''Learn To Read'' is a 1987 adult educational TV series that consists of 30 programs, hosted by entrepreneur and

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

advocate

Wally Amos Wallace Amos Jr. (July 1, 1936 – August 13, 2024) was an American television personality, businessman, and author. He was the founder of the Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie, the Cookie Kahuna, and Aunt Della's Cookies gourmet cookie brands ...

. Co-instructors include Doris Biscoe (who was an anchorwoman for

WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...

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Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

) and Charlotte Scot.

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guest-starred on the first episode. The series was based on 27 million Americans having almost no reading skills. ''Learn to Read'' was produced by

Kentucky Educational Television Kentucky Educational Television (KET) is a statewide television network serving the U.S. Commonwealth (U.S. state), commonwealth of Kentucky as a member of PBS. It is operated by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, an agency of ...

in association with WXYZ-TV (the copyright is owned by both KET and E.W. Scripps, then Scripps Howard Broadcasting), funded by the

Kmart Corporation Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

, the

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and financial contributions to PBS. The program was produced at WXYZ's studios in

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Southfield borders Detroit to the north, roughly northwest of downtown Downtown Detroit, Detroit. As of the 2020 Uni ...

, with additional production done at KET studios in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

. The program was televised on many

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member stations, and syndicated to commercial stations. In Detroit, the program was seen locally on WXYZ-TV, generally weekday mornings at 5AM.

Format

On Friday, there is a review of each week. The final program reviews the entire series. In every episode (except programs 1, 5, 10, 15 and 30) there is a "Getting Along" segment, either with Sylvia Glover or Jim Johnson (both formerly of WXYZ's ''Good Afternoon Detroit'') as instructors. Also, there's Les the Letter Man and Nancy the Word Woman. Finally, there is Billy Green, referred to as the "Book Guy", telling viewers to get their workbook.

Episode status

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.

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PBS station

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

was the final PBS member station to air the show and aired it daily (occasionally twice daily) before pulling it from its lineup in 2009. Episodes are available online through

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Broadcasts

Initially, ''Learn To Read'' was produced solely at WXYZ-TV in Detroit. It was originally offered free to all ABC affiliated television stations in the United States by VP/General Manager Jeanne Findlater, who created the idea and wrote the format. She sold the whole underwriting costs to

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

K-Mart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and its territories. It operates four remaining Kmart big-box department stores � ...

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...

, and

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after convincing them that they had to use their commercial time to promote literacy but not their products. On behalf of the station, she got the national Charles W. Scripps Literacy Award which

Barbara Bush Barbara Bush (; June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was the first lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of the 41st president of the United States, George H. W. Bush. She was previously second lady of the United States fr ...

presented. ''Learn To Read'' was later syndicated to PBS state network Kentucky Educational Television. KET marketed it throughout the United States. In the first broadcast, Findlater scheduled the program at 5:30 am, and at 10:00 am. The idea for the early morning time slot was conceived by Doug Frazier years before. Frazier, then president of the UAW-CIO, urged Findlater to create a literacy series and run it after or before a work-shift. Findlater said ratings for the early morning slot were not available, but many letters sent to her indicated that those viewers did not want their kids to understand they could not read. The series was widely used in prisons. Estimates of total viewership (from 2002) were more than 18 million people.

Cast

as the host * Doris Biscoe as a co-instructor * Charlotte Scot as a co-instructor * Sylvia Glover as herself, in some Getting Along segments * Jim Johnson as himself, in some Getting Along segments * Billy Green as himself * Les Raebel as Les the Letter Man

Spinoff

In late 1987, KET produced a follow-up series, '' Another Page'', a similar literacy program for intermediate-level readers. That program premiered in February 1988.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Learn To Read 1990s American television series Adult education television series First-run syndicated children's television series PBS Kids shows 1987 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings Reading and literacy television series Television in Detroit Kentucky Educational Television