’ responsibility in serving the interest of the child

7 audience. The Report and Policy Statement outlined several requirements of broadcast stations:

a.) stations must make a “meaningful effort” to provide material specifically

designed for a child audience

b.) stations should air a “reasonable amount” of educational or informational

programming for children

c.) stations should make a “meaningful effort” to air age specific programs

d.) stations must make “considerable improvement” in the scheduling of

children’s television – not all programs should be aired on weekend mornings

e.) separation was to be made between commercial sponsorship and

programming

The Report and Policy Statement also stated that host selling and product tie-ins go against the interest of the child viewer. No specific limitation was set on commercial length and no minimum was given on length of programming (McGregor, 1984). Due to unclear expectations on the amount of programming, not much changed across the landscape of children’s television as a result of this new policy. Though certain expectations were reported to broadcast stations, formal rules were not employed and were only seen as guidelines for license renewals (Kunkel, 1991).

After little change in children’s television, ACT once again petitioned the FCC for further regulation. The FCC put together the Children’s Television Task Force in

1978 to take a better look at the available programming, this new organization led to a

Second Notice of Inquiry. According to McGregor (1984), the Notice examined the amount of programming available for children including the amount of programs which

8 were specifically educational or informational. The Notice also considered age-specific

programming, scheduling, and the issues of commercialization including host selling and

separation from programs. The goal of the Notice was to come up with specific

guidelines for serving the interest of the child viewer. The Children’s Television Task

Force found that the amount of programming had increased by less than one hour per

week on the average station between 1973-74 season and 1977-78 season and that there

was no increase in the amount of educational or informational children’s programming

available on broadcast television. The Task Force noted improvement in scheduling and

commercials, but overall concluded that broadcasters were not meeting the guidelines of

the Policy Statement (McGregor, 1984).

According to McGregor (1984), the findings of the Task Force led to a Notice of

Proposed Rule Making of five options for regulation in children’s television. The options

included:

a.) repeal the 1974 Policy Statement and rely on public broadcasting, cable and

subscription television to provide high quality children’s television

b.) maintain the Policy Statement as is or modified

c.) add mandatory programming rules

i.) stations must provide five hours per week for preschool children, two and

half hours per week for school-age children

ii.) programming must be aired between 8:00AM-8:00PM weekdays

d.) add license renewal guidelines to investigate stations’ compliance with

guidelines

9 e.) increase amount of broadcast outlets to increase competition (McGregor,

1984)

Just as the FCC was beginning to format regulation for children’s programming, changes

in government shifted the attention of the FCC. Beginning in 1981, during the Reagan

administration, efforts for improvement in children’s television were halted when the

administration argued for increased market competition in broadcast television (Kunkel,

1991). The new chairman of the FCC, Mark Fowler sought to “free the broadcasting

10,000 from intrusive government regulation” (McGregor, 1986). This led to a decrease

in government intervention of the industry and in turn the elimination of mandates on children’s programming, and in 1983, the Policy Statement of 1974 was repealed

(McGregor, 1984). The years to follow showed a decrease in children’s television and an increase in program-length commercials (Kunkel, 1991).

In 1983 Congressman Timothy Wirth of Colorado brought children’s television regulation back into the spotlight. He petitioned the FCC with suggestions similar to that of ACT. However, his efforts were overlooked by Congress. In 1987, Congressman

Edward Markey of Massachusetts worked with ACT to once again propose legislation to the FCC for children’s television. Markey and ACT proposed the Children’s Television

Education Act of 1988 with recommendations on commercial time and also educational and informational programming available to children (Kunkel 1991). The Act was originally vetoed, but two years later the Children’s Television Act became a law

(Kunkel, 1998).

The Children’s Television Act of 1990 required educational programming for children and also limited the amount of advertising permitted during children’s

10 programming. Changes in advertising for children under twelve years old included commercial time limits of twelve minutes on the weekdays and ten and half minutes on the weekends as well as a ban on program-length commercials from children’s television

(Woodard, 1999). The Act stated that broadcasters had an obligation to serve the interest of children, but failed to explain the details of how each station was required to serve those interests. The target age group for children’s programming was not defined, nor was the definition of educational programming. The FCC also failed to place a mandate on the amount of educational programming required per week (Kunkel, 1998). What the

FCC did mandate was that the educational programming provided by the broadcast stations “further the positive development of the child in any respect, including the child’s cognitive/intellectual or emotional/social needs,” (FCC 1995) that programming be specifically designed for children (not a general audience), and that it serve children sixteen years-old and younger (Kunkel, 1998).

According to Kunkel (1998), the initial government regulation for children’s television left programmers confused and advocates for educational programming unsatisfied. Overall the stations had not made an effort to air educational programming; instead programs already aired were relabeled as meeting the needs of the child.

Programs including Yogi Bear, America’s Funniest Home Videos, and Biker Mice from

Mars were labeled as educational for teaching moral lessons. This once again left advocates frustrated, but it was not until Reed Hundt became chairman of the FCC during the Clinton administration that stricter guidelines for broadcast programmers were discussed. Hundt proposed a three-hour minimum of educational programming with

11 guidelines which would more clearly define educational programming for children

(Kunkel, 1998).

In August of 1996, the FCC implemented a new set of rules for broadcast

television called the Three-Hour Rule. The rule required that:

a.) broadcast stations air a minimum of three hours of educational or

informational programming per week

b.) programming be targeted at children sixteen years of age or younger

c.) programming have a clear educational purpose,

d.) programming be regularly scheduled between 7:00 AM and 10:00 PM

e.) programs be a minimum of thirty minutes in length.

f.) E/I information be available to parents and programs be identified with

an E/I logo and the target age group

g.) identifiers be provided to program guides (Woodard, 1999).

If a broadcast station is not able to air three hours of core programming per week, the station must demonstrate that they are meeting the educational/informational needs of the child in some other way whether that is through specials, PSAs, or short segments with E/I messages. If a station chooses to meet the needs of the child through these other

forms, they are still required to air between two and two and half hours of core

programming per week. The exact amount can be debated due to specific circumstances.

Although the stations have options, most choose to air and report three hours of core

programming per week (National Association of Broadcasters, 2007).

It took many years for the FCC to enact regulation for children’s television, now

the question is whether this regulation had any effect on the programming available on

12 commercial broadcast television. The following chapter will examine the programs aired on Saturday morning in relation to both the Children’s Television Act of 1990 and the

Three-Hour Rule.

13 CHAPTER 2: CHANGES IN CHILDREN’S TELEVISION BASED ON

GOVERNMENT REGULATION

The following is a case study of four broadcast stations’ children’s programming over a twelve year period. The study examines programming in relation to government regulations for educational television for children to answer the question, how has commercial children’s television changed over the years due to new regulation set forth by the FCC. This will provide an outline of the changes in children’s television based on the implementation of these regulations, analyzing programming three years before the Children’s Television Act, three years after the Children’s Television Act and three years after the Three-Hour Rule. It is important to look at the changes made to children’s programming on broadcast television during these time periods; in order to determine the true effectiveness of government regulations on children’s television.

It may take the industry a few years to adapt to government regulations and therefore this research examines programming three years after government regulation.

Data of fall Saturday morning children’s television was collected from three different TV

Guide Magazines from the Manhattan Market, one each from 1987, 1993, and 1999. The weeks sampled were chosen based on convenience and availability of TV Guides, and are not necessarily from the same week each year; however each are from the fall season, which allows for consistency among programming. The children’s television programs were collected from the TV Guide listings for Saturday mornings from the owned and operated stations for ABC (WABC), CBS (WCBS), NBC (WNBC), and FOX (WNYW).

These stations were chosen as a representation of the broadcast market for ABC, CBS,

NBC, and FOX. Complete listings of programs on each station can be found in

14 Appendix A. The hours of air time for children’s television were also collected. The

Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to

Programming from 1948 to the Present (1996) were used as a source to determine information about the programming including production companies, genre - animation

or live-action, and basic plot and premise of the programming. A listing of production

companies attempts to emphasize the efforts of the stations to seek out and provide a

variety of programs for children. It also gives an interesting historical background of the

source of programs found throughout the years sampled. The individual website titles

and URLs for the IMDb websites used are listed in Appendix B. Some short-lived

programs were not listed on Internet Movie Database or in Total Television and could not be found through an exhaustive list elsewhere. These programs were included in the reports of total air time, but not in any additional category definitions.

What was children’s television like before the Children’s Television Act and the subsequent Three-Hour Rule? How did these government regulations affect the content and quantity of children’s television? Stations had to reevaluate their service to the community, specifically to children and had to consider reprogramming their entire lineup of children’s programming to comply with the new regulations. New content regulations from the Children’s Television Act required that broadcast stations meet the best interest of the child through quality programming that is educational or informational. With a vague definition set in place by the FCC for these regulations, there were ways to slide by with subpar programming which had very little educational value. This study will examine the changes over time to children’s television on four stations, WABC, WCBS, WNBC, and WNYW, examining the program themes, sources

15 and quantity of programming targeted specifically at children on Saturday mornings.

There are several ways in which program themes will be classified in this chapter:

a.) educational

i.) traditionally academic, those dealing with themes of mathematics,

literacy, science, health, and geography

ii.) not traditionally academic including information, news, animal-life,

wildlife, and environment

b.) prosocial: including friendship, honesty, self confidence, and emotion

regulation

Analysis ABC:

Today ABC’s children’s block is programmed by Disney, ABC’s parent company. The network airs live-action Disney Channel programs, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, Hannah Montana, and That’s So Raven along with animated programs produced specifically for the Saturday morning block, The Emperor’s New School, and

The Replacement (Disney, 2008).

In 1987, three years before the Children’s Television Act, ABC’s owned and operated station, WABC, was airing five and a half hours of television per week for children on Saturday mornings from 6:30 AM until noon (Triangular Publications, 1987).

The schedule of children’s programming on WABC in 1987 can be found in Table 1A.

All but one of the programs aired on ABC during this year were animated, one program,

Wild Kingdom was a live-action documentary about wild life (IMDb.com Inc., 2008). In

1987 there were a variety of production companies providing program content. Two of

16 ABC’s programs were produced by Hanna Barbera Productions, another two by DiC

Enterprises. Both of these production houses were known for toy-based programs. Care

Bears Families and Real Ghostbusters were produced, in part by DiC Enterprises

(IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). At the time the Care Bears’ television show came out, the Bears

were also licensed characters and had their own toy line (Pecora, 1998). The cross-

promotional marketing strategy for Care Bears easily monetized the products, with the

television show acting as a program-length commercial for the toys. The same could be

said for Hanna Barbera’s Pound Puppies, also aired on ABC’s Saturday morning block.

Pound Puppies started out as toys produced by a Canadian company, Irwin, in 1984. The

toys were later produced by Tonka in the United States in 1985; after success in the toy

market, the Pound Puppies got their own television program (Pound Puppies, Inc., 2007).

Hanna Barbera’s purpose was to make their corporate portfolio expand across as many

platforms as possible. A representative of the Hanna Barbera’s distribution company,

World Vision explained that the company was “put together to open up the marketplace

for tie-ins, and to bring the corporate profile of Hanna-Barbera to the world, as well as

the individual characters” (Peck, B, 1991; Pecora, 1998). In 1987, the majority of

WABC’s programming had toy tie-ins and no educational content.

17 Table 1A WABC Schedule from October 17-23, 1987 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 6:30-7:00 Wild Kingdom live-action 7:00-7:30 Uncle Waldo animation 7:30-8:00 King Leonardo animation 8:00-8:30 Care Bears Family animation 8:30-9:00 Little Clowns of Happy animation Town 9:00-9:30 My Pet Monster animation 9:30-10:00 Pound Puppies animation 10:00-10:30 Little Wizards animation 10:30-11:00 Real Ghostbusters animation 11:00-11:30 Flintstone Kids animation 11:30-12:00 Bugs Bunny and Tweety animation

Three years after the Children’s Television Act, in 1993, there had been some

changes among the children’s programming aired on WABC’s Saturday morning lineup,

but the product tie-ins were still present. DiC was still a provider of two programs on

WABC, C.O.W. Boys and Sonic the Hedgehog (IMDB.com, Inc., 2008). Sonic the

Hedgehog came from the popular SEGA Genesis video game (McNeil, 1996). Other production companies providing programs to WABC were The Children’s Television

Workshop, Nelvana, Calico Entertainment, Warner Brothers Entertainment, and Jim

Henson Productions (IMDB.com, Inc., 2008). During this year WABC provided five

and a half hours of television for children on Saturday mornings (Triangular Publications,

1993). The complete schedule can be found in Table 1B. All but one of the programs

aired in 1993 were animated, CityKids was a Jim Henson Production with a mix of live-

action and muppets (McNeil, 1996), information about Mad Scientist could not be found.

18 In 1993, there were still no programs aired on WABC’s morning block with traditionally academic themes.

Table 1B WABC Schedule from October 30-November 5, 1993 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 6:30-7:00 Twinkle the Big Dream animation 7:00-8:00 (1 hr.) Mad Scientist n/a 8:00-8:30 Cro animation 8:30-9:00 C.O.W. Boys animation 9:00-9:30 Sonic the Hedgehog animation 9:30-10:00 The Addams Family animation 10:00-10:30 Cryptkeeper animation 10:30-11:00 Bugs Bunny and Tweety animation 11:00-11:30 Bugs Bunny and Tweety animation 11:30-12:00 City Kids live-action/puppetry

In 1999, three years after the FCC mandated the Three-Hour Rule for

educational/informational programming, more live-action programs could be found on

WABC, four programs in all (Triangular Publications, 1999). The schedule for WABC

in 1999 can be found in Table 1C. In years past WABC’s Saturday morning programs

were almost dominated by animation (IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). At this time, WABC was

airing six hours of television for children on Saturday mornings (Triangular Publications,

1999). It was apparent that the station was attempting to meet the requirements of the

Three-Hour Rule in 1999, airing a science program, Bill Nye the Science Guy and a

program about animals and wildlife, Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures (IMDb.com, Inc,

2008). In 1999, ABC was airing a two-hour block of programs produced by Disney,

listed in TV Guide as One Saturday Morning. Two other programs produced by Disney

were also aired on Saturday mornings, New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Hercules

19 (Triangular Publications, 1999). The Walt Disney Corporation acquired the ABC

network in 1996, which could explain the increase in Disney produced programs airing

on Saturday mornings on the network (Net Industries, 2007).

Table 1C WABC Schedule from September 18-24, 1999 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 6:00-6:30 Awesome Adventures live-action 6:30-7:00 Field Trip live-action 7:00-7:30 Bill Nye the Science Guy live-action 7:30-8:00 Jack Hanna live-action 8:00-8:30 Hercules animation 8:30-10:30 (2 hrs.) One Saturday Morning animation 10:30-11:00 Sabrina the Animated animation Series 11:00-11:30 Squigglevision animation 11:30-12:00 New Adventures of Winnie animation the Pooh

Government regulations seemed to have little effect on WABC’s programming

from 1987 to 1993 to 1999. During the late 1980’s to early 1990’s many programs were

based around toys already created, created at the same time as the television program, or just after the television program was first aired. The most significant change to WABC’s

Saturday line-up came not from government regulations but from changes in corporate ownership. When WABC was acquired by Disney in 1996, programming sources shifted away from outside production houses to Disney’s own production company. The Three-

Hour Rule brought about two educational programs for WABC, but since the FCC allows

prosocial programming as part of the three-hour mandate of educational/informational

programming, it would be difficult to determine ABC’s goals in airing these programs. 20 Was WABC trying to best serve the child audience, or did the company feel that Bill Nye

the Science Guy and Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures seemed to be profitable program

choices? It would be impossible to know the reasoning behind these programming

decisions without entering the mind of a WABC executive, but the important thing to

note is that the educational content was present, regardless of reasoning from the station.

Analysis: NBC

As with WABC airing Disney programs, currently, the majority of programs aired

on WNBC are produced by the Discovery Channel. The network airs six programs

produced by and also aired on Discovery Kids, Kenny the Shark, Time Warp Trio,

Darcy’s Wild Life, Trading Spaces: Girls vs. Boys, Flight 29 Down, and Endurance

(NBC, 2008). Just like ABC, before programming partnerships were made between NBC

and Discovery Kids, programming content came from a variety of sources.

In 1987, six hours of television for children were aired on NBC’s owned and operated station, WNBC, on Saturday mornings. The complete schedule can be found in

Table 2A. As with WABC, WNBC began airing live-action programs including Kid

Songs and Alf (Triangular Publications, 1987). Programming came from producers like

Hanna Barbera Productions, DiC, and Disney (IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). On WNBC,

Hanna Barbera was once again providing television content with a subsequent toy

market, with The Smurfs. The Smurfs first started out as part of a storybook for children

and later were made into toys in 1979. In 1981, they had their own TV show on WNBC.

In this case, separate entities owned the rights to the television program and the toys and

book; so while cross-promotion was occurring, several companies were reaping the

21 benefits (Pecora 1998). Other programs aired during this time on WNBC were Fraggle

Rock and Alvin and the Chipmunks (Triangular Publications, 1987).

Table 2A WNBC Schedule from October 17-23, 1987 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 6:30-7:00 Abra Kadabra n/a 7:00-7:30 Kidsongs live-action 7:30-8:00 Hickory Hideout live-action/puppetry 8:00-8:30 Disney’s Adventures of the animation Gummi Bears 8:30-10:00 (1.5 hrs.) Smurfs animation 10:00-10:30 Fraggle Rock live-action/puppetry 10:30-11:00 Alvin and the Chipmunks animation 11:00-11:30 Alf live-action 11:30-12:00 New Archies animation 12:00-12:30 Foofur animation

In 1993, three years after the Children’s Television Act required that broadcast

stations work to better serve the educational and informational needs of the child viewers,

the program lineup for WNBC’s Saturday mornings had completely changed. Rather

than the animated programs which were found on air six years earlier, the network had turned completely to live-action programs. The changes did not stop there; NBC was now targeting a teen audience (IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). At this time, NBC was airing three hours of children’s television, in this case for the older audience of teens. Programs aired by the station included California Dreams, Saved by the Bell, Running the Halls,

NBA Inside Stuff, News for Kids, and Name your Adventure (Triangular Publications,

1993). The schedule for WNBC in 1993 can be found in Table 2B. While these programs had what is referred to as prosocial themes and news and information for 22 children, once again there were no traditionally academic themes found during these

programs. Due to poor ratings WNBC decided to target a new audience and turned to the

teens (Ross, 1996). The change in programming and target audience, teens ages twelve

to seventeen, raised ratings for NBC by 16% in 1995 (Schmuckler, 1995).

Table 2B WNBC Schedule from October 30-November 5, 1993 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 10:30-11:00 Name Your Adventure live-action 11:00-11:30 California Dreams live-action 11:30-12:00 Saved by the Bell live-action 12:00-12:30 Running the Halls live-action 12:30-1:00 NBA Inside Stuff live-action 1:00-1:30 News for Kids live-action

The Three-Hour Rule did not seem to have any effect on NBC’s programming. In

1999, NBA Inside Stuff as well as a spinoff of Saved By the Bell, Saved by the Bell: The

New Class could still be found. New programs included Hang Time, One World and City

Guys (Triangular Publications, 1999). During the particular week of this TV Guide, three hours of children’s television were aired, all of which were live-action. The 1999 schedule for WNBC can be found in Table 2C. Due to the ratings success seen just two years after the content change, NBC continued to air programs directed at teens on their

Saturday morning block. During this time period, NBC had been working with a consultant from UCLA to incorporate prosocial messages into its programming, including anti-drug and anti-smoking messages (Jost, 1997). During this particular year,

23 NBC focused more on the prosocial issues rather than traditionally academic subjects to

fulfill the three-hour requirement for E/I programming.

Table 2C WNBC Schedule from September 18-24, 1999 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 10:30-11:00 NBA Inside Stuff live-action 11:00-11:30 Saved by the Bell live-action 11:30-12:00 Hang Time live-action 12:00-12:30 City Guys live-action 12:30-1:00 One World live-action 1:00-1:30 City Guys live-action

The quantity of children’s programming aired on WNBC changed over the three

years analyzed. The amount of content per week was significantly reduced between the

1987 sample and the 1993 sample, from six hours down to three. WNBC continued to air

just three hours of children’s programming in 1999. This is most likely due to the ratings

issues that the NBC network had with its Saturday morning programming. WNBC dealt

with that issue by changing their target demographic from the traditional age group of

Saturday morning programs, young children two to eleven, to teens age twelve to

seventeen. This still kept WNBC in line with the Children’s Television Act, as networks

were required to serve the interest of children sixteen and under (FCC, 2001). In the

three sample years provided, none of the programming aired on WNBC on Saturday

morning could be considered traditionally academic in theme.

24 Analysis: CBS

CBS’s current Saturday lineup is titled, Kewlopolis, with programming content provided by DiC Entertainment. This includes Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Sushi

Pack, Dino Squad, Horeseland, Trollz, and Liberty’s Kids (Kewlopolis, 2007). Three of these are new versions of programs aired during the 1980’s, Strawberry Shortcake, Care

Bears, and Trollz (IMDb.com, Inc, 2008). Unlike ABC and NBC who now get their

Saturday morning programs from affiliated companies, DiC Entertainment is an outside program source. Though not found to be linked in any other way, CBS exclusively purchases its Saturday morning programming from this production company.

In 1987, WCBS’s programming was coming from a variety of sources, Henson

Associates, Binder Entertainment, MGM Kids, Hanna Barbera, Southern Star

Productions and WCBS-TV (IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). Two of the programs were locally produced by the CBS owned and operated station, Patchwork Family and CBS

Storybreak (IMDb.com, Inc, 2008). Other programs included Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale

Theater, Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies, and Pee Wee’s Playhouse (Triangular

Publications, 1987). The complete list of programs and the schedule for WCBS in 1987 can be found in Table 3A. During this particular year, CBS’s owned and operated station was airing seven hours of television for children on Saturday mornings, six of the programs were animated, one program was live-action, one was a mix of live-action and puppetry and another a mix of live-action and animation. (Triangular Publications, 1987,

IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). Information about one of the programs, Young Universe (aired twice on Saturday mornings) could not be found.

25 Table 3A WCBS Schedule from October 17-23, 1987 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 6:30-7:30 (1 hr.) Patchwork Family live-action/puppetry 7:30-8:00 Young Universe n/a 8:00-8:30 Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale animation Theater 8:30-10:00 (1.5 hrs.) Jim Henson’s Muppet animation Babies 10:00-10:30 Pee Wee’s Playhouse live-action 10:30-11:00 Mighty Mouse: The New animation Adventures 11:00-11:30 Popeye and Son animation 11:30-12:00 Teen Wolf animation 12:00-12:30 CBS Storybreak animation 12:30-1:00 Kidd Video live-action/animation 1:00-1:30 Young Universe n/a

In 1993, WCBS was airing programs from DiC: Captain Planet, and New Dennis the Menace; Walt Disney TV: Marsupiliami and Little Mermaid; and, the Nickelodeon

Network: Nick News (Triangular Publications, 1993, IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). WCBS was

still airing CBS Storybreak, the station’s own television production. All of the programs

at this time were animated except, Nick News, Beakman’s World, and Scratch. Nick

News, which is still aired today, is a television show about current issues directed at

children (Nickelodeon, 2008). Beakman’s World was an educational science-based

program which first aired on The Learning Channel (McNeil, 1996). At this time, WCBS

was airing six and a half hours of children’s television on Saturday mornings, eight

animated programs and three live-action programs (Triangular Publications, 1993). The

complete schedule for WCBS in 1993 can be found in Table 3B. Between the 1992-1993

seasons, ratings for CBS children’s programming dropped 36 percent to a 3.7 rating,

FOX had a 6.2 rating, ABC, a 3.9, during this time, the CBS network considered

26 revamping their Saturday mornings to provide news programs targeted at adults

(Schmuckler, 1995).

Table 3B WCBS Schedule from October 30-November 5, 1993 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 6:30-7:00 Captain Planet animation 7:00-7:30 Scratch live-action 7:30-8:00 Nick News live-action 8:00-8:30 Marsupilami animation 8:30-9:00 Little Mermaid animation 9:00-10:00 (1 hr.) Garfield animation 10:00-10:30 New Dennis the Menace animation 10:30-11:30 (1 hr.) Ninja Turtles animation 11:30-12:00 Cadillac’s and Dinosaurs animation 12:00-12:30 Beakman’s World live-action 12:30-1:00 CBS Storybreak animation

Three years after the Three-Hour Rule, in 1999, the CBS network was airing

programs exclusively produced by Nelvana, which they had been doing since 1996, all of

which were animated. The Nelvana programs aired by CBS included Rupert, Anatole,

Dumb Bunnies, Flying Rhino Junior High, Birdz, and Mythic Warriors. A complete

schedule can be found in Table 3C. Jeffrey Kaye, a correspondent for the PBS program,

News-Hour with Jim Lehrer, explained the change during a 1996 program focusing on

the changing business of children’s television,

“…the FCC has required that broadcasters run three hour of educational

programming every week. Well, when CBS changed its Saturday morning line-

up to comply, ratings plummeted, as did advertising revenues, which are based, of

course on audience size… What’s happening is CBS is paying much less for its 27 Saturday morning shows. This fall, CBS will replace all its educational programs

with cheaper ones the network is buying from Nelvana Communications of

Canada” (PBS, 2008).

In 1999, all of CBS’s Saturday morning programs were animated (IMDb.com, Inc, 2008).

The network was airing three hours of children’s content on Saturdays (Triangular

Publications, 1999).

Table 3C WCBS Schedule from September 18-24, 1999 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 7:00-7:30 Rupert animation 7:30-8:00 Anatole animation 8:00-8:30 Dumb Bunnies animation 8:30-9:00 Flying Rhino Junior High animation 11:00-11:30 Birdz animation 11:30-12:00 Mythic Warriors animation

The biggest change seen in children’s television on WCBS during the three years

sampled was a dramatic change in air time. In 1987, the network’s owned and operated

station was airing seven hours of children’s programming on Saturday mornings; in 1993,

the station dropped slightly to six and a half hours. Then, in 1999 the amount of

programming was cut by more than a half, down to only three hours. Over the three

years sampled, WCBS aired programming from a variety of sources, until 1999, when the

station began to air its programming from Nelvana, which also meant all of the programs

were then animated. Pressure from the Children’s Television Act may have brought about programs like Beakman’s World and Nick News found in the 1993 lineup, but these programs disappeared by 1999 when no traditionally academic programs could be found

28 during Saturday mornings on WCBS. Instead in 1999, it appears WCBS tried to provide

core programming in the cheapest way possible, through animation.

Analysis: FOX

Current Saturday morning programs on FOX are aired during a block called

4Kids TV. These programs include Viva Piñata, Chaotic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

Dinosaur King, and The Winx Club (4Kids Entertainment, Inc., 2008). In addition, FOX

airs Saved by the Bell, The Adrenaline Project, Beakman’s World, Awesome Adventures,

and Teen Kids News all of which WNYW reports to the FCC as being in compliance with

the Three-Hour Rule (FCC, 2008). Unlike ABC, NBC, and CBS, FOX’s programming

still comes from a variety of sources. Some of their programs are produced in part with

4Kids Entertainment Inc., the rest of the programs each are produced by individual

production companies (4Kids Entertainment, Inc., 2008).

In 1987, before the Children’s Television Act was put into place, WNYW, FOX’s

owned and operated station, was airing four and a half hours of children’s television on

Saturday mornings (Triangular Productions, 1987). Six of the programs aired during this

year on WNYW were animated, one, The New Monkees was live-action, information on another program, Dr. Science could not be found (IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). As with the three other networks, FOX was also airing some programs produced by DiC. These programs included Popples, Get Along Gang, Starcom: the U.S Space Force, and

Sylvanian Families (IMDb.com Inc., 2008). Popples like several other programs aired in the 1980’s, started out as a toy, in this case a stuffed animal, and later turned into a television program (Wikipedia, 2008). Other programs included The Wonderful World of

29 Disney and Lady Lovelylocks and the Pixietails (Triangular Publications, 1987). The

schedule of programs on WNYW in 1987 can be found in Table 4A.

Table 4A WNYW Schedule from October 17-23, 1987 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 7:00-7:30 Sylvanian Families animation 7:30-8:00 Starcom animation 8:00-8:30 Lady Lovelylocks and the animation Pixietails 8:30-9:00 Popples animation 9:00-9:30 Get Along Gang animation 11:00-11:30 Dr. Science n/a 11:30-12:00 New Monkees live-action 12:00-1:00 (1 hr.) Wonderful World of Disney animation

In 1993, the Children’s Television Act had been in place for three years. By this

time, WNYW was airing Not Just News, which may have been an attempt to provide

content to meet the informational needs of children (Triangular Publications, 1993).

During this year, WNYW was only airing one DiC produced program, Hurricanes

(IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). All but two of the five and a half hours worth of programs were

animated; Not Just News and Power Rangers were live-action. 20th Century FOX

Productions was beginning to provide programming for the Saturday morning block with

Tiny Toons and Bobby’s World. Other programs came from Jim Henson Productions,

Hanna Barbera, Nelvana, Marvel Productions, Canal+, and MMPR Productions

(IMDb.com, Inc, 2008). The schedule for WNYW in 1993 can be found in Table 4B.

30 Table 4B WNYW Schedule from October 30-November 5, 1993 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 6:30-7:00 Not Just News live-action 7:00-7:30 Around the World in 80 animation Dreams 7:30-8:00 Hurricanes animation 8:00-8:30 Dog City animation 8:30-9:00 Bobby’s World animation 9:00-9:30 Droopy, Master Detective animation 9:30-10:00 Eek the Cat animation 10:00-10:30 Tiny Toons animation 10:30-11:00 Taz-Mania animation 11:00-11:30 X-Men animation 11:30-12:00 Power Rangers live-action

In 1999, three years after the Three-Hour Rule went into effect, WNYW was airing six hours of television for children during Saturday mornings (Triangular

Publications, 1999). One program was produced by DiC, Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd

Century. All of the other programs came individually from different sources including

Columbia TriStar Entertainment, Adelaide Productions, and SDA Productions

(IMDb.com, Inc., 2008). During the particular week sampled, a movie was aired during

Saturday morning, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. Other programs included Critter

Gritters, Real Life 101, More than a Game, Popular Mechanics for Kids, Godzilla,

Transformers: Beast Machines, and Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (Triangular

Publications, 1999), the complete schedule can be found in Table 4C. Real Life 101,

Popular Mechanics for Kids and The Power Rangers Movie were live-action, the remainder of the programs were animated (IMDb.com, Inc, 2008). Information about

31 More than a Game could not be gathered. Despite the Three-Hour Rule, WNYW had not begun to air any traditionally academically themed programs by 1999.

Table 4C WNYW Schedule from September 18-24, 1999 Manhattan TV Guide Time Program Title Genre 6:00-6:30 Critter Gritters animation 6:30-7:00 Real Life 101 live-action 7:00-7:30 More than a Game n/a 7:30-8:00 Popular Mechanics for Kids live-action 8:00-8:30 Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd animation Century 8:30-9:00 Godzilla animation 9:00-11:00 (2 hrs.) Turbo: A Power Rangers live-action Movie 11:00-11:30 Beast Machines animation 11:30-12:00 Big Guy and Rusty the Boy animation Robot

With each sample year, WNYW increased the number of hours of children’s

television on Saturday mornings, four and half hours in 1987, five and half hours in 1993,

and six hours in 1999. Throughout the years sampled, WNYW aired programming from

a variety of sources. The majority of the programming from year to year was animated

and not academically themed, though news programs were present in 1993.

Conclusion

Just after the Three-Hour Rule was enacted, a concern was raised from the

creators and providers of children’s television who had been against government

interference on programming. Complaints were heard from the industry over the lack of

32 clarity of the definition of educational. Programmers were also concerned with how they would be able to remain competitive, especially with cable channels, not subject to these regulations. FCC Chairman, Reed Hundt was not providing sought out answers, telling industry executives to do what is right. Production companies, including DiC expressed concern that regulations would reduce viewership and overall ratings (Stanley, 1996).

The individual networks seemed to do just as Hundt suggested, whatever they felt was right. The trends in programming seemed to be similar among WABC, WCBS and

WNYW, with differences seen in WNBC’s program choices. The majority of programming over the three years sampled was animated, each network aired a news program at some time during the sample, and most programs did not appear to be academically themed. During the 1993 and 1999 sample, WNBC’s programs differed from the other stations, as all programs aired on this station were live-action and directed at a teen audience.

During the 1980’s before government guidelines on content for children’s television, broadcast stations seemed to be solely interested in making money and not so much serving the public’s interest as government regulations mandated. A trend at the time was in television programs for children focused around toys that already existed.

This marketing strategy had already been utilized before. The first so-called program- length commercial was Hot Wheels aired in 1969, an animated program based on a product by Mattel (Pecora 1998). It was not until the 1980’s that other companies followed suit and there became an abundance of program length commercials for products either produced before the television program or released simultaneously with the advent of a new television show.

33 During the sample week of 1987, much of the programming for each network came from outside sources. DiC and Hanna-Barbera were dominant production houses for children’s shows that were distributed across the networks. In the 1980s, programs were often based on existing toys or came out at the same time as the toys. At this time,

the networks were airing about the same amount of programming for children, all from a

variety of sources. WABC was airing five and a half hours per week, WNBC was airing

six, WNYW was airing four and half, and WCBS was airing the most with seven hours.

The 1980’s demonstrated a shift for children’s television industry, by the end of

the decade, many programs aired had a toy tied around them. According to Pecora, in

1982, there were no programs with merchandise tie-ins, but by 1985 there were nine.

Television programs linked to merchandise caused some public concern and this trend in

programming became limited due to regulations against host selling and commercial

length programs (Pecora, 2007).

Three years after the Children’s Television Act, children’s television had changed

little. WABC was airing the same amount of programming, five and a half hours per

week, WCBS was airing six and half hours, down from seven, WNBC was airing three

hour per week, down from six hours and WNYW was airing an hour more per week, five

and a half hours, up from four and half. During this time, programs were still coming

from a variety of sources. WNBC was the only network targeting teens with Saturday

morning programming.

It would appear one outcome of the Three-Hour Rule was a programming block

of television on WABC, One Saturday Morning. In 1999 WABC was airing

programming from one source, its parent company, Disney. This same year, WCBS was

34 getting all of its programming from Nelvana. In addition, the programming on both

networks was entirely animated. WNBC was still airing the least amount of

programming, three hours in the sample week, however in 1999 WCBS joined WNBC,

also airing only three hours. WNBC was the only network with an entire block of live- action programming which was also the only block directed at a teen audience.

While regulation placed mandates on the amount of programming each broadcast station is required to air per week, it did not seem to affect the broadcast stations’ number of hours of programming. Though Saturday morning line-up length changed from year to year with the sampled stations, each station was already airing at least three hours of children’s television on Saturday mornings before the Children’s Television Act and the

Three-Hour Rule.

Content in children’s television changed only slightly over the twelve years examined in this research. WNBC turned away from the traditional age group for children’s television and began airing programs for a teen audience due to poor audience ratings. The other three networks may have struggled with low ratings, but each continued to air programming for the 2-11 age group. A few news programs and informative programs about animals were aired after government regulation including

Not Just News, Nick News, and Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures. Beakman’s World and Bill Nye the Science Guy were the only two traditionally academically oriented programs aired during this sample. Two things remained common in children’s television in 1987, 1993, and 1999; educational programs were few and far between with programmers focusing on shows with prosocial themes, and animated programs were

35 found more often than live- action, with the exception of NBC’s teen programs in 1993

and 1999 which were all live- action.

Now that programming from 1987, 1993, and 1999 have been outlines, it is important to inspect current programming content on Saturday mornings. First, the previous studies of children’s television regulation will be examined. Afterwards, original research from the first quarter 2008 filings of Form 398 will be reviewed in order to determine how stations apply the educational/informational mandate to their programming.

36 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter examines previous research completed on the subject of the Three-

Hour Rule and educational/informational programming for children. Surprisingly, despite the tremendous amount of public debate on the subject of children’s television prior to the Children’s Television Act of 1990 and the subsequent Report and Order mandating the Three-Hour Rule and core programming for children, the topic, for the most part has fallen under the radar. Failure to analyze the core programming in place by each of the broadcast stations allows for slippage in quality programming. As seen in years prior to the Children’s Television Act, without the policing of the FCC, broadcast stations often did not meet their obligation to serve the needs and interest of children.

Because of this, it is even more important to critically analyze and attend to research conducted on the subject of educational/informational programming for children. This chapter uses previous research as a background on broadcast stations’ efforts to provide

E/I programming. An unpublished report by Hannah Born examines the source of E/I programming and the types of programs labeled as E/I. Several studies by the Annenberg

Public Policy Center will be reviewed including one of interviews with people in the broadcast television industry to give an inside perspective on E/I efforts, two content analyses of the Philadelphia market in 1998 and 1999 and additional interviews with industry insiders conducted in 2004 to determine why the majority of programs aired on

Saturday mornings have prosocial themes rather than educational themes. In addition, publications by Calvert and Kolter will be reviewed which examine strengths and weaknesses in E/I programming.

37 In an unpublished report, Hannah Born (2001) looked at the source of core

programming, whether locally produced, network-supplied, or syndicated. In addition, her report examined the type of programming being labeled educational or informational.

Born reported that the majority of stations were not producing their own programming for children citing only six of fifty-nine programs analyzed were locally-produced programs. Born found that the children’s broadcast television market was being saturated with only a few programs. The study reported that many programs, for example The

Magic School Bus were often aired multiple times to count for two different program

slots. While different episodes were being aired of a particular program, one might

question the benefits of airing such recurring programming especially with such limited

programming available on broadcast television for children (three hours per week on

average). Born noted there is room for improvement in children’s television

programming. She stated that pre-empting children’s programming for sporting events,

airing multiple episodes of the same program and a lack of locally produced programs

were examples of problems (Born, 2001).

The Annenberg Public Policy Center out of the University of Pennsylvania

examines the effect of media and technology on children (among other subjects including

political communication, information and society, health communication and adolescent

risk). The organization researches everything from obesity and media consumption to E/I

programming, rating systems and the V-Chip (Annenberg Public Policy Center, 2008).

The researchers at the Center have shown great interest in the Three-Hour Rule, and have

reported on the subject several times. Amy Jordan, Ph.D, the area director of the media

and children department has published, The Three-Hour Rule: Insider’s Reactions

38 (1999), Is the Three-Hour Rule Living Up to Its Potential? (2000), and The Three-Hour

Rule and Education Television for Children (2004). As one of the main researchers of the Three-Hour Rule it is important to examine Jordan’s work before further researching the regulation. In addition to Jordan’s work, other noteworthy research has come out of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. A report by Kelly L. Schmitt, Ph.D titled The Three

Hour Rule: Is It Living Up to Expectations (1999) will also be examined.

Jordan (1999) conducted interviews shortly after the implementation of the Three-

Hour Rule, in order to get an inside look into the reaction of the broadcast television

industry to the Three-Hour Rule. Jordan spoke with thirty-one individuals including

network executives, program producers, syndicators, regulators, academics, and

advocates in attempts to determine if and how television programs for children have

changed for the better. Jordan determined through her interviews that the Three-Hour

Rule presented both opportunities and challenges to broadcast television stations and

hugely impacted the way the industry was run (Jordan 1999).

The interviewees presented Jordan with three common complaints about the

Three-Hour Rule. First, the respondents commented that core programming did not seem

to be truly educational. A second complaint made by the insiders was that broadcasters

were utilizing the “informational” rather than “educational” requirements by featuring

prosocial themes (those dealing with friendship, honesty, sharing and the like) rather than

traditionally academic ones. The third complaint Jordan reported was that there were not

enough educational programs for children even with the three hour mandate. Further

complaints concerning the industry’s disregard for the importance of the Three-Hour

39 Rule included lack of promotion of available programming and a subsequent lack of parental awareness of this programming (Jordan 1999).

Similar to Born’s findings, Jordan found that locally produced programs were few and far between with the onset of the Three-Hour Rule. Rather than produce programs locally, most stations were relying on their parent network, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and the WB (which has since merged with UPN to create the CW) to provide enough programming to fulfill the three hour requirement. Additional concerns brought about by the respondents dealt with lack of advertiser interest coupled with commercial time limits and a ban on host selling which presented challenges to broadcast stations to fund new programming for children. In addition, respondents noted the difficulty of capturing an audience with access to cable and an array of entertaining programming for children

(Jordan, 1999).

Jordan (1999) concluded that the majority of insiders believe that children’s television programming on broadcast stations seem to be improving with less violent television and more prosocial programming available. However, the majority of respondents believe that three hours does not provide enough programming for children.

Jordan noted challenges and opportunities and provided suggestions to improve the future of educational/informational television for children as being the diversification of programming, increased awareness and promotion as well as a public information campaign, the establishment of funding sources for new programs, and market research

(Jordan, 1999).

Kelly L. Schmitt, Ph.D. (1999) analyzed the Three-Hour Rule in its second year

(the 1998/1999 season) in the Philadelphia broadcast market. The study examined

40 whether or not programs aired as E/I were actually educational and to what degree.

Programs were evaluated based on a coding sheet developed with the help of experts in

the fields of child development, education and television production. In order to find E/I programming to analyze, Schmitt and colleagues called ten commercial broadcast stations in the Philadelphia market. The research team also looked at broadcast stations’

E/I filings to the FCC, and spoke with stations that fulfilled the E/I requirement with programs that were not supplied by a major networks (Schmitt, 1999).

Schmitt and colleagues looked at the on-air identifier, the E/I logo, which is a requirement of the Three-Hour Rule, to be aired throughout the entire program. Schmitt reported that rather than being aired throughout the entire program, the identifiers were aired at the very beginning of the program for only a few seconds and were usually hard to identify. Another requirement of the Three-Hour Rule is that broadcasters report E/I programs to various program guides. Schmitt found very little evidence of this identifier in guides and reported that the main source of television listings, TV Guide stopped labeling programs as E/I (Schmitt, 1999).

Schmitt (1999) also reported several ways to access the E/I programs available including ClickTV and other electronic program guides. In addition, children’s television liaisons for each station should be able to provide information about the E/I programs available, but Schmitt found the process of contacting such a person to be extremely difficult. Schmitt also reported on the offerings of E/I programming in the Philadelphia market. In this case, Schmitt looked at the hours of programming available and the time in which the programs were aired – the required time is between 7:00AM-10:00 PM. She found that each station in the Philadelphia market was offering at least three hours of E/I

41 programming per week during the allotted time. The study also indicated that 60% of stations were airing over three hours of core programming every week. Schmitt reported that because of the Three-Hour Rule, programs were now being aired during times children actually watch television and at a variety of times throughout the day as opposed to at 6:00 AM or earlier which was the case before the implementation of the Three-Hour

Rule (Schmitt, 1999).

Schmitt examined the content of E/I programs to discover what was being taught by these programs. This examination consisted of one hundred and thirty-two episodes of forty-four programs. The coding concluded that 51.5% of programs dealt with social- emotional issues, 5.3% with physical or health issues, 2.3% focused on two or more subjects equally and 37.1% dealt with traditionally academic subjects. In addition to the subject categories, Schmitt examined the main lessons of programs to determine if the E/I programs were truly educational. In order to do this, coders examined the objective of the programs to see if each fit four requirements, clarity of message, integration of lesson as a main theme, lesson involvement – target audience, age of characters as main role, understandable production techniques, and age appropriate lessons – and lesson applicability. Using this information, Schmitt determined that 33.3% of E/I programs in the Philadelphia market were highly education, 45.5% were moderately educational and

21.2% were minimally educational with an unknown purpose. With this information in mind, Schmitt reported that according to the standards established by the Annenberg

Public Policy Center, while most of the programming was educational, 21.2% of the programs reaching children labeled E/I had virtually no educational value (Schmitt,

1999).

42 In conclusion, Schmitt reported obstacles and opportunities for the Three-Hour

Rule. The first obstacle seemed to be finding more highly educational programming.

Schmitt reported that the amount of minimally educational programs stayed the same since the implementation of the Three-Hour Rule and that some programs labeled E/I were of questionable educational value. In addition, the idea of E/I seemed to be confusing to most people, even those working at individual stations and she recommended clearer guidelines by the FCC. Schmitt found that only one in seven parents were aware of the purpose of the E/I label and that information about this programming was scarce. Schmitt recommended more outreach and better, more informed station-community liaisons. A decrease in locally produced programming was once again listed as negative consequence of the Three-Hour Rule (Schmitt, 1999).

Schmitt reported that 80% of E/I programs in 1999 met Annenberg’s definition of educational programming and met the E/I requirements of the Three-Hour Rule. As a result of the Three-Hour Rule, violence in children’s television had basically been eliminated and none of the programs coded were considered by the researchers to be low quality. Schmitt found that a third of E/I programs had websites with information pertaining to the programs, and that while many of them were clearly for marketing purposes, an opportunity exists for broadcast stations to provide information online for parents and children about prosocial and educational topics discussed on each program.

In addition, Schmitt explained that television has a great potential for teaching children and that this potential was not yet being met. Though efforts were being made to serve the needs of children, more could still be done especially with traditionally educational programming (Schmitt, 1999).

43 In 2000 The Annenberg Public Policy Center once again examined the E/I schedules, program content and a week of E/I programming coming out of Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania. In an attempt to annually evaluate broadcast television’s compliance with the Three-Hour Rule, Amy B. Jordan, Ph.D. conducted similar research to Schmitt’s. In this report, Jordan (2000) indicated that during the 1999/2000 broadcast season, broadcasters in Philadelphia aired an average of 3.4 hours of core programming per week and that the majority of this programming was aired on Saturday mornings. Though the hour requirement was being met, program availability was not entirely dependable; shows were often moved or cancelled to be replaced by sporting events. The report also indicated that though educational programming was available to children, the E/I label was not effectively being used. Information about E/I programming was not made available to parents and the symbol to identify E/I was unclear. In addition, large networks including, ABC, CBS and NBC had chosen more “informative” programming rather than traditionally educational programming to fulfill their three hour requirement of core programming. The subject matter of most of these programs dealt with prosocial topics instead of lessons in academic subjects. Programs analyzed were said to be targeted mainly to 57% elementary age children and 37% teens (Jordan 2000). As can be determined by this article, broadcast stations were doing the minimum to fulfill their requirements of the Three-Hour Rule.

Using the same data collected from her previous study, Jordan (2004) looked at forty-one E/I programs and twenty-two phone interviews with industry experts. The goal of this research was to discover why most E/I programming focused on prosocial themes rather than the traditionally academic subjects. According to Jordan, the original vision

44 of policy makers and advocates, like Action for Children’s Television, was for more educational programming for children dealing with subjects including science, literature and math. Jordan also stated that broadcast networks were scared off by this recommendation and fought to have prosocial themes included in the regulation for core programming. The final regulation outlined in the Three-Hour Rule defined core programming as “programming that furthers the educational and informational needs of

children sixteen years of age and under in any respect, including children’s

intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs”. Jordan questioned the value of

prosocial programming. She reported that only young children, those under eight years,

learn lessons from prosocial programming, but that after this age prosocial messages of

friendship, honesty and self-esteem are just repetitive and that no new knowledge or

information is gained as a result of viewing (Jordan, 2004).

Jordan (2004) attempted to answer several questions through her research which

are as follows.

a.) What are the E/I programs available for children? What is the ratio of

academic to prosocial programming?

b.) How do E/I programs vary among stations and does it matter where the

programs come from?

c.) What does the industry think E/I programming means?

d.) How do economic considerations (i.e. advertiser support) affect E/I

programming for children?

To answer these questions, a content analysis of 10 stations was conducted: ABC, CBS,

NBC and FOX, small networks WB, UPN, Home Shopping Network, PAX and two

45 independent stations. In order to identify core programming Jordan called local networks, checked the TV Guide and eventually found the information on the FCC’s website posting of 398 Forms. Jordan looked at the source of programs, whether they were from syndication, local productions, or programs provided by the parent network.

In addition she analyzed the types of lessons found in these programs (Jordan, 2004).

Jordan found that there were three different types of sources for E/I programming, locally produced, syndicated, and network parent provided. During the 1999/2000 season in the large broadcast market studied, Jordan found that programming was almost equally halved as syndicated or network provided and that no programs were locally produced.

She also found that the large networks seemed to provide the programming to their individual stations whereas the smaller networks had to rely on syndicated programming.

Jordan also reported that larger networks were less likely than smaller networks to air academically based programming, 24.2% to 44.4% respectively (Jordan, 2004).

The report labels programs in three ways in terms of educational or informational lessons, “social/emotional,” “physical well-being,” and “traditional academic”. The results indicated that 45% of the episodes examined had social/emotional lessons, 40.7% had traditionally academic lessons, 4.4% dealt with physical well-being, and 7.4% dealt with more than one educational topic. The researchers concluded that during the

1999/2000 broadcast season, broadcast television stations were meeting their requirements set forth by the Three-Hour Rule. The author noted that this was not evident in years past. The report indicated that stations were not drawing attention to the

E/I programming being offered and that parents were still in the dark about the potential of the Three-Hour Rule and the availability of educational and informational

46 programming for children. The report suggested that in order to determine whether the

Children’s Television Act is helpful, researchers need to examine how and what children learn from television and whether or not prosocial programming is having the impact on children that is claimed (Jordan, 2004).

After interviewing industry employees, Jordan found that most insiders felt that the Three-Hour Rule has provided higher quality programming for children more often, but that prosocial themes seemed to comprise the majority of E/I programming. Jordan noted a major change in the way children’s television programming was produced, quoting small network insiders as claiming to have educators and child psychologists on the staff. A large network executive argued against claims that prosocial programming was not educational saying, “I’m a big proponent of helping both the production and the public understand the concept of informal learning. And television is an informal learning environment and it cannot be expected to accomplish what you can accomplish in a formal learning environment of the school” (Jordan, 2004).

Industry insiders were also able to explain to Jordan the hurdles of the Three-

Hour Rule in terms of funding. One obstacle noted was the lack of profit from educational television. The interviews concluded that with the abundance of cable programming available, it was difficult to attract children to broadcast television, especially those programs with educational themes. In addition, networks were not doing their part to promote programming aimed at children, because they did not want to put forth the money necessary for that promotion. Because children and parents were not aware on the programming available of broadcast television, they often turned to cable channels dedicated specifically to children such as Nickelodeon. An additional obstacle

47 noted was the difficulty attracting advertisers who were generally not interested in paying for commercial time during children’s television because they did not find it to be a profitable market. Because of the difficulty gaining advertiser interest, Jordan noted that one of the only profitable ways to produce educational children’s television is to sell linked merchandise (Jordan, 2004).

Jordan (2004) concluded that stations were meeting the three hour core programming requirement mandated by the FCC. Similar to previous Annenberg reports,

Jordan noted that stations failed to provide information about their core programming efforts and that parents were not aware of the available programming. She also explained the E/I identifiers were unclear and needed to be revamped to catch the eye of concerned parents. Jordan suggested that more research is needed to discover whether or not prosocial themes are beneficial to children. After policy makers and television providers have a better understanding of what children learn from television, Jordan suggested that broadcasters can work to better meet the expectations originally set forth by the

Children’s Television Act (Jordan, 2004).

The reports conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center seem to suggest that while the Three-Hour Rule has brought about improvements on the landscape of children’s television, there is still much more that needs to be done. While each report found that networks are reaching their three hour requirement of core programming per week, programs are predominantly prosocial rather than traditionally academic. Each report recommended an increase in the amount of educational programming available, with a few citing Bill Nye the Science Guy and The Magic School Bus as strong examples of successful educational programming for children. The reports also indicated a lack of

48 awareness among parents about core programming and when it is available. Jordan and

Schmitt recommended better community outreach and more knowledgeable children’s television-community liaisons from each station. Jordan and Schmitt reported that E/I denotations were not found in program guides. A possible reason for the lack of E/I identifiers in program guides may be that TV Guide no longer lists daytime programming.

However, station managers could do a better job to ensure that E/I identifiers are found in local program guides. Both Schmitt and Jordan turned to the 398 Forms filed to the FCC to identify the available core programming and information about them, because information about these programs could not be found elsewhere.

In comparing the three studies by Jordan and the one by Schmitt, it seems as though broadcast television stations improved their programming over the few years the reports were generated. In Schmitt’s report of the 1998/1999 season 51.5% of core programming had social and or emotional themes, 5.3% dealt with physical or health issues, 2.3% dealt with two or more academically based subjects and 37.1% dealt with academic subjects. In Jordan’s 2004 report, she analyzed information from the

1999/2000 season and saw an increase in the number of academic programming from

37.1% to 40.7%. Jordan also found other changes in the types of programming available,

45% of programming dealt with social/emotional topics, down from 51.5%, 4.4% dealt with physical and health issues, down from 5.3% and shows with more than one educational issue increased from 2.3% to 7.4%.

There have been a few additional publications about the benefits of the Children’s

Television Act that also cite room for improvement. Sandra L. Calvert and Jennifer A.

Kolter (2003) explained the strengths and areas for improvement. The two explained that

49 for the most part, children understand the messages set forth by core programming and that they even relate these messages to their own lives. Therefore, the authors reported that educational and informational television does work for children and that broadcasters need to realize its potential. The two noted that money, specifically lack of advertisers’ interest dues to ratings, was the primary concern with producing educational or informational television for children. The article stated that this is the reason for the abundance of prosocial programming and the limited amount of traditionally academic programming available among the core programming put out by broadcast stations. The two researchers asked whether prosocial programming is enough and whether stations are just doing the minimum required of them to slide by, without actually meeting the best interest of the child viewers (Calvert & Kolter, 2003).

The article stated challenges of academic themes of reading, writing and arithmetic being that the target audience shrinks as a result. According to Calvert and

Kolter, academic themes did not seem to reach as wide an audience as prosocial ones.

The authors noted the difficulty in gaining an audience and explained that it is the challenge of writers and producers of children’s television programs to add an entertainment value in order to generate an audience. Calvert and Kolter also explained that advertisers as well as consumers of media seem to prefer prosocial themes compared to academic themes. Though the authors noted the need for increased academic programming, they agree that prosocial programming has its benefits and programs with prosocial themes adequately teach children moral lessons of honesty, friendship and sympathy (Calvert & Kolter, 2003).

50 Calvert and Kolter (2003) made a recommendation to build the audience of

academically based programming which was to work with educators to air these shows as

after school programs. The two noted ABC’s after school television specials as a past

success in educational programming. The recommendation was for programming that is

both academically and prosocially minded and deals with even the difficult academic

subjects. The article stated that it is vitally important to know and understand the target

audience when producing educational or informational programming for children and that

holding focus groups would be a great way for television creators to learn about the target

audience. The article concluded by stating that media policy is good for our children and

that television can play a powerful role in their development. The article proposed a

partnership between educators and television creators to make higher quality television

programs for children. The authors also added that while the broadcast stations still have

much room for improvement, the Children’s Television Act has virtually eliminated

violence on children’s television and has replaced it with prosocial themes (Calvert &

Kolter, 2003).

Summary

A common finding in the literature reviewed was that prosocial programming was

much more common on broadcast children’s television than academic programming.

Each of the studies indicated that stations were airing over three hours of children’s programming per week. The reports by Born (2001), Jordan (1999), and Schmitt (1999) all reported few locally produced children’s programs on commercial broadcast stations.

Born (2001) and Jordan (2000) found pre-empting of children’s programming to air

51 sporting events and specials as a problem in broadcast television. An additional problem

reported by Schmitt (1999) and Jordan (2000 & 2004) was that on-air identifiers were too

short and hard to identify and that community outreach was not sufficient in educating

parents about available E/I programming. A positive finding in the studies by Jordan

(1999) and Schmitt (1999) was that with the increase in prosocial programming came a

decrease in violent programming; Jordan 2004 reported an increase in quality

programming as a result of the Three-Hour Rule.

There were obstacles reported in airing academically themed programs. Calvert

and Kolter (2003) explained that advertisers did not see profitability in this type of

programming. Jordan (2004) reported that stations worried about the competition with

cable stations. Calvert and Kolter explained that contrary to advertiser belief, educational

programming could attract viewers if the programming is entertaining and of high

quality. The problem with this is that stations did not want to invest in this type of

programming because they did not believe it to be profitable and instead focused on prosocial programming which is often cheaper to make and more profitable.

While prosocial programming may be beneficial to children, it is true that the

original goal of the Children’s Television Act was to provide high quality, entertaining

and educational programming for children and that the traditionally academic themes are

being overlooked by station programmers. It is likely that the number of traditionally

educational programs will continue to decrease due to lack of funding. It is also likely

that there are even fewer academically themed programs today than reported earlier.

Parents are most likely still unaware of the Three-Hour Rule and the television

programming that is supposed to be serving the best interest of their children. The

52 advocates for the Children’s Television Act had a vision much larger for the revamping

of children’s television than what is aired today. The requirements for E/I programming are vague and easily met, however there are still some aspects in which broadcast stations are lacking. It is important to revisit the subject of core programming on a regular basis

in order to determine any changes that have occurred in the area. The following chapter

will explain the data and findings of an original study of Form 398s which have been

filed reporting core programming to the FCC.

53 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLGY, DATA & FINDINGS

In order to ensure license renewals, commercial broadcast stations are required to submit Form 398 quarterly to the FCC citing their efforts to serve the educational/informational needs of the child audience. Form 398 requires a record of the average number of hours of E/I programming aired per week on the station and whether or not the target age group and E/I identifiers were given to program guide publishers, the names of each publisher must also be recorded. In addition, Form 398 requires a listing of each core program aired by the station along with the scheduled time, the amount of times the program was aired during the quarter, the number of times that program was preempted, the length of the program, and the target audience. The station must also report whether or not the E/I identifier was used during the airing of the programming and a brief description of how the programming meets the criteria of core programming.

A blank example of Form 398 can be found in Appendix C.

Methodology

For this thesis, Form 398s were collected from each of the owned and operated stations in the Manhattan, NY market for ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX during the first quarter of 2008. The forms were coded to determine whether filed programs were educational or prosocial in theme. Themes included social, emotional, educational, and other. Definitions of the categories social and emotional came directly from the terms used by stations on the forms. Examples of social include descriptions such as family bonds, loyalty, peer pressure, and trust. Examples of emotional include self-confidence, emotion regulation, courage, and bereavement. Descriptions of educational include basic

54 themes of literacy, math, science, health, and geography and also include themes listed on

the forms such as information, news, animals, wild life, and environment. All other

descriptions used on the 398 Forms were listed as “other,” this included themes such as problem solving, creativity, ethics, teen issues, and divorce. The forms often cited

several themes for each program, therefore there could be multiple descriptions per

category and multiple categories could be used to describe one individual program. The coding sheet used can be found in Appendix D.

Programs with either or both “social” or “emotional” themes were classified as prosocial. Programs with educational themes were classified as educational; programs with “other” themes were classified as “other”. There was a possibility that programs could be prosocial and educational or prosocial, educational and other, or just one of the three alone. One way to sort the data collected was by individual stations in order to discover the themes of the individual programs. For this, data were separated by station and organized by program; the number of descriptions for each category was recorded.

Data

ABC aired eight E/I programs per week on Saturday mornings during the first quarter of 2008. One program, That’s So Raven was aired twice, making the total number of hours of E/I programming four and a half. The distribution of themes in programs on ABC for the first quarter 2008 can be found in Table 5.

55 Table 5 WABC Programs and Themes (1st quarter 2008) Program title social emotional educational other

The Emperor’s New School 3 1 0 3

The Replacements 1 1 0 3

That’s So Raven 4 1 0 2

That’s So Raven 4 1 0 2

Hannah Montana 5 1 0 2

The Suite Life of Zach and Cody 2 1 0 3

Jack Hannah’s Animal 0 0 3 1 Adventures Animal Explorations 0 0 3 0

Sports Stars of Tomorrow 1 0 0 1

ABC aired two programs with educational themes during the first quarter of 2008.

Theses programs were Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures and Animal Explorations with

Jarrod Miller. Programs about animal life are common among E/I programming, and

while animal life is not a traditional academic subject of mathematics, literacy, history,

and the like, these programs are still informative for young children. Both animal life

programs were the only two of the eight programs that did not claim any social or

emotional themes on Form 398. The remainder of the programs had at least one social

theme, and all but Sports Starts of Tomorrow cited an emotional theme. The majority of the programs aired on ABC were prosocial, with themes dealing with social issues.

56 CBS aired three hours of E/I programming during the first quarter of 2008. These

three hours were made up of six programs. The distribution of themes in these programs

can be found in Table 6.

Table 6 WCBS Programs and Themes (1st quarter 2008) Program Title Social Emotional Educational Other

Care Bears: Adventures in Care 1 2 0 1 Land Strawberry Shortcake 4 2 0 1

Cake 2 1 0 2

Horseland 6 1 0 1

Sushi Pack 3 1 0 1

Dino Squad* n/a n/a n/a n/a

* Where other programs were cited as aiding children to “learn some important life-lessons related to such traits as loyalty, honesty, and self-confidence…” (FCC, 2008c), the E/I explanation for Dino Squad stated “Each episode draws on a set of planned educational and informational themes related to specific pro-social concepts, life-lessons, and/or selected groups of facts drawn from a variety of fields of study” (FCC, 2008c). This explanation is unclear and lacks specific descriptions of themes.

During the first quarter of 2008, CBS’s owned and operated station was airing no

programs with educational themes. Like ABC, the main themes among CBS’s programs

were prosocial. Five of the six programs on CBS had some element of social, emotional

or other theme present. In addition, five programs were cited as having some other E/I

qualifier on Form 398. Information about the E/I qualifier of one program, Dino Squad

was unclear. Where other programs were cited as aiding children to “learn some

important life-lessons related to such traits as loyalty, honesty, and self-confidence…”

57 (FCC, 2008c), the E/I explanation for Dino Squad stated “Each episode draws on a set of

planned educational and informational themes related to specific pro-social concepts,

life-lessons, and/or selected groups of facts drawn from a variety of fields of study”

(FCC, 2008c). The description for Dino Squad by WCBS on Form 398 failed to use any words describing the specific core programming themes present in the program, therefore it is difficult to determine whether the program actually meets the requirements of core programming.

During the first quarter of 2008, NBC aired three hours core programming per week. Six programs made up the three hours of programming. The distribution of themes can be found in Table 7.

Table 7 WNBC Programs and Themes (1st quarter 2008) Program Title Social Emotional Educational Other

Jane and the Dragon 0 1 0 1

Veggie Tales* n/a n/a n/a n/a

3-2-1 Penguins! 0 0 0 1

My Friend Rabbit 2 0 0 3

Dragon 0 0 0 2

Jacob Two-Two 1 0 0 3

* WNBC used an unclear, generic description of Veggie Tales, leaving the question of how this program meets the requirements of core programming.

58 For the most part, the programming aired on NBC was not prosocial or academic in theme. One program, Jane and the Dragon had an emotional theme of coming of age.

Jacob Two-Two had a social theme of honesty. Other themes present among the programs were problem solving (Jane and the Dragon, 3-2-1 Penguins, My Friend

Rabbit, Dragon, Jacob Two-Two), creativity (My Friend Rabbit), dedication (My Friend

Rabbit, Dragon, Jacob Two-Two), and integrity (Jacob Two-Two). The description provided for Veggie Tales had no indicator of prosocial or educational themes and is as follows, “…the show teaches life lessons through wit and humor. Each episode contains one or two short animated stories that illustrate core values to children in an entertaining way” (FCC, 2008d). Like WCBS and Dino Squad, WNBC used an unclear, generic description of Veggie Tales, leaving the question of how this program meets the requirements of core programming.

During the first quarter of 2008, FOX aired seven core programs. The seven programs made up three and a half hours of programming per week. The distribution of program themes can be found in Table 8.

59 Table 8 WNYW Programs and Themes (1st quarter 2008) Program Title Social Emotional Educational Other

Teen Kids News 0 0 2 0

Saved by the Bell 0 1 0 3

Wild About Animals 0 0 1 0

The Adrenaline Project* n/a n/a n/a n/a

Beakman’s World 0 0 1 0

Beakman’s World 0 0 1 0

Awesome Adventures 0 0 3 0

*The 398 Form filed by FOX was unclear about the core programming qualifiers for The Adrenaline Project which was briefly described as taking “five thrill-seeking teens and [daring] them to complete head-to-head through intense physical and mental challenges. Each week, new competitors will discover and surpass their personal limits as they reach for glory! (FCC, 2008e).

None of the programs aired on FOX during the first quarter of 2008 were cited as

using social themes. Only one program, Saved by the Bell was cited as having an

emotional theme of bereavement. During this quarter, five out of the seven programs

aired on FOX had some type of educational theme. Teen Kids News listed themes of

information and news. Beakman’s World, aired twice, was cited as featuring a science

theme. Wild About Animals was cited as having themes of animals present among its

episodes. Animals, wild life and environment were themes present in the program

Awesome Adventures. The 398 Form filed by FOX was unclear about the core

programming qualifiers for The Adrenaline Project which was briefly described as taking

“five thrill-seeking teens and [daring] them to compete head-to-head through intense

physical and mental challenges. Each week, new competitors will discover and surpass

60 their personal limits as they reach for glory! (FCC, 2008e). This description left no

indication that The Adrenaline Project meets the requirements of core programming.

A second way to examine the data collected is to break it down by individual

descriptions for each of the themes. The themes of social, emotional, educational, and

other were organized by station and description of theme.

Social themes were prominent among the core programs reported to the FCC.

The types of social themes reported on the FCC forms are listed in Table 9. The number

of times each theme was used in a program is listed by station. Because some stations

use multiple themes to describe programs, the number of total themes will not add up the

number of programs.

61 Table 9 Social Themes by Station (1st quarter 2008) Theme WABC WCBS WNBC WNYW (FOX) Total

Friendship 1 4 0 0 5

Honesty 0 2 1 0 3

Cooperation 0 1 0 0 1

Family Bonds 3 0 0 0 3

Respect 1 1 1 0 3

Caring 0 1 1 0 2

Competition 1 1 0 0 2

Popularity 2 0 0 0 2

Loyalty 3 1 0 0 4

Jealousy 3 0 0 0 3

Peer pressure 3 0 0 0 3

Trust 2 1 0 0 3

Sportsmanship 0 1 0 0 1

Sociable 0 1 0 0 1

Sharing 0 1 0 0 1

Compromise 0 1 0 0 1

TOTAL 19 16 3 0

Descriptions of social themes were used most frequently on the forms compared

to emotional, educational and other. Thirty-eight social themes were used in the twenty- 62 eight programs aired on the four networks combined. The most common social themes were friendship and loyalty, used five times and four times respectively on the forms.

Honesty, respect, jealousy, peer pressure, and trust were each used three times on the

forms. ABC’s programs had the most social themes during its programs, with nineteen,

followed closely by CBS, with sixteen. NBC’s programs had three social themes, and

FOX’s had none.

Another theme comprising the type of prosocial messages often portrayed during

core programming is emotional. There were six different emotional themes found on the

398 Forms filed during the first quarter of 2008. The breakdown of these emotional

themes according to station is provided in Table 10.

Table 10 Emotional Themes by Station (1st quarter 2008) Themes WABC WCBS WNBC WNYW (FOX) Total

Coming of age 0 1 1 0 2

Self 5 3 0 0 8 confidence Emotion 0 1 0 0 1 regulation Courage 0 1 0 0 1

Bereavement 1 0 0 1 2

Recognizing 0 1 0 0 1 others emotions TOTAL 6 7 1 1

63 As with the other prosocial theme, social, ABC and CBS had the most emotional themes present among their core programming filed to the FCC, with six and seven themes filed respectively. There were few emotional themes present on NBC and FOX, each with only one emotional theme filed. The most common emotional theme present among core programming was self-confidence, found on four of ABC’s programs including The Emperor’s New School, The Replacements, That’s So Raven (aired twice), and The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.

Educational themes were least prevalent among the four categories of themes collected from the 398 Forms. The types of educational themes found on each station are listed in Table 11.

64 Table 11 Educational Themes by Station (1st quarter 2008) Theme WABC WCBS WNBC WNYW (FOX) Total

Literacy 0 0 0 0 0

Math 0 0 0 0 0

Science 0 0 0 2 2

Health 0 0 0 0 0

Geography 0 0 0 0 0

Information 0 0 0 1 1

News 0 0 0 1 1

Current events 0 0 0 0 0

Animals 2 0 0 2 4

Wild life 2 0 0 1 3

Environment 2 0 0 1 3

TOTAL: 6 0 0 8

Only one of the traditional themes of education, literacy, math, science, health,

and geography, were found among the core programs aired during the first quarter of

2008. The traditionally academic theme present on FOX’s Beakman’s World was

science. Other educational topics found during this quarter were those dealing with

animals, two on ABC, Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures and Animal Explorations with

Jarrod Miller, and two on FOX, Wild About Animals and Awesome Adventures. Other

educational themes, including wild life and environment were also used to describe those 65 four programs. In addition to animal/wild life programs, FOX aired a news program

Teen Kids News which focused on themes of information and news. During the first quarter of 2008, CBS and NBC listed no educational themes among their core programming.

There were several themes listed on the 398 Forms that did not quite fit in the categories of social, emotional, or educational. These themes and their distribution prevalence can be found in Table 12.

66 Table 12 Other Themes by Station (1st quarter 2008) Themes: WABC WCBS WNBC WNYW (FOX) Total

Problem solving 0 1 5 0 6

Creativity 0 1 1 0 2

Respect for nature 1 0 0 0 1

Ethics 0 0 0 1 1

Healthy lifestyles 0 1 0 1 2

Dedication 1 0 3 0 4

Physical limits 1 0 0 0 1

Adhering to rules 5 0 0 0 5

Consequences 4 1 0 0 5

Integrity 1 0 1 0 2

Divorce 1 0 0 0 1

Money issues 1 0 0 0 1

Fairness 1 0 0 0 1

Responsibility 1 0 0 0 1

Motivation 0 1 0 0 1

Goals 0 1 0 0 1

Life lessons 0 0 1 0 1

Teen issues 0 0 0 1 1

TOTAL: 17 6 11 3

67 Among the twenty-eight programs listed on the 398 Forms, there were thirty-

seven “other” themes that program directors claimed as serving the educational or information needs of the child viewers. ABC reported the most number of these themes with seventeen, FOX, reported the least with only three. CBS reported six of these themes, NBC, eleven. Most of the themes, fourteen of the eighteen, were only listed once among all of the programming. Only four themes were used by multiple stations, these include problem solving (CBS & NBC), creativity (CBS & NBC), dedication (ABC &

NBC), consequences (ABC & CBS), and integrity (ABC & NBC). The most common of these themes were adhering to rules and understanding consequences, both of which were cited during ABC programs.

Findings

According to the Form 398 filings on WABC and WNYW (FOX) both seem to be in compliance with the Three-Hour Rule. WABC lists four and half hours of core programming on Form 398. Seven of the nine programs aired on WABC had prosocial themes, two had educational themes. WNYW claims three and half hours of core programming per week. Three hours of that were found to be in compliance with the

Three-Hour Rule. WCBS and WNBC each aired at least three hours of programming per week, but whether or not the themes of all of these programs fit the definition of core programming is questionable.

As mentioned above, WNYW was airing three-hours of programming that fit the definition of core programming; however, the station was claiming three and a half hours.

One program, The Adrenaline Project is a reality program for children with no

68 educational or prosocial messages present, according to the Three-Hour Rule. As stated earlier, the core programming description made by WNYW was “The Adrenaline Project takes five thrill-seeking teens and dares them to compete head-to-head through intense physical and mental challenges. Each week, new competitors will discover and surpass their personal limits as they reach for glory! (FCC, 2008e). One might wonder why

WNYW claimed a program that was clearly not educational or informational on Form

398 when the station was already airing the minimum amount of core programming.

Despite false reports to the FCC, WNYW aired three hours of core programming that actually fit the requirements, during the first quarter of 2008 and was therefore in compliance with the Three-Hour Rule.

WCBS reports the minimum required of stations to the FCC in terms of core programming. Five of the six programs aired on WCBS fit the definition of core programming, each having prosocial themes, none with educational themes. The description of one program, Dino Squad leaves an unclear idea of the E/I themes present.

As stated earlier, the description on Dino Squad is vague and does not use any clear descriptions of social, emotional or educational themes. WCBS claims that the program fits the guidelines for core programming by stating “This program is specifically designed to further the educational and informational needs of children, has educating and informing children as a significant purpose, and otherwise meets the definition of

Core Programming as specified in the Commission’s rules (FCC, 2008c). The previous statement is generically used as a conclusion sentence for the description of each of the programs aired on WCBS and has no individual value or meaning when describing Dino

Squad.

69 WNBC, like WCBS reported the minimum amount of core programming

expected of them in compliance with the Three-Hour Rule. Though WCBS claims to air

six E/I programs, only two of the programs have social, emotional or educational themes.

WCBS reports that both My Friend Rabbit and Jacob Two-Two have social themes present among episodes. The remaining four programs are each cited as having a core program qualifier, but none of these descriptions are prosocial or educational. The description for Jane and the Dragon is “a coming-of-age story about a middle-class, medieval girl who lives in the Royal Court with her family…Jane experiences a series of adventures that test her character and her skills…Each episode in the show takes us through the problems and challenges Jane encounters and the process she goes through to find the solutions for them” (FCC, 2008d). The themes present in this program are coming-of-age and problem solving, none of which seem to fit the definition of core programming. Problem solving was also cited as a theme for 3-2-1 Penguins. That same theme along with dedication was present in the program Dragon. Though NBC claims to provide core-programming, their definition seems to be around the idea of problem solving and not prosocial issues or educational topics.

Educational themes are scarce among core programming, something that was originally intended to be solely education in theme. However, the FCC created a loophole in the Children’s Television Act and the subsequent Three-Hour Rule, and that is prosocial programming. That loophole is used by each of the four stations as an easy way to comply with government regulation for children’s programming without actually providing educational programming.

70 Prosocial programming is prominent among the Saturday morning television for children. Educational themes in core programming often deal with animals, wild life, news, or information. Though 25% of the Saturday morning programs sampled featured some type of educational theme, only 7% dealt with an academic topic. Of the twenty- eight programs sampled, only one program, Beakman’s World which was aired twice on

Saturday mornings on FOX, dealt with a traditionally academic theme. The description of Beakman’s World provided by FOX on the 398 Form is “The entire series deals with science and the task of making science accessible and understandable. It offers scientific content, scientific theories, the vocabulary and facts of science and the processes of scientific thinking” (FCC, 2008e). The report also notes that the target age group for this program is children thirteen to sixteen years old. This information concludes that there is only one hour of academically-based educational programming on per week for thirteen to sixteen year-olds. There are no programs specifically designed for the remainder of the child audience with academically oriented themes.

The following chapter will provide conclusions to the data collected and studies reviewed. In addition, recommendations about core programming for the broadcast television industry will be suggested.

71 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The original hope of advocates for regulation in children’s television was for

commercial free, high quality, educational programming on all commercial broadcast

television stations. Several problems presented themselves with these requests. First,

asking a commercially funded broadcast station to air programs without direct commercial sponsorship may be a difficult request. The second problem that appeared is that broadcast stations claim that children’s television is not profitable, and to eliminate the small amount of advertising revenue brought in by the stations would make airing children’s programming all together less appealing to station programmers. That being said, commercials, while limited are still present among broadcast stations’ children’s programming and with good reason, the ability to fund these programs. In addition, airing educational shows has never been an appealing option for broadcast television stations and programmers have found a way around this by airing prosocial, news and information, and wild-life programs as fulfillment of their core programming requirement.

Though not exactly what the organization had in mind, Action for Children’s

Television has made a difference on children’s television aired on commercial broadcast stations. Though ACT fought for no commercials, the amount of time allowed for advertisements has been reduced. There are restrictions on host selling and amount of commercials aired within an hour on broadcast television. ACT also wanted stations to provide quality programming for children. Due to regulations stations are required to provide an explanation of how their programs serve the interest of the child audience four times a year to the FCC. This forces station programmers to think about the programs

72 that are being aired and at least attempt to meet the educational or social/emotional needs of the child audience. The Three-Hour Rule did not bring about huge changes in the amount of programs aired by broadcast stations, because as discovered in Chapter 3, during the three years sampled prior to 2008, each of the stations were already airing at least three hours of children’s television per week, and this was true with the findings in

Chapter 4 for 2008. This regulation does enforce that stations continue to air at least three hours of children’s programming in future years. One change that came about was the content of these programs. With stricter guidelines set in place, violence was removed from the Saturday morning programs (Jordan, 1999) and replaced with prosocial messages of friendship and honesty.

Then and Now: Comparing Past Studies with Original Research

There were similarities found in the original research conducted with previous research gathered about the Three-Hour Rule. Born (2001) found that many programs were aired multiple times to count for two program slots. This is something which still occurs now on Saturday mornings with Beakman’s World, aired twice on FOX and

That’s So Raven, aired twice on ABC.

An additional similarity found with previous studies and this one is of the type of

E/I programs aired on broadcast television. In Jordan’s (1999) study, she reported on complaints from industry executives about the core programming aired. She explained that programs more often featured prosocial themes rather than educational themes. This is still true today with only 25% of the Saturday morning programs featuring educational themes.

73 Schmitt (1999) reported upon the difficulty of discovering information about core

programming including time aired and the E/I identifier. At the time, E/I identifiers

could not be found in program guides. Schmitt expressed the need for more awareness

among parents about core programming and its intentions. Currently TV Guide does not

include E/I identifiers and therefore information about core programming cannot be

found using this source (TV Guide Online, 2008). Only one of the four networks’

websites provided E/I indicators on their site along with program titles and airing time.

The website for ABC lists the time slot, program title, rating label and E/I label for its

programming (Disney, 2008). CBS provides only supplemental materials about the

programs including video clips and activities (Kewlopolis, 2007). FOX’s children’s

website, 4KidsTV.com is similar to that of CBS in that it features only supplemental materials and no ratings or E/I identifiers (4Kids TV, Inc., 2008). Finally, the children’s website for NBC features only a brief paragraph about each of the programs with no

target audience or E/I identifier listed (NBC, 2008).

Today, educational programming is present among Saturday morning programs if

one considers animal wild-life programs and news and information to be educational.

Action for Children’s Television wanted quality programs aired on broadcast stations.

The current amount of educational programming aired by broadcast stations is almost

insignificant compared to the fourteen hours of educational programming per week

originally requested by ACT. While the advocacy group did bring about changes in

children’s television, their original expectations were too high for the FCC who

seemingly did not want a large involvement in the policing of children’s television

programming.

74 E/I Program Themes

The first quarter 2008 sample found six educational programs making up three- and half hours of programming on the four stations combined. Educational programming currently found on broadcast television consists of four animal/wild-life programs, one

news program and one science themed program (aired twice). The remainder of the

twenty-eight programs were either prosocial or did not quite meet the definition of E/I set

forth by the FCC. As far as educational content on broadcast television goes, not much

has changed between the years examined in Chapter 2 and now. In 1999, after both the

Children’s Television Act and the Three-Hour Rule had been in place for six years and three years respectively, one animal/wild-life program, one news programs and one science program were aired. Of the four time periods examined, 1987, 1993, 1999 and

2008, there were only two traditionally academically themed programs aired among the four broadcast stations sampled. These included Beakman’s World, aired in 1993 and in

2008, and Bill Nye the Science Guy aired in 1999. There were several animal wild-life programs, Wild Kingdom (1993, ABC), Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures (1999 &

2008, ABC), Animal Explorations with Jarrod Miller (2008, ABC), Wild About Animals,

(2008, FOX), and Awesome Adventures (2008, FOX). There were also a few news programs, News for Kids (NBC, 1993), Nick News (CBS, 1993), Not Just News (1993,

FOX), and Teen Kids News, (1993, FOX).

Prosocial themes are common in Saturday morning television for children; this type of programming fits the definition of core programming as meeting the social/emotional or educational needs of the child audience. By airing three hours of programs with prosocial themes, stations’ license renewals are expedited. Over half of

75 the programs in the sample, (57%) had either or both social or emotional themes. 77% of the programs aired on ABC featured prosocial themes. 83% of the programs aired on

CBS featured prosocial themes. Only 50% of the programs on NBC had prosocial themes; the remaining half of the programs did not fit the definition for core programming. Only one of the programs aired on FOX, 14%, had prosocial themes, the remainders of the programs aired by FOX were educational (except one program, The

Adrenaline Project, which was not found to fit the definition of core programming).

Quantity of E/I Programs

The amount of television programs for children aired on ABC has dropped from twelve programs in 1999 to nine programs in 2008. Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures was aired during both of the years sampled. In 1999, ABC had an academically themed program, Bill Nye the Science Guy, but by 2008, the program was replaced with an additional animal-life program. More live-action programs were aired on ABC in 2008 than in 1999, seven programs, up from three.

Saturday morning programs on NBC have completely changed from what was aired during 1999. In the 2008 sample of programs, each of the six programs was targeted at the four to eight year-old audience. In 1999, NBC was the only network airing an entire Saturday morning block targeted specifically at teens ages twelve to seventeen. The station also went from airing six live-action programs in 1999 to six animated programs in 2008. One thing remained constant for both years sampled, NBC was airing the minimum amount of programs required by the Three-Hour Rule.

76 During both years sampled, 1999 and 2008, CBS aired the minimum amount of children’s television required of them by the Three-Hour Rule. While all of the programs changed between these two years, all programs except one, Cake, were animated which was aired during the first quarter of 2008.

The amount of children’s shows aired on FOX dropped from four and half hours in 1999 to three and half hours in 2008. There were a mix of live-action and animated programs on FOX in 1999, but by 2008, all programs aired on FOX’s Saturday morning block were live-action. In 1999 there were no educational programs on FOX, however, but by 2008 five out of seven of the programs aired on WNYW featured educational themes.

Though the Children’s Television Act and the Three-Hour Rule provided regulation for broadcast stations that advocacy groups had been requesting for years, there are still some flaws in these rules. While regulations are in place, there does not seem to be a strict following of these regulations by the individual broadcast stations. It would be interesting to determine just how much time the FCC spends looking over the

398 Forms filed each quarter. If the commission looked closely, they would most likely find results similar to this thesis and conclude that more needs to be done to ensure that each broadcast station is meeting the requirements of the Three-Hour Rule.

FOX and ABC each aired at least three hours of core programming per week during the first quarter of 2008. FOX leaned more toward educational themes of wild life and news and entertainment, while ABC solely aired prosocial programs. Efforts made by CBS and NBC were weak; neither station seemed to be in complete compliance with

77 the Three-Hour Rule. Both networks used deceptive language in their filing of Form 398

to pass certain programs as fitting the definition of core programming.

Recommendations

There has been improvement in children’s television over the years due to

advocates of educational television and regulations from the FCC. There are an

abundance of programs on Saturday mornings with prosocial themes, teaching children

how to act in social situations and how to control their emotions. News programs allow

for children to learn about current events through programming targeted at their age group and comprehension level. Animal programs teach children about the environment and wildlife. Unfortunately there was only one program found during the first quarter

2008 that dealt with an academic subject, Beakman’s World.

While efforts to provide prosocial programming and news and information programs for children are evident, there still is a need for programs with traditionally

academic themes including literacy, science, and arithmetic. Calvert and Kolter (2003), proposed that children’s television producers team with educators to make higher quality programs for children. This is an excellent and feasible recommendation to help improve the quality and content of children’s television aired on broadcast stations. Collaboration between people who know entertainment, producers, and people who know education, educators, brings the possibility of entertaining, curriculum-based programs that children can enjoy and also learn from.

Broadcast television programmers should take educational television more seriously. A 2005 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation cited that children age eight to

78 eighteen watch an average of three hours and four minutes of television per day (Roberts,

Foehr, & Rideout, 2005). If the industry can fill some of those hours with academic themes, television can be more beneficial to children. WABC’s programs all fit the definition of core programming, and the station was in compliance with the Three-Hour

Rule during the first quarter of 2008, but the station does not feature any academic themes in its four and half hours of television aired per week.

While educational television is important, it does not need to dominate the programming found on broadcast television. Programmers complain about the lack of profitability in educational programs, but if broadcast stations provided just one academically oriented program during their Saturday morning line-up, there would still be room for additional programs to bring in more advertisement revenue. In addition to new and existing educational shows, prosocial programming is beneficial to children and should still be in place.

Broadcast stations need to be doing better in their attempts to meet the needs of the child audience. A 2004 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 19% of

U.S. children do not have cable or satellite in their homes (Rideout, 2004). While there may be educational programming available on channels like Nickelodeon and Discovery

Kids, some children rely on broadcast stations for their television programming options.

While individual stations need to work on improving the content of their core programming, the government needs to take regulations more seriously. The FCC needs to decide if the Three-Hour Rule is something important to the lives of children, and if so, the commission needs to better regulate broadcast stations. Stations like WCBS are sliding by with generic descriptions stating that individual programs meet the definition

79 of core programming, but provide no detail as to how these programs are educational or informational and the programs could very well have no educational or informational value. The problem with the Three-Hour Rule lies in both the reporting and the regulation. It is easy for stations to report information on Form 398 that gives an illusion of E/I themes present among their programs. The problem with the FCC is their failure to carefully read the Form 398s and compare the descriptions of each station’s programs to discover if detail about individual programs is provided.

In addition to stricter attention paid by the FCC, more emphasis needs to be placed on informing parents about core programming, the meaning of the E/I identifier and the ratings system. This will allow parents more understanding about the content in commercial broadcast television programs for children and those parents can make personal decisions on the programs their children view. The FCC sets regulations in place that the individual stations must comply with, but in the long run it is still up to parents to regulate the type and quantity of television viewed by their children. While there may be educational or prosocial programs available on broadcast television, if children have access to cable and little parent supervision, those children have access to an abundance of programs filled with violence, bad language, and adult themes.

If there are to be real changes made in children’s television on commercial broadcast television, a multitude of people need to get involved. First stations need to team with educators to decide what programs suit the needs of children, and to develop new academically oriented programs for the child audience. Second, the FCC needs to more closely review Form 398 and make sure the explanations of core programming are thorough and honest. Third, community-station liaisons need to make sure parents are

80 aware of core programming by listing information in program guides and on their

websites. Finally, parents need to pay attention to the ratings and the E/I identifier and

wisely chose the programs their children should be watching. If more parents support

broadcast television’s efforts at core programming, ratings could increase and advertisers may be more willing to support this type of programming.

81 REFERENCES

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82

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85 APPENDIX A: TV GUIDE PROGRAM LISTINGS 1987, 1993, 1999

October 17-23, 1987 – Programs by Network WABC WCBS WNBC WNYW Wild Kingdom Patchwork Family Abra Kadabra Sylvanian Families Uncle Waldo Young Universe Kidsongs Starcom: The U.S. Space Force King Leonardo Hello Kitty’s Furry Hickory Hideout Lady Lovelylocks Tale Theater and the Pixietails Care Bear Families Jim Henson’s Disney’s Popples Muppet Babies Adventures of the Gummi Bears Little Clowns of Pee Wee’s Smurfs Get Along Gang Happy Town Playhouse My Pet Monster Mighty Mouse: The Fraggle Rock Dr. Science New Adventures Pound Puppies Popeye and Son Alvin and the New Monkees Chipmunks Little Wizards Teen Wolf Alf Wonderful World of Disney Real Ghostbusters CBS Storybreak The New Archies Flintstone Kids Young Universe Foofur Bugs Bunny and Tweety

86

October 30-November 5, 1993 – Programs by Network WABC WCBS WNBC WFOX Twinkle the Dream Captain Planet Name Your Around the World Being Adventure in 80 Dreams Mad Scientists Nick News California Dreams Not Just News Cro Marsupilami Saved by the Bell Hurricanes C.O.W. Boys Little Mermaid Running in Halls Dog City Sonic the Hedgehog Garfield NBA Inside Stuff Bobby’s World Addams Family New Dennis the News for Kids Droopy Master Menace Detective Cryptkeepers Ninja Turtles Eek the cat Bugs Bunny and Cadillac’s and Tiny Toons Tweety Dinosaurs Bugs Bunny and Beakman’s World Taz Mania Tweety Citykids CBS Storybreak X-Men Power Rangers

September 18-24, 1999 – Programs by Network WABC WCBS WNBC WNYW Awesome Rupert NBA Inside Stuff Critter Gritters Adventures Field Trip Anatole Hang Time Real Life 101 Bill Nye the Science Dumb Bunnies Saved by the Bell More than a Game Guy the New Class Jack Hannah’s Flying Rhino Junior City Guys Popular Mechanics Animal Adventures High for Kids Hercules Birdz One World Godzilla One Saturday Mythic Warriors City Guys Sherlock Holmes in Morning (2 hrs.) the 22nd Century Sabrina the Turbo a Power Animated Series Ranger’s Movie (2hrs.) Squigglevision Transformers: Beast Machines New Adventures of Big Guy and Rusty Winnie the Pooh the Boy Robot

87 APPENDIX B: WEBSITE TITLES AND URLS FOR INTERNET MOVIE

DATABASE (IMDB) SOURCE

Patchwork Family http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0795175/ Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0092368/ Muppet Babies http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0086764/ Pee Wee’s Playhouse http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0090500/ Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0161170/ Popeye and Son http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0252162/ Teen Wolf http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0272412/ CBS Storybreak http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0272370/ Wild Kingdom http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0147712/ King Leonardo and his Short Subjects http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0053515/ The Care Bears http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0284713/ Little Clown of Happy Town http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0284755/ My Pet Monster http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0213361/ Pound Puppies http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0090503/ The Little Wizards http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0395878/ The Real Ghostbusters http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0090506/ The Flintstone Kids http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0240265/ Bugs Bunny and Tweety http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0090405/ Kidsongs http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0138973/ The Gummi Bears http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0088528/ Smurfs http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0081933/ Fraggle Rock http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0085017/ Alvin and the Chipmunks http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0084972/ Alf http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0090390/ New Archies http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0176382/ Foofur http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0286359/ Sylvanian families http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0854615/ Starcom: The U.S. Space Force http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0129398/ Lady Lovelylocks and the Pixietails http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0287240/ Popples http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0174420/ Get-Along Gang http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0174392/ Dr. Science http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0309148/ New Monkees http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0092413/ The Wonderful World of Disney http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0132666/ Twinkle the Dream Being http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt1176879/ Mad Scientist Toon Club http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0249772/ Cro http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0252130/ Wild West C.O.W. - Boys of Moo Mesa http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0190210/ Sonic the Hedgehog http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0106140/ The Addams Family http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0057729/

88 Tales from the Cryptkeeper http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0122837/ Bugs Bunny and Tweety http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0090405/ Citykids http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0147758/ Kidd Video http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0086743/ Scratch http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0406461/ Name Your Adventure http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0168353/ California Dreams http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0103380/ Saved By the Ball http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0096694/ Running the Halls http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0106118/ NBA Inside Stuff http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0358327/ News for Kids http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0190194/ Not Just News http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0482417/ Around the World in Eighty Dreams http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0103353/ Hurricanes http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0115209/ Dog City http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0120949/ Bobby’s World http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0103373/ Droopy: Master Detective http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0105988/ Eek the cat http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0103408/ Tiny Toon Adventures http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0098929/ Taz –Mania http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0103562/ X-Men http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0103584/ Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0106064/ Captain Planet and the Planeteers http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0098763/ Nick News with Linda Ellerbee http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0266165/ Marsupilami http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0179592/ The Little Mermaid http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0103477/ Garfield and Friends http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0094469/ All-New Dennis the Menace http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0287192/ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0131613/ Cadillac’s and Dinosaurs http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0101056/ Beakman’s World http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0106367/ Awesome Adventures http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0402619/ Field Trip http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0306321/ Bill Nye, the Science Guy http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0173528/ Animal Adventures http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0381731/ Hercules http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0138967/ One Saturday Morning http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0179036/ Sabrina the Animated Series http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0172052/ Science Court http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0124255/ New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0165052/ NBA Inside Stuff http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0358327/ Saved By the Bell the New Class http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0106123/ Hang time http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0111994/ City Guys http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0147757/ Critter Gritters http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0331737/

89 Real Life 101 http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0360306/ Popular Mechanics for Kids http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0126169/ Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0218791/ Godzilla: The Series http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0177443/ Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0120389/ Transformers: Beast Machines http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0189315/ Big guy and Rusty the Boy Robot http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0217914/ Rupert http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0155445/ Anatole http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0209536/ The Dumb Bunnies http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0472245/ Flying Rhino Junior High http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0218766/ Birdz http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0221020/ Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0229149/ One World http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0168357/

90 APPENDIX C: FCC FORM 398

91 92 93 94 95

96 97 98 99 100 101

102 APPENDIX D: CODING SHEET

Educational vs. Prosocial Programming Children’s Programming – 1st quarter 2008 398 Forms

Station: WABC (ABC) WCBS (CBS) WNBC (NBC) WNYW (FOX)

Program Title: ______

Target Age Group: ______

Rating: TV-Y TV-Y7 TV-Y7-FV TV-G TVPG

Date: ______Time: ______

Themes

Social Emotional Education Other

Friendship † Coming of age † Literacy † Problem solving †

Honesty † Self confidence † Math † Creativity †

Respect for nature † Cooperation † Emotion Science †

Regulation † Ethics † Family bonds † Health † Courage † Healthy lifestyles † Respect † Geography † Bereavement † Dedication † Caring † Information † Recognizing Physical limits † Competition † other’s emotions † News † Adhering to rules †

Popularity † Animals † Consequences †

Loyalty † Wild life † Integrity †

Jealousy † Environment † Divorce †

Peer Pressure † Money issues †

Fairness † Trust †

Responsibility † Sportsmanship † Motivation † Sociable † Goals † Sharing † Teen Issues † Compromise †

103