How do you do TV for schools in the US?

[BMR]

(If you have TV specifically for schools, of course)

In the UK, schools programming was traditionally carried by BBC 2 and ITV in the mornings. With the arrival of Channel Four in 1982, schools programming from ITV was moved to Channel 4, freeing up ITV to show commercial programming in the morning.

Nowadays, TV for schools is broadcast overnight and recorded, but that is quite a recent thing. When I was younger, most schools had a 'TV room' where you went to watch schools programmes, mostly live.

How do you do things over there?

 

[JeeperOne]

This has always been done by PBS & its member affiliates during the day. Almost nothing is done live but is recorded for broadcast during school hours. Programming ranges from elementary school age children to grown ups seeking higher education. And now with HDTV, subchannels make this even easier as ENTIRE CHANNELS can be devoted to educational programming 24/7 (And PBS & its member affiliates do this)

Hope this answers your question

Cheers & 73

 

[BMR]

This has always been done by PBS & its member affiliates during the day. Almost nothing is done live but is recorded for broadcast during school hours. Programming ranges from elementary school age children to grown ups seeking higher education. And now with HDTV, subchannels make this even easier as ENTIRE CHANNELS can be devoted to educational programming 24/7 (And PBS & its member affiliates do this)

Hope this answers your question

Cheers & 73

It does,fully. Thanks and 73s back


By the way, I didn't make myself very clear. When I said we used to watch schools TV live, I meant 'as it was broadcast' rather than the shows actually being live. I'm old but I'm not THAT old!

Although my school had a VCR , I think few of the teachers knew how to use it!!

The airing of schools programmes during school hours continued well into the 21st century, even though every school had multiple VCRs by then.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

A lot of stuff I watched in school was recorded off the PBS affiliate during the early morning hours by the teacher.

 

[BMR]

A lot of stuff I watched in school was recorded off the PBS affiliate during the early morning hours by the teacher.

When I first went to school (1979) the TV was in a room of its own, with a huge VCR that took up an entire table. I only ever remember the VCR being used to play back educational tapes, rather than stuff recorded off the telly (it may not even have able to record?)

Around 1983 we got two TVs with something resembling a 'modern' VCR underneath on trolleys that could be moved from classroom to classroom (wow!) and had colour and remote control (double wow!!). But I still think we watched the schools TV programmes as broadcast, rather than on tape. I have particularly fond memories of a show called 'how we used to live' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_We_Used_To_Live which was repeated year after year.

Happy days. I don't recall watching much schools telly once I got to senior school (1986-1992) but what we did watch was pre recorded tapes rather than off the telly.


What are your memories?

 

[quadraphonic]

I think all the educational programming (Channel 1 and whatnot) came slightly after my junior high days, so all we ever watched were videotapes of Afterschool Specials from ABC and some PBS shows.

I do remember that almost every year in the late 70s-mid 80s there were a couple of teachers in three schools I was in here in NC who would let us watch the ACC basketball Tournament live on tv during the first rounds.

 

[firepoint525]

By the way, I didn't make myself very clear. When I said we used to watch schools TV live, I meant 'as it was broadcast' rather than the shows actually being live. I'm old but I'm not THAT old!

We watched TV at school that way, too. This was back in the early '70s, so it was before VCRs became common. I lived in Memphis at the time, and it is my understanding now that the only Memphian who might have had a VCR back at that time would have been Elvis! 8)

 

[Sammi Brie]

Having read too much TV Ark, the British system is so different and even somewhat hard to comprehend from my perspective.

 

[recto101]

I remember in the 1980's and 1990's KQED used to air ITV where education shows produced by AIT was aired and 321 contact was on. Today the education boards decided that most of the video presentations should be on the web.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Back in the 70's our local PBS station, WQED, aired instructional programming between 8AM and 3PM
during the school year. But that practice ended years ago.

I had an uncle who was a teacher and in the early 80's I would go with him to a regional
lending library where he could check out VHS cassettes of programs for his classes.

Today I don't think they are even using much TV in the classroom. Most of them are wired to
the internet and can access interactive lessons with streaming video, etc.

 

[quadraphonic]

The elementary schools here have cable, but they only use the tv's for announcements, a clock, and teachers have it on for news or whatever they want at the beginning and end of the day.

 

[BMR]

Having read too much TV Ark, the British system is so different and even somewhat hard to comprehend from my perspective.

It sometimes seems hard to comprehend from a British perspective too!

As far as schools programmes go, ITV were required as part of their licence to produce high quality schools programmes, and show them, without commercials, each morning between about 9 and 12.

ITV put quite a lot of money into schools programmes- both on the shows themselves and on the booklets and other resources for teachers. There was actually a very good commercial reason behind this- sucessive governments did an unwritten deal with ITV- keep the quality of your programming high and you can keep your monopoly on commercial television. And keep it they did- in effect until 1997.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Channel One gives schools free TVs if they'll show their commercial filled news during school hours

 

[azumanga]

I remember in the 1980's and 1990's KQED used to air ITV where education shows produced by AIT was aired and 321 contact was on. Today the education boards decided that most of the video presentations should be on the web.

Some school boards still embrace broadcasting either via cable or terrestrial television to broadcast educational material. WPDS in Pinellas County is operated by the county school board and broadcast educational programming around the clock. And since converting to digital, it now operates four channels -- the main channel and three additional subchannels slanted towards a different audience:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPDS-LD

 

[Dtv]

In grade school we did live tv only once, when the red sox won it all in 04, we had a dlp projector showing local tv ch 4.5.7 ect. Most time it was just vhs tapes, pre recorded or taped off of tv, public tv 2 and 44 or discovery.

In high school we had a head end room, and a tv studio. Teachers could make a video for the class. We only had 13 ch to put tv on

2- wgbh,wgbx *-switch between the two at head end
3- New england news, cnn, msnbc*
4-wbz,wcvb,wfxt,whdh
5-History,cspan
6-TWC, Discovery, pbs world
7-weather scan
8-a&e, bio*
9-local tv peg *
10. Blank
11.blank
12.static
13.silver lake hs tv

 

[visaman]

I went to elementary school in Vancouver, Canada. I was born in Saskatoon but moved here in 1970. Saskatoon at that time only had one channel! In school we watched the occasional video tape or film from TV Ontario or Access Alberta. BC started the Knowledge Network, in 1981, when I was Grade 12, so it was of no use for me then.

 

[firepoint525]

Teachers may not use "live" TV very much in the classroom anymore, and that is understandable, but it seems to me that it would still be beneficial to TV stations, particularly the educational ones, to show these programs, and even offer them during school hours, because it would help them satisfy the E/I requirement, although that is usually not a problem for them. But some of what passes for E/I programming these days... :

 

[azumanga]

But some of what passes for E/I programming these days... :

Most E/I programs on PBS are of high quality, and no doubt anything produced for in-school use would qualify. Most E/I shows on commercial stations are produced exclusively as a way to satisfy the E/I rule, produced as cheaply as possible, as it is difficult to make money off these shows due to commercial restrictions. "Litton's Weekend Adventure" on ABC (I mean, on a commercial network that prefers not to be called "ABC" while the block is airing) is a prime example of this.

 

[crainbebo]

I never see listings for instructional programs anymore on the local PBS member stations. Most teachers nowadays are using streaming off the internet, but the occasional VHS tape (prerecorded) is used.

-crainbebo

 

[azumanga]

I never see listings for instructional programs anymore on the local PBS member stations.

Even back in the day, listings of in-school programs were very rare -- in the local papers, they were listed only as a single "Instructional Programming" block, and in TV Guide, they were not listed at all, only a mention on the Channels Listed page that a station carries in-school shows during the day -- apparently, either the listings service, TV Guide or the station felt that no one other than teachers would have an interest in when an in-school show plays.

TV Ontario in Ontario, Canada always made sure their in-school shows were listed. And in the Tampa Bay area, the local TV Facts franchise included in-school listings for WEDU, which are not listed in the local papers.