WGBH Annual Report 2000-2001 Text Version: Stay curious about learning

Text Version

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Stay curious about learning

As more and more media outlets target narrow-niche audiences, public broadcasting remains devoted to serving learners of all ages: children, busy working parents, empty nesters, seniors. What do our various audiences have in common? Curiosity and the knowledge that WGBH is the place to turn for a lifetime of learning.

How do you foster lifelong curiosity?

How do you capture the human spirit across time and cultures?
"The human spirit expresses itself through art and the creative impulse: music, poetry, myth and storytelling, even religious traditions are all part of the beauty of what people can and have achieved. Sound & Spirit dips into this great pool of human culture for an hour of radio every week, here in Boston on 89.7fm and on more than 100 public radio stations nationwide. In our show The New Klezmorim, we looked at what happened when Klezmer music followed Jewish culture around the world, transmuting as it encountered other traditions."
-Ellen Kushner, Host, Sound & Spirit

Can public broadcasting change the course of someone's life?
"Every semester, WGBH's Diploma Connection offers 12 to 16 hours of college telecourses and 2 to 4 hours of adult basic education on 'GBH Select44. We're helping busy people earn credit at local colleges as well as prepare for the GED test for their high school diploma. Who benefits? Sometimes it's the working student who returns to college after a 15-year absence, or the young mother who can't afford day care while attending classes. More than 1,200 students earned college credit through The Diploma Connection in 2000."
-Margie Yamamoto, Director, The Diploma Connection

How do you help teachers and parents address different learning styles?
"Awareness and understanding are key. Teachers and parents need to be able to recognize and decipher the learning problems they see in the classroom and at home. Our response is a major programming initiative, including a broadcast documentary and Web site as well as an extensive video library and supporting print resources for teachers and parents, developed in collaboration with the All Kinds of Minds Institute. All are aimed at drawing together what we know in the field and applying it to how we teach and support our children."
-Michele Korf, Executive Producer and Director of Educational Programming, with Dr. Mel Levine of the All Kinds of Minds Institute

What can we learn from the objects we collect?
"The things people collect have stories to tell-about history, about the artists and craftspeople who created them, even about the previous owners. The public's interest in history has never been greater and Antiques Roadshow taps into this curiosity. We offer insights into the past as we examine, and appreciate, the possessions of 'real people;' I'm sure that's why we're the most popular prime-time series on PBS today. Of course, it doesn't hurt that a dusty table acquired at a yard sale could be worth half a million dollars."
-Peter Cook, Executive Producer, Antiques Roadshow

Who learns with WGBH?
"I'm one of those do-it-yourselfers. I've been watching This Old House since its inception. Today there are a lot of home renovation shows, but it's still the best. Norm, Steve, Rich, Tom-they show you what's involved and how to do it. They're extremely competent, and that's important to me. As a computer programmer, I appreciate the Web site. It's easy to navigate and packed with great resource links and interesting features: you can go from looking at floor plans to a 360-degree tour of a room. It really puts meat on the bones."
-Charles Takayanagi, Sharon, MA

"We created This Old House on the theory that most people are unfamiliar with the process by which their houses are renovated. They leave in the morning and go make the money necessary to pay the contractor. And they miss a lot as a result: What's the contractor's strategy? What tools do the craftspeople use? What's the pain and what's the gain? Every week, millions of curious people turn to This Old House, on TV and on the Web, for the answers."
-Russ Morash, Executive Producer, This Old House

Home | Message from the President and Chair | Awards | Fiscal Year 00
Kids and Families | Arts and Culture | Our World | Important Issues | Learning