Learn To Read
| Learn To Read | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Educational |
| Starring |
Wally Amos Doris Biscoe Charlotte Scot Sylvia Glover Jim Johnson |
| Theme music composer | Dennis Carnevale |
| Composer(s) | Dennis Carnevale |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 30 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) |
Detroit, Michigan; Kentucky |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | KET / WXYZ-TV |
| Distributor | PBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS / syndicated |
| Picture format | NTSC (480i) |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | August 31, 1987 |
Learn To Read is an adult educational TV series that consists of 30 programs, hosted by entrepreneur and literacy advocate Wally Amos. Co-instructors include Doris Biscoe (who was an anchorwoman for WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan) and Charlotte Scot. Caitlyn Jenner (then Bruce) guest-starred on the first episode. This was based on 27 million Americans having almost no reading skills. On Friday, there is a review of the week. The final program reviews the entire series.
In every episode (excluding programs 1, 5, 10, 15 and 30) a "Getting Along" segment is used, with either Sylvia Glover or Jim Johnson as instructors.
Aside, there was Les the Letter Man and Nancy the Word Woman. Finally, there was Billy Green, referred as the "Book Guy", telling viewers to get their workbook.
Learn to Read was produced by Kentucky Educational Television in association with WXYZ-TV (the copyright is owned by both KET and E.W. Scripps, then Scripps Howard Broadcasting), funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and donors to PBS. The program was produced at WXYZ's studios in Southfield, Michigan, with additional production done by KET in Kentucky.
The program was televised on many PBS member stations, as well as syndicated to commercial stations. The program was also seen locally on WXYZ-TV, generally weekday mornings at 5AM.
While episodes originally consist of a 6-week daily course, some stations air episodes on a less-frequent basis, as little as once a week. New York PBS superstation WNET (operator of THIRTEEN, and its Sister Station and Network, WLIW 21 & NJTV, respectively) was the last PBS affiliate to air the show and aired it daily (sometimes twice daily) before pulling it from its lineup in 2009.
Learn To Read was produced solely by WXYZ-TV in Detroit. It was originally offered free to every ABC affiliated television station in the United States by VP/General Manager Jeanne Findlater, who created the idea and wrote the format. She sold the entire underwriting costs to Chrysler, K-Mart, Kroger, and McDonald's after convincing them that they had to use their commercial time to promote literacy, not their products. On behalf of the station, she received the national Charles W. Scripps Literacy Award presented by Barbara Bush.
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Wikipedia