Besides "Sesame Street" and other PBS kids' programs, UNC-TV (PBS in NC) does an hour or so of educational programs between 4 and 5 or 5 and 6 on weekday mornings. It's usually GED-oriented, though.
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How do you do TV for schools in the US?
- Thread starter BMR
- Start date
K
kenglish
Guest
"Channel One" programming originates from an equipment rack about 20-feet from where I'm sitting ;D .
When I was in Jr. High School (most schools these days between elementary & high school are now called middle school) back in the late 1980's, the school I was in had a TV & VCR cart that was wheeled from room to room, & for Social Studies, we watched a recorded news program from CNN. The program was recorded on Sunday, & the library had the VCR programmed to record it on Sunday. English classes would use that same TV & VCR & might air instructional videos that the library either already had in their pre-recorded collection (school system bought), or recorded from PBS. Science class would also have their own videos. Even Health class would have their own videos.
In one high school I went to, they had TV's that were provided by Channel One, for the sole purpose of airing their daily 15 - 20 minute news program, & a few minutes of commercials. The school system did not pay for this at all. When Channel One would come on, the TV's received a signal in the cable to automatically turn on the TV, & tune to channel 4 to watch the program. It also automatically turned off once it was over. That high school also taped the school news & aired it on the same Channel One TV system, but the TV's had to be manually turned on, & tuned to channel 3. Believe it or not, the school also had cable, & in some classes, the teachers allowed us to watch cartoons on cartoon network, watch videos on MTV & VH1 (when both channels showed videos regularly), or even watch soap operas, for the few people who liked to watch soap operas (yuck). The school also was hooked to a satellite provided by Channel One, & the school could record educational videos that Channel One also had that isn't broadcasted over the main system, & the teachers could play those videos at a later date. The Spanish & French classes had their own VCR's & projector, & could air their own programming anytime without borrowing a TV & VCR from the library. The TV's hooked up in the classrooms did not have VCR's hooked to them, & still needed a TV & VCR for when a VHS tape was being used.
The other high school I went to was similar to the jr. high school in what they showed. This school system turned down the Channel One system, because they didn't want advertisements in their schools, & have a system that dictated when to interrupt class to watch a 15-20 minute news program. They would rather have the Social Studies Class show that from CNN at their convenience than Channel One interrupting class around 9 - 9:15am, & last up to 9:30 (depending on when it actually started by Channel One themselves).
I believe by now, some schools now rely on the internet, & don't need the other stuff as much. I know the first high school I went to is slowly upgrading their classrooms to use computers exclusively, & not have as many books. I don't know if they still have the Channel One service or not.
In one high school I went to, they had TV's that were provided by Channel One, for the sole purpose of airing their daily 15 - 20 minute news program, & a few minutes of commercials. The school system did not pay for this at all. When Channel One would come on, the TV's received a signal in the cable to automatically turn on the TV, & tune to channel 4 to watch the program. It also automatically turned off once it was over. That high school also taped the school news & aired it on the same Channel One TV system, but the TV's had to be manually turned on, & tuned to channel 3. Believe it or not, the school also had cable, & in some classes, the teachers allowed us to watch cartoons on cartoon network, watch videos on MTV & VH1 (when both channels showed videos regularly), or even watch soap operas, for the few people who liked to watch soap operas (yuck). The school also was hooked to a satellite provided by Channel One, & the school could record educational videos that Channel One also had that isn't broadcasted over the main system, & the teachers could play those videos at a later date. The Spanish & French classes had their own VCR's & projector, & could air their own programming anytime without borrowing a TV & VCR from the library. The TV's hooked up in the classrooms did not have VCR's hooked to them, & still needed a TV & VCR for when a VHS tape was being used.
The other high school I went to was similar to the jr. high school in what they showed. This school system turned down the Channel One system, because they didn't want advertisements in their schools, & have a system that dictated when to interrupt class to watch a 15-20 minute news program. They would rather have the Social Studies Class show that from CNN at their convenience than Channel One interrupting class around 9 - 9:15am, & last up to 9:30 (depending on when it actually started by Channel One themselves).
I believe by now, some schools now rely on the internet, & don't need the other stuff as much. I know the first high school I went to is slowly upgrading their classrooms to use computers exclusively, & not have as many books. I don't know if they still have the Channel One service or not.
Being an ex-pat and all that, the most schools TV programming I ever watched was on those days when I was sick at home away from school. Considering that there were only 3 channels at that time and two of them were broadcasting schools programming and the other one was broadcasting teletext pages (or nothing) ... schools programming had it. I remember PTA fund raisers for a colour television or two, and later on for a VHS video recorder to replace the Philips VCR (not VHS).
I somehow missed this topic.
I remember watching "Sesame Street" on a TV in the classroom as a sixth grader on several occasions. That would have been 1972 or 1973.
The first time I remember a VCR being used was in high school and only a few people had them.
I remember watching "Sesame Street" on a TV in the classroom as a sixth grader on several occasions. That would have been 1972 or 1973.
The first time I remember a VCR being used was in high school and only a few people had them.
A little history...I remember when I was in elementary school, in the late 60s and very early 70s, when we watched instructional programs on TV. Back then, PBS (and it's forerunner, National Education Television) aired in real time a daytime schedule of instructional shows during the school year. At my school, it was entirely each teacher's discretion as to whether they used any of the shows. The teachers were supplied a list of the offerings, so they could decide ahead of time if they wanted one of the school's 19 inch monochrome TVs wheeled into the class.
The programs varied for early and later grades up to sixth grade, and new series cycled in every couple of months. The series were NEVER listed in our TV Guide at home, but of course it was possible to watch them. Most were 30 minutes, but I think some may have been just 15. I recall seeing shows about science, history and simple artistic skills.
The programs were largely produced by PBS affiliates around the country and pooled. .
The programs varied for early and later grades up to sixth grade, and new series cycled in every couple of months. The series were NEVER listed in our TV Guide at home, but of course it was possible to watch them. Most were 30 minutes, but I think some may have been just 15. I recall seeing shows about science, history and simple artistic skills.
The programs were largely produced by PBS affiliates around the country and pooled. .
This is a reply to Dave.
My high school had Channel One. I've figured out much of how C1 works: there's a satellite to a central box. The box is like the cable headend. It sends out a signal to the C1-enabled TVs to turn them on. Because of its appearance, I call it the "shimmer signal". The program then starts, whether from an external source (DVDs for the school news) or C1. There's an RF modulator, and the school had it set to 4 (channel 3 was in use during the analog era).
C1 has since been deprecated at my school for a couple reasons. Teachers didn't show it (it was a soapbox and it cut into instructional time), and the school did not extend the C1 infrastructure to a new classroom building we added this year. Instead, our school news is now broadcast via a much less awe-inspiring transmission method: YouTube. There were additional reasons — the signal quality (and audio especially for the school news) was bad since there were lots of splitters in the line (including one at each TV for a since-dismantled VCR), C1's ads weren't always wholesome or exciting, etc.
My high school had Channel One. I've figured out much of how C1 works: there's a satellite to a central box. The box is like the cable headend. It sends out a signal to the C1-enabled TVs to turn them on. Because of its appearance, I call it the "shimmer signal". The program then starts, whether from an external source (DVDs for the school news) or C1. There's an RF modulator, and the school had it set to 4 (channel 3 was in use during the analog era).
C1 has since been deprecated at my school for a couple reasons. Teachers didn't show it (it was a soapbox and it cut into instructional time), and the school did not extend the C1 infrastructure to a new classroom building we added this year. Instead, our school news is now broadcast via a much less awe-inspiring transmission method: YouTube. There were additional reasons — the signal quality (and audio especially for the school news) was bad since there were lots of splitters in the line (including one at each TV for a since-dismantled VCR), C1's ads weren't always wholesome or exciting, etc.
I teach in a Channel 1 school (and play broadcast geek online)...
The Channel 1 box was pretty much as the previous poster stated. Now all the shows (the newscasts and educational programs) are brought in, and show up in the morning. The TV attached to the Channel one box comes up with a interactive menu similar to a DVR, and the shows can be transmitted by the proverbial touch of a button. There is no VCR mechanism in the Channel 1 box as in the olden days.
As for TVs in the classrooms, many teachers (and all the staff in the newest part of the building) have LCD projectors and SmartBoards to use for computer, etc, as well as a DVD-VCR combo with a tuner that acts as the TV set.
I'm old school--got my 25" Toshiba bolted to the wall!
The Channel 1 box was pretty much as the previous poster stated. Now all the shows (the newscasts and educational programs) are brought in, and show up in the morning. The TV attached to the Channel one box comes up with a interactive menu similar to a DVR, and the shows can be transmitted by the proverbial touch of a button. There is no VCR mechanism in the Channel 1 box as in the olden days.
As for TVs in the classrooms, many teachers (and all the staff in the newest part of the building) have LCD projectors and SmartBoards to use for computer, etc, as well as a DVD-VCR combo with a tuner that acts as the TV set.
I'm old school--got my 25" Toshiba bolted to the wall!
Most classrooms still had their C1-issued TVs. Two for some reason were tuner-based, which I think was nicer but a little more work for the teacher (manual turn-on).
Raymie said:
They're early 90s Magnavox, aren't they?
D
Darth_vader
Guest
Here in this part of southwestern Washington, there are several unscrambled public QAM channels on the local cable system which carry instructional programming throughout the daytime, and function as sort-of "community service" channels during the off-hours, school holidays and summer break. ("TV E.T.C.", they call them. If I remember correctly they are operated largely by the Evergreen, Vancouver and Battleground school districts in conjunction with Educational Service District #112, and are freely viewable by the general public in Clark County.)
According to legend, there was a *very* short-lived ITFS (microwave) service conducted experimentally during the late 1970s or early 1980s by the Evergreen School District, aided by ESD112 but they never really went anywhere with it. (Literally: taking the terrain around this part of the country into account, I'm surprised they even bothered considering it at all! ;o) Then cable TV came to this area, and the ITFS experiment was pretty quickly scrapped in favour of the current setup.
I understand microwave services have developed more of a presence in Portland, particularly influenced by OPB (whom else BUT OPB?) but I've never been able to see anything on ITFS from there at my place on the Pansat.
Channel One was tried briefly in the Evergreen District high schools when it first came out in the early 1990s, but it never caught on. By the time this particular EHS Plainsman came to his future alma-mater in 1999, there were almost no other signs of Channel One's having ever been used there, apart from the wall-mounted TVs in each classroom connected to the school's private, on-campus "cable TV" system. For the most part, teachers would just play tapes on the VCRs attached to the wall-stands below the TV sets. Very rarely would "broadcast" instructional programming be sent out over the on-campus cable system (which at that time just consisted of the local terrestrial NTSC channels, a "campus channel" and CNN, all squashed in to the VHF bands) but a tape of the morning announcements would be played back over channel 4, interrupting the OPB programming that was otherwise carried on that channel.
Not sure what they do now; I graduated in 2002.
According to legend, there was a *very* short-lived ITFS (microwave) service conducted experimentally during the late 1970s or early 1980s by the Evergreen School District, aided by ESD112 but they never really went anywhere with it. (Literally: taking the terrain around this part of the country into account, I'm surprised they even bothered considering it at all! ;o) Then cable TV came to this area, and the ITFS experiment was pretty quickly scrapped in favour of the current setup.
I understand microwave services have developed more of a presence in Portland, particularly influenced by OPB (whom else BUT OPB?) but I've never been able to see anything on ITFS from there at my place on the Pansat.
Channel One was tried briefly in the Evergreen District high schools when it first came out in the early 1990s, but it never caught on. By the time this particular EHS Plainsman came to his future alma-mater in 1999, there were almost no other signs of Channel One's having ever been used there, apart from the wall-mounted TVs in each classroom connected to the school's private, on-campus "cable TV" system. For the most part, teachers would just play tapes on the VCRs attached to the wall-stands below the TV sets. Very rarely would "broadcast" instructional programming be sent out over the on-campus cable system (which at that time just consisted of the local terrestrial NTSC channels, a "campus channel" and CNN, all squashed in to the VHF bands) but a tape of the morning announcements would be played back over channel 4, interrupting the OPB programming that was otherwise carried on that channel.
Not sure what they do now; I graduated in 2002.
In Kentucky and seven neighboring states, we have Kentucky Educational Television, with headquarters in Lexington. This is the largest state ETV network in the nation with 14 full-power DTVs and numerous translators serving all 120 counties in KY and parts of WV, VA, TN, OH, IN, MO and IL.
They provide four different on-air program streams, and KET is an excellent source of information, educational programming and entertainment programming. It's considered the "gold standard" of ETV nationwide and, I believe, is the only state network that clears 100% of the PBS output, including the new "PBS World" service.
They provide four different on-air program streams, and KET is an excellent source of information, educational programming and entertainment programming. It's considered the "gold standard" of ETV nationwide and, I believe, is the only state network that clears 100% of the PBS output, including the new "PBS World" service.
nomadcowatbk said:
Yeah, and I believe they are special units made for C1. They don't have a full suite of functions (volume settings don't stick), just volume, channel, and CC. Some were older than others. One classroom had a larger JVC TV instead. The VCRs were a variety of models. I removed the final VCR from its bracket in early 2009 (it wasn't connected to the TV) —it was an early 90s Montgomery Ward Admiral VCR.
I teach in a Channel 1 school (and play broadcast geek online)...
The Channel 1 box was pretty much as the previous poster stated. Now all the shows (the newscasts and educational programs) are brought in, and show up in the morning. The TV attached to the Channel one box comes up with a interactive menu similar to a DVR, and the shows can be transmitted by the proverbial touch of a button. There is no VCR mechanism in the Channel 1 box as in the olden days.
As for TVs in the classrooms, many teachers (and all the staff in the newest part of the building) have LCD projectors and SmartBoards to use for computer, etc, as well as a DVD-VCR combo with a tuner that acts as the TV set.
I'm old school--got my 25" Toshiba bolted to the wall!
Everything above applies to me as well, including the 90s Magnavox a poster mentioned. Our school has had Channel One since '93, when our two high schools consolidated. Our in-school TV broadcast (which isn't on because our two-year-old Tricaster died) would go out through the system. Their techs had to come twice, as we suspect wires were accidentally cut by another group of contractors.
Very few of these TVs have been replaced, but much larger and newer sets have bit the dust.
The Channel 1 box was pretty much as the previous poster stated. Now all the shows (the newscasts and educational programs) are brought in, and show up in the morning. The TV attached to the Channel one box comes up with a interactive menu similar to a DVR, and the shows can be transmitted by the proverbial touch of a button. There is no VCR mechanism in the Channel 1 box as in the olden days.
As for TVs in the classrooms, many teachers (and all the staff in the newest part of the building) have LCD projectors and SmartBoards to use for computer, etc, as well as a DVD-VCR combo with a tuner that acts as the TV set.
I'm old school--got my 25" Toshiba bolted to the wall!
Everything above applies to me as well, including the 90s Magnavox a poster mentioned. Our school has had Channel One since '93, when our two high schools consolidated. Our in-school TV broadcast (which isn't on because our two-year-old Tricaster died) would go out through the system. Their techs had to come twice, as we suspect wires were accidentally cut by another group of contractors.
Very few of these TVs have been replaced, but much larger and newer sets have bit the dust.
Here in Southern California, three of the public TV stations in the region offered educational programming in various parts of the day. KCET, which has since lost its PBS affiliation almost a year ago, aired a block of instructional shows weekdays between 1 and 2:30pm, and then overnights between 1:30 and 3am most nights up until the late 90s. KLCS is owned by the Los Angeles school district, and used to offer a plethora of instructional programming during the day, including a live call-in show offering homework advice. They've currently set aside one of their subchannels exclusively for telecourses and another instructional shows, while the main channel mostly runs standard PBS Kids fare during most of the daytime schedule.
KOCE, the current primary PBS outlet here, too use to offer instructional programs during the daytime (normally 10am-2pm) as well, featuring a mixture of programs aimed at kids and college-age students; the station was originally owned by a community college.
KOCE, the current primary PBS outlet here, too use to offer instructional programs during the daytime (normally 10am-2pm) as well, featuring a mixture of programs aimed at kids and college-age students; the station was originally owned by a community college.
Eleven, and yes, I complained that this was little kids' programming. As I recall, it was a substitute teacher.BMR said:
B
Bob1370
Guest
Back in the old days, in 1958-59, the educational TV council in my community (Rochester, NY) persuaded the two commercial TV stations in town to provide 30 to 60 minutes a day in late mornings for educational programming between 9 and 10 AM--after either the Today Show or Captain Kangaroo and before the day's network entertainment programming fed from NBC and CBS (we didn't have an ABC affiliate then). Programming was everything from French lessons to geography lessons to math. This endeavor gave birth to one show (Assignment; The World, a weekly news magazine for grade-schoolers) that started in 1958 as a local production and is still on the air and distributed to about 150 PBS stations each week during the school year. The council had its own studio in the basement of a local high school. By 1966 it grew to a point that the group got its own UHF television license and started a full-power ETV station, which grew to an AM/muliple-FM/TV complex all housed in its own building in downtown Rochester by the end of the 90s. The TV station main channel programs for kids during the day, and airs adult-skewed news, documentary and cultural shows produced locally and by PBS at night. Two other channels-within-a-channel on the full power digital TV transmitter air 24/7 documentaries and 24/7 how-to and travel shows. The bread and butter instructional material for kids is provided by the station website, which is accessible 24/7 and also allows streaming to an offsite server for replay in the classroom on demand.
That's the way it's done here, and the story is similar in basic outline in a lot of other cities around the USA.
That's the way it's done here, and the story is similar in basic outline in a lot of other cities around the USA.
Thank goodness your school still has Channel One. Ever since this group in Alabama called Obligation Inc. started up in the mid '90s, they've been persuading schools all across the country to drop Channel One, and actually have succeeded in thousands of schools. Don't want to rant too much about it (even though I have a lot to say about it), but I think Obligation's mission to cancel Channel One News is a bit ridiculous. It seems pretty harmless to me.Greg Goodfellow said:
On the topic of TVs in classrooms, ever since the construction of our new high school in my hometown district was finished in 2004, they actually dropped Channel One, which I think was only because the new school used Smart Boards/projectors for TV monitors (connect a VCR with a tuner to the projector and a cable to the VCR, and you've got cable TV access). As far as I know though, the middle school in our district still has Channel One because I think they still use the old-school TVs that hang from the wall. At least they didn't succumb to the pressure of Obligation Inc. to do away with it.
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