1. art and entertainment
2. movies and tv
3. television

FOR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF WGBH
SPRING/SUMMER 2012
Raising a Generation of Learners
WGBH’s Children’s Media
View from
the President
W
49%
WGBH’S NATIONAL CHILDREN’S
SERIES ACCOUNT FOR 49% OF
ALL VISITS TO PBSKIDS.ORG
(151 MILLION OF THE 308 MILLION
VISITS TO THE SITE IN A YEAR)
GBH has a long tradition of serving up curriculum-based content that helps
children learn, that reaches young audiences at every stage of development, and
that parents and teachers trust.
Under the talented leadership of Brigid Sullivan, Vice President for Children’s
Media and Educational Programming, WGBH has stayed out in front as the #1 producer
of children’s programs for PBS, on television (with eight series on the air) and the Web
(at pbskids.org). Today WGBH is using the latest technologies and educational insights
to advance learning in classrooms, living rooms, and communities in ways unimaginable
just a few short years ago—with measurable impact.
We’re also forging new partnerships, nationally and locally, to further students’
achievement to meet the demands and opportunities of the 21st century. Three years
ago, we teamed up with the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
to create a Massachusetts edition of WGBH’s acclaimed Teachers’ Domain, our free,
national online library of media-rich, classroom-ready content for teachers that recently
merged with PBS to form PBS LearningMediaTM. Now we’re taking that partnership to a
whole new level (page 8).
In this issue, we’ll introduce you to some of WGBH’s generous and visionary
friends whose commitment to using the power of media to educate all our children
makes possible so much of what we do. You’ll meet longtime WGBH supporter Elaine
Fiske, who describes how her family turned a private tragedy into a driving force for
improving children’s educational opportunities through their Weezie Foundation.
And Jennifer Walske, a college professor who with her husband Steve helped jump-start
a promising WGBH children’s outreach initiative.
You’ll also hear from Classical New England Managing Director Ben Roe, who’ll
share some of the ways our expanded radio service is introducing the next generation to
the joys of classical music—on air, online, and in our community—and why it’s important.
We’re grateful to Elaine Fiske and the Weezie Foundation, Jennifer and Steve
Walske, and to all of you for helping WGBH pioneer educationally rich, engaging media
that is making a real difference in children’s lives.
J O N A T H A N C . A B B O T T
P R E S I D E N T A N D C E O
Fund Helps Kids Grow
Honoring Family, Supporting
I
WGBH Children’s Media
n 1959, 10-year-old Louise Frances Walker, known as Weezie, was fatally injured
in a freak accident while getting her pony in a paddock at a Long Island horse
farm. “It was Labor Day weekend,” recalls elaine f is ke , one of Weezie’s two
sisters. “The accident happened in the morning and she died that afternoon.”
How does a family respond to such a huge blow? A close friend and family
lawyer suggested that Elaine’s father start a foundation to benefit young girls, using
the money that Weezie would have inherited in her lifetime. “My father decided that
was a really good idea,” Elaine explains.
Over the years, the Weezie Foundation’s mission expanded to encompass
youth and education. Today, the foundation—now run by a family board that
includes Elaine, her sister Lucile Walker Hays, and their children—initiates requests
for proposals from a select group of organizations that the family is interested in
supporting. And WGBH is high on their list.
“I raised my children in the Boston area and was familiar with WGBH,” says
Elaine, whose husband, Philip Ladd, is a WGBH Overseers Advisory Board member.
“But it wasn’t until I attended a Ralph Lowell Society party in 2000 that I learned
about the work WGBH was doing in children’s programming and, in particular,
Zoom. I realized it would be a perfect fit for Weezie.”
Elaine had no trouble convincing other family members, including her daughter,
Kirke Hall. “I grew up in the late ’70s wanting to be a Zoom kid,” Kirke laughs.
“My friends and I would watch Zoom and then create our own plays, recipes, and
experiments.” The Weezie Foundation’s first gifts to WGBH helped fund two
seasons of WGBH’s updated Zoom in 2001 and 2004.
Since then, the Foundation has supported a number of WGBH children’s media
initiatives. “The Weezie Foundation has been an extraordinary friend,” says WGBH’s
Brigid Sullivan, Vice President for Children’s Media and Educational Programming.
“The Foundation funded the launch of two groundbreaking TV and multimedia
projects—Martha Speaks and Fetch!—and, most recently, the production of two
international episodes of Postcards from Buster aimed at increasing children’s appreciation for diverse cultures, which premiered in early 2012.”
“We believe in the value of WGBH’s educational children’s media,” says Elaine.
“And our entire family is excited about the ways WGBH is reaching kids in new
ways—using the Web, smartphones, tablets. This is exactly the kind of work the
Weezie Foundation is proud to support.”
By the time they’re 21, American children on
average have logged more than 10,000 hours
of screen time—with television, computers,
and, increasingly, mobile devices. That’s more
time than kids spend in classrooms from
fifth grade through high school. But what are
they learning in front of those screens?
That question drives every children’s media
project WGBH undertakes, says brigid
sullivan, Vice President for Children’s
Media and Educational Programming.
“Everywhere kids are, we are—with curriculumdriven, entertaining content that kids love,
parents and teachers trust, and research
studies confirm have
real impact, ” says
Sullivan. Today WGBH
is the largest producer of
children’s media for PBS
across all digital platforms
—in homes, classrooms,
and on the go.
And much of that content—whether
it’s fostering literacy or introducing kids to
science, math, and engineering concepts—
has been made possible by contributors to
the WGBH Children’s Educational Media
Fund. “We’ve been blessed to have donors
who are willing to help us at the very
beginning of a project, when funding is
hardest to come by,” Sullivan notes. “Having
resources to develop ideas, especially for new
platforms, is more crucial than ever.”
Current projects underway include
Next Generation Preschool Math, (classroombased math apps for preschoolers that foster
collaborative learning) and Spy Hounds
with Ruff (Web-based science games that
introduce kids to sound, wind resistance,
catapults, and more).
“Millions of families and educators count
on WGBH for high-quality, noncommercial
children’s media every day,” Sullivan says. “We’re
grateful to the generous individuals whose
gifts to the WGBH Children’s Educational
Media Fund make our work possible.”
To learn more, contact Ellen Frank,
director of Major Gifts, at 617-300-3809,
or ellen_frank @wgbh.org.
SHARING THE VISION NEWSLETTER • SPRING/SUMMER 2012
PAG E 3
WGBH and Kids
A Smart Investment
S
Martha Speaks
Who doesn’t love Martha, the talking dog
in Susan Meddaugh’s popular Martha
Speaks book series and star of WGBH’s
curriculum-based, multimedia series of
the same title? Since its 2008 PBS premiere,
Martha has spoken to millions of children,
ages four to eight, via TV, the Web, mobile
apps, and an innovative communitybased reading buddy project…with
impressive results.
Independent studies confirm what
parents and teachers already know:
Martha Speaks is a great vocabulary
builder. Playing with the Martha Speaks
Dog Party iPhone app gives low-income
kids a 31% vocabulary boost. Now WGBH
is developing two new Martha apps (for
iPad and iPhone) around storytelling, the
“perfect next step for our curriculum,”
according to executive producers
Carol Greenwald and Christine
Zanchi. “To tell a good story, you
need to have the right words,” says
Greenwald. You also need the right
dog. “Kids love Martha. She’s at
the center of everything we do.”
PAG E 4
he’s a professor and the Director of Social Entrepreneurship at University of
California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. She’s a wife, mother of an eightyear-old girl, stepmom to two college-aged kids, and active in several non-profit
organizations. She’s a partner with her husband in an early stage venture capital
firm. And j e n n if e r wa ls ke and her husband ste v e are major WGBH supporters who choose the nonprofit organizations they support with the same care that
they apply to their professional investments.
“WGBH has an excellent success rate. They go out and test their children’s
content in the classroom to make sure they understand its efficacy,” says Jennifer,
a former WGBH Overseer who now serves on our Overseers Advisory Board.
The Walkses also have seen WGBH’s impact up close. “We were in the car with
our daughter, who was six at the time, when she announced that she ‘yearned’
for French fries,” Jennifer recalls with a smile. “We said, ‘What did you just say?’
Savannah replied, ‘I learned it on Martha Speaks. It means you really want something.’ I thought it was ironic that WGBH was testing the show’s effectiveness in
building vocabulary, and my own daughter was proof positive of the show’s impact.”
The couple, who moved to San Francisco from Boston in 2010, has made
several generous gifts to WGBH, most recently to fund the Martha Speaks Read
Aloud Book Club program, an initiative that leverages WGBH’s popular vocabularybuilding series to give at-risk and low-income children the chance to enhance their
literacy skills at public and school libraries nationwide.
Jennifer, who grew up on the West Coast in a family of educators—both her
parents have PhDs and worked in academic institutions—views public media as
serving an important bridge between classroom learning and most students’ social
environments outside of the classroom. She’s a big supporter of WGBH’s goal to
ensure children’s content for classroom use. “Learning has moved far beyond
books,” she says. “It is now more about the student experience, social media, online
learning, and experiential learning. Media is front and center in the educational
movement, and WGBH is well poised to take advantage of this opportunity with
its rich and thoughtful content.”
More broadly, she is enthusiastic about WGBH President Jon Abbott’s
leadership and his commitment to using digital media to ensure that WGBH’s
educational content reaches the widest audience possible. “Jon is always asking
where does the organization need to go to make sure it stays relevant,” Jennifer
says. “I see the role of WGBH and PBS as even more important in the years
ahead as media moves from the fixed television to
streaming onto any device. Jon also is both passionate
and skilled at communicating WGBH’s mission;
my students love the time he can spend at Berkeley,
and the rich media content he always brings along
keeps them on the edge of their seats.”
News from the Ralph Lowell Society
Great Expectations
C
onstancy is a quality that Jon Abbott,
President and CEO of WGBH, highlighted in his annual report this year. I have
been thinking about the value of things we
count on as we juggle
the demands of our
busy lives. The quality
of public media belongs
at the top of the list.
When we take time to
watch or listen to a
program, or access content on our computers,
smartphones, or tablets, we want a worthwhile experience…and that is what WGBH
delivers. As Ralph Lowell Society members,
we play a major role in helping WGBH stay
out in front as the nation’s leading public
media broadcaster and producer.
We also enjoy special RLS events featuring some of the extraordinary talent behind
our favorite WGBH productions. I hope
you were among the 300 RLS members
who attended our Downton Abbey, Season 2
celebration with Masterpiece executive
producer Rebecca Eaton and actress
Elizabeth McGovern (Cora, Countess of
Grantham). This June, we had the chance to
meet Antiques Roadshow executive producer
Marsha Bemko and show host Mark L.
Walberg at a dinner in advance of Roadshow’s
first appraisal event in Boston in years.
And there is more ahead. In September,
we will hold a screening of American
Experience’s new film based on the Pulitzer
Prize-winning book, The Republic of
Suffering, by Harvard President Drew
Gilpin Faust, who will be our special guest.
Ken Burns will stop by in October to share
a preview of his latest film, The Dust Bowl.
And in December, we will celebrate the 2013
premiere of Season 3 of Downton Abbey.
But before these events happen, we need
to hear from you. Between now and August
31, we are aiming to reach our annual RLS
goal of nearly $3.4 million. If your renewal
is coming up, please respond early. If you
would like to move up to a higher level of
support (and to enjoy even greater “insider”
access to WGBH), we welcome that, too.
As always, thanks for making WGBH a
priority in your life!
melinda a. rabb
chair, ralph lowell society
An Evening to Remember with Jim Lehrer
WGBH Chair Amos B. Hostteter, Jr. and his wife Barbara opened their historic Beacon Hill
house to Ralph Lowell Society President’s Circle members and special guests in November for
an evening of conversation with Jim Lehrer. The co-producer and longtime anchor of PBS
NewsHour shared stories from his 52-year career in journalism and discussed his latest book,
Tension City, a nonfiction work about presidential debates—many of them moderated by him.
host barbara hostetter with rls chairman’s
circle member and trustee maureen ruettgers
and trustee sara lawrence-lightfoot
wgbh president jon abbott with jim lehrer and
hosts amos. b. hostetter, jr., wgbh chair, and
wife barbara
rls chairman’s circle members john f. and
marilyn keane (trustee emerita) with jim lehrer
rls members applaud jim lehrer for his many
contributions to in-depth, independent journalism
Downton Abbey Party with Elizabeth McGovern
WGBH’s Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of Masterpiece, welcomed Ralph Lowell Society
members, Masterpiece Trust donors, and friends to WGBH’s studios in December for a preview
party in celebration of the 2012 premiere of Downton Abbey, Season 2, with special guests Elizabeth
McGovern (Cora, Countess of Grantham) and Downton Abbey executive producer Gareth Neame.
masterpiece trust supporter
steven karol with elizabeth
mcgovern
rls members and masterpiece trust supporters welcome elizabeth
mcgovern: (from left) trustee ann l. gund, overseer michelle m. karol,
mcgovern, rls chair melinda rabb, and trustee marjie b. kargman
rls president’s circle member and masterpiece
trust supporter graham gund with masterpiece
executive producer rebecca eaton
downton abbey executive producer gareth neame,
masterpiece executive producer rebecca eaton,
and elizabeth mcgovern discuss the series
SHARING THE VISION NEWSLETTER • SPRING/SUMMER 2012
PAG E 5
WGBH’s Ambassador to
G
Western Massachusetts
rowing up in Concord, Massachusetts, joan c row le y acquired a passion
for learning. “My dad was a physicist at MIT, my mom an English teacher, and
both promoted lifelong learning,” she says. They also introduced Joan to WGBH.
“I have many fond memories of the classical music broadcasts that often filled our
house.” Later, WGBH was a prominent part of the Worcester home where, together
with her husband ral ph crow ley, Joan raised five children.
The Crowleys have deep ties to the Worcester area. Ralph is president and
CEO of the homegrown Polar Beverages—the country’s largest independent softdrink bottler—and his family runs the successful Wachusett Mountain Ski Area.
A member of the WGBH Board of Overseers and Ralph Lowell Society Committee
since 2010, Joan is spreading the word about WGBH throughout the community
her family loves. By doing so, she also is honoring her parents’ legacy. “Every time
I listen to WGBH Radio or watch WGBH TV,” she says, “I always learn something.”
What are your and your husband’s WGBH favorites?
We enjoy Ken Burns’s documentaries. We love Downton Abbey. I wasn’t sure if
Ralph would watch, but he was thoroughly into it. I’m a big fan of Antiques Roadshow
and Masterpiece’s Jane Austen adaptations. On 89.7, Emily Rooney always has an
engaging, Boston-related topic.
Why have you made WGBH a philanthropic priority?
I’m a big proponent of education. WGBH has benefited my family so much, and I
finally have time, so I wanted to give back.
Lending Library
Experiencing Downton Abbey withdrawal?
You’re not alone! This spring, Seasons 1 and
2 of Downton Abbey are among the mostrequested programs from the Ralph Lowell
Society Lending Library. Other popular
titles include Masterpiece’s Sherlock, Nova’s
Cracking Your Genetic Code, and American
Experience’s Clinton and The Amish. Take
advantage of this exclusive RLS benefit:
call the RLS Hotline at 617.300.3900 or
email [email protected] and
supply your name, address, and program
request. We’ll take care of the rest! r a lp h lo we l l s o ci e t y
m e m b e r sh i p l eve ls
friend • $1,500
fellow • $2,500
sponsor • $5,000
benefactor • $10,000
president’s circle • $25,000
chairman’s circle • $50,000
What is the focus of your Ralph Lowell Society Committee work for WGBH?
It may be the disconnect between Boston and anything beyond Route 495, but there
aren’t a lot of us from Central Massachusetts involved with WGBH. I know many
people who appreciate WGBH’s mission and programs, but haven’t contributed. I’ve
been reaching out and reintroducing them to all the wonderful things that WGBH does.
For a complete list of the benefits
and privileges at each membership
level, please call the Ralph Lowell
Society Hotline at 617-300-3900,
visit wgbh.org/ralphlowell, or email
[email protected].
We welcome your questions and
value your support.
Back in 1998, your mother-in-law bid on and won a pink Cadillac at the WGBH
auction. What happened to it?
It’s alive and well in the Crowley family, and used for special occasions. It was taken
out for proms. And I can see in the future that it may be taken out for weddings.
Chair, Ralph Lowell Society • Melinda Rabb
Director • Vanya Tulenko
Development Officer • Charlotte Porter
Event Manager • Jeanmarie Roberts
Associate • Christopher Reilly
Assistant • Victoria Crnovich
PAG E 6
An Eventful Season
Classical Cartoon Festival
Hits High Note
Nearly 4,500 people poured into Symphony Hall in
late October for Classical New England’s 13th Classical
Cartoon Festival. Families enjoyed iconic Warner
Brothers cartoons, storytelling, and classical music,
with live performances by the New England
Conservatory Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Boston
Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Handel & Haydn
Vocal Quartet, and more.
wgbh’s ben roe, managing director
for classical new england, kicks
off the festival
the cellists of the suzuki school of newton
members of the new england
conservatory youth symphony
orchestra
children make their own music at
the instrument petting zoo
students from the rivers school
conservatory in weston, ma,
perform as part of the marimba
magic ensemble
Students Get Up-Close Look
at Jesse Owens’ Story
city year boston board member josh mccall (left)
with american experience executive producer
mark samels
(from left) northeastern athletic director peter
roby, wgbh president jon abbott, filmmaker laurens
grant, boston public schools senior program
director robby chisholm, and city year boston vice
president and executive director sandra lopez burke
In partnership with City Year Boston and Boston Public Schools, WGBH opened its doors to
nearly 200 high school students in late April for a close-up look at American Experience’s new
film, Jesse Owens. WGBH’s Mark Samels, executive producer for American Experience, welcomed
students from Brighton High School, Burke High School in Dorchester, English High School
in Jamaica Plain, Boston Community Leadership Academy, and Snowden International School.
Students enjoyed a preview clip before breaking out into small discussion groups with
filmmaker Laurens Grant and Northeastern University Athletic Director Peter Roby.
peter roby, laurens grant, and robby chisholm
answer students’ questions
students gather in wgbh’s yawkey atrium for
discussions and lunch
SHARING THE VISION NEWSLETTER • SPRING/SUMMER 2012
PAG E 7
WGBH and Massachusetts:
Partners in Education
W
All Things Kids
Here’s a snapshot of WGBH’s current
children’s media productions across
platforms.
TV AND THE WEB
Arthur • Between the Lions • Curious George
• Design Squad Nation • Fetch! with Ruff
Ruffman • Martha Speaks • Peep and the Big
Wide World • Postcards from Buster
WE B E XCLUS IVE S
Loop Scoops • The Fin, Fur and Feather
Bureau of Investigation • The Greens •
Zoom
FOR TE ACHE R S AND STU DE NTS
PBS LearningMediaTM • Teachers’ Domain
• Massachusetts Teachers’ Domain •
Beginning Education, Early Childcare
at Home • Deepening Adolescent
Literacy • Teaching American History
Massachusetts • Teaching Engineering
M O B I L E A P P L I C AT I O N S
Arthur, D.W.’s Unicorn Adventure
(iPhone) • Between the Lions, Monkey
Match (iPhone) • Fetch! Lunch Rush
(iPhone) • Martha Speaks Dog
Party (iPhone) • Next Generation
Preschool Math (iPad) • The Greens,
Light It Right (iPhone)
IN COMMUNITIES
Bark about Books • Dot Diva •
Engineer Your Life • Martha
Speaks Read Aloud Book Club •
Martha Speaks Reading Buddies
Program • Time to Invent
PAG E 8
GBH has a long history of creating educational media for use in classrooms
nationwide. But it wasn’t until early 2009, when WGBH President Jon Abbott
met Mitchell Chester (Massachusetts’ incoming Commissioner of the Department
of Early and Secondary Education) at a conference in New York, that WGBH
embarked on a concerted effort to support the Commonwealth’s educational
media needs.
Soon after that meeting, WGBH’s Educational Productions team met with
Chester’s staff and quickly got to work developing a Massachusetts edition of
WGBH’s acclaimed Teachers’ Domain, our free, national online library of mediarich, classroom-ready content for teachers. “We reorganized the library to match
Massachusetts’ K-12 curriculum,” says WGBH’s Denise Blumenthal, director of
Educational Productions. Massachusetts Teachers’ Domain launched in fall 2009;
within months, 30,000 teachers had signed on.
“Textbooks and lectures no longer rule the day,” says Blumenthal. “High-quality
educational media—curriculum-based video, interactive lessons, online games,
videos that demonstrate best practices for teachers—are revolutionizing education.”
A pioneer in digital learning, WGBH is continually
seeking better ways to create and deliver this media to
teachers across the country—most recently through the
2011 merger of WGBH’s Teachers’ Domain and PBS’s
educational online efforts to form PBS LearningMediaTM
—and here at home through new, innovative partnerships
with the State.
Last year, when the Commonwealth competed successfully for two federal Race
to the Top grants aimed at raising students’ achievement—grants worth hundreds of
millions of dollars—it turned to WGBH to be its media partner. The State Department
of Elementary and Secondary Education awarded WGBH $1.2 million to organize and
develop multimedia resources for 40 new curriculum units for grades K-12 in math,
science, social studies, and English language arts. As part of the grant, WGBH is producing best-practices videos to help teachers improve their skills using this new media.
“WGBH is partnering with teams of educators to help shape the curriculum
to meet new national standards,” says Blumenthal. “We’re identifying and, in many
cases, creating media to support evolving curriculum units—everything from an
interactive version of a rare Civil War map from the Boston Public Library’s Leventhal
Map Center, to a customized video of American Experience’s film on Emmett Till for
a unit on civil rights.”
WGBH also received a $2.1 million grant from the State Department of Early
Education and Care to create an easy-to-use online hub of multimedia resources
for teachers and caregivers of kids through age 5. “For the first time,” Blumenthal
says, “we’re working with the State to create a digital preschool curriculum as well
as best-practice videos for family childcare providers and parents.”
All of this is exciting news to longtime educator and WGBH Trustee Jackie
Jenkins-Scott, president of Wheelock College. “WGBH has the multimedia resources,
and the expertise, to make a real difference in preparing our children to compete in
the 21st century,” she says. “This is a partnership worth celebrating and supporting.”
Radio Campaign Update
Turning Kids On
M
to Classical Music
usic education can lift up a city, and the children in it. The first-rate work of
Detroit’s public schools helped put that city on the music industry map
back in the 1960s, explains Ben Roe, managing director of WGBH’s Classical New
England. But in cities across the country—including Boston—schools no longer are
an incubator for the arts. The critically dire state of music education, Roe says,
“is the house on our block that is on fire and can no longer be ignored.”
Classical New England is responding to the alarm. “Who’s better equipped
than WGBH?” Roe says. “Our track record in children’s education is unmatched.”
Roe oversaw the 2011 launch of a 24-hour-a-day Kids Classical channel on
classicalnewengland.org—the first and still only online radio channel in the country
devoted entirely to kids and classical music. The channel, which also includes
interactive games and puzzles on its website, has helped turned 6- to 24-year-olds
into one of the fastest growing segments of Classical New England’s audience.
Roe also retooled the radio lineup. Classics for Kids (Saturday, 9am) offers
accessible insights about composers and traditions, while From the Top (Saturday,
5pm) showcases America’s best young musicians. And every fall, Classical New
England’s Cartoon Festival draws thousands of kids and their parents to Symphony
Hall (see page 7) to experience classical music-themed vintage cartoons, some
accompanied by a live orchestra. “It’s an eye-opener for so many children,” Roe says.
“They get to approach the music on their own terms.”
But Roe wants to do more. He’s working closely with members of the WGBH
Music Committee to explore new ways to engage young people. “Whether it’s
inspiring the next generation of conservatory talent or expanding a child’s cultural
horizons,” Roe says, “classical music can positively affect a child’s future.”
And Roe is living proof. “I grew up with WGBH,” says Roe, a Grammy and
Peabody Award-winning producer who previously led NPR’s Cultural Programming
Division. “My parents were classical music fanatics and they had the radio on
all day long.”
In 2010, WGBH made a bold move: launching a 24/7 classical music service—Classical
New England—and re-imagining 89.7
WGBH as a news and culture service with
coverage ranging from national to hyperlocal.
Two years later, that move is paying off on
multiple fronts, thanks to supporters of
WGBH’s ongoing Radio Campaign.
“We want to bring classical music closer
to people’s lives, to give them access not only
to the music, but also to the stories behind
the music,” says Classical
New England Managing
Director ben roe.
“That’s the idea driving
many of our efforts, from
our Classical Music
Festival here at WGBH’s
studios this June, to Keith’s Classical Corner
with Laura Carlo and Keith Lockhart, to our
recent series of Bach Minutes. As one donor
wrote, ‘I thought I knew about Bach, but I’m
learning something every day.’ That’s music
to my ears.” The classical service also is
encouraging listeners to share their own
musical memories, starting with their favorite
Tanglewood Tales as the Boston Symphony
Orchestra mounts its 75th-anniversary
season in Lenox, Massachusetts.
On the news side, 89.7 WGBH recently
launched a new series, WGBH Focus—
periodic, weeklong reports on subjects
that matter to our region and nation, from
complete coverage and analysis of the
Supreme Court’s recent Affordable Care Act
hearings to an in-depth
look at the problems and
challenges facing critical
public infrastructures,
starting with the MBTA.
“Our aim is to illuminate
complex issues that often
receive short shrift elsewhere on the dial,”
says 89.7 Managing Director phil redo.
More classical music. More news.
And more to come, thanks to you.
To find out how you can support the
WGBH Radio Campaign, please contact
Major Gifts Officer Kaja Fickes at
617-300-3629 or kaja_fi[email protected].
SHARING THE VISION NEWSLETTER • SPRING/SUMMER 2012
PAG E 9
WGBH
One Guest Street
Boston, MA 02135
wgbh.org­
P RESORTED
F I RST-CL ASS MAI L
U. S . P OSTAGE PAI D
P ERMI T 2 1 5
MAI L ED F ROM 01 889
FOR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF WGBH
SPRING/SUMMER 2012
Raising a Generation of Learners
WGBH’s Children’s Media
Independent studies confirm what America’s educators and parents
already know: WGBH children’s media helps kids learn. Curriculum
materials from our series Between the Lions improve children’s letter
sounds, an essential early literacy skill, by nearly 300%. WGBH’s
Martha Speaks Dog Party iPhone app has been shown to boost
oral vocabulary by as much as 31%. And more than half of kids
tested showed gains in math skills after playing number and
counting games on our Curious George website.
For general information,
please contact
Winifred Lenihan
Vice President for
Development
WGBH
One Guest Street
Boston, MA 02135
617-300-3804
[email protected]
Sharing the Vision is a
publication of WGBH
Publication Coordination
Margaret Quackenbush
P H OTO CR E D ITS • COVER: ISTOCKPHOTO; CG: ® & © 2012 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS AND/OR HMH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Editorial
Susan Reed
Matthew Roy
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