HISTORY Moment in Media: The Unexpected Power of Mr. Rogers

On their screens was a new show for children but the offering not only had laughably low production values and none of the wisecracking animated characters smashing each other over the head that made Looney Tunes so popular it also starred a sincerely earnest Presbyterian minister who wore cardigan sweaters and used his airtime to feed his fish and play makebelieve with puppetsYet from the start small children responded to Fred Rogers39 deep natural empathy and his rare commitment to take their concerns seriouslyamp160 At its peak popularity in the 1980s Mister Rogers39 Neighborhood would beam into eightamp160percent of American householdsamp160 The show would stay on the air for 33 years win four Emmyamp174 Awards and along the way help children process weighty topics from racism to the assassination of Robert KennedyNaturally introverted and the polar opposite of flashy Fred Rogers was an unlikely candidate for television successamp160 He was born in a small town outside Pittsburgh and later told biographers that he was a shy overweight and lonely childamp160 In fact he learned to make puppets and act as a ventriloquist to entertain himselfHe later shared in interviews that he was drawn to TV not because he loved it but because he detested what it had becomeamp160 quotI went into televisionquot he said quotbecause I hated it so and I thought there39s some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listenquotIn 1953 he was given his chance to do just that He was hired as a program director for his hometown public television station in Pittsburgh Although he did not appear on air he developed a show called The Children39s Corner which included many of the iconic puppets that would later populate his neighborhood including King Friday XIII Queen Sara Saturday and Rogers39 alter ego Daniel Striped Tiger who often voiced his inner fears and anxietiesWhen the show moved to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1963 Rogers was prevailed upon to go on air as host and quotMister Rogersquot became a household name amp160In 1967 Rogers brought the show now known as Mister Rogers39 Neighborhood back to Pittsburghamp160 PBS picked up the show in 1968The New York Times noted that while Sesame Street schooled a generation in numbers and letters and The Electric Company taught phonics and reading Rogers broke a whole new plane of learning by teaching what quotmight now be classified as emotional literacyquotAlways gently and with empathy the show took on a panoply of childhood anxieties and fearsamp160 In one episode Rogers visited a hospital so children would learn it wasn39t scaryamp160 In another he sang quotyou can never go downquot the bathtub drain because you were bigger than itTeaching empathy for all to his young viewers and occasionally to adults as well was another theme of his showamp160 At the height of the civil rights movement with many people violently protesting the end of segregation Rogers made a point of sharing a foot bath with one of his regular African American cast members Officer Clemmonsamp160 He also invited Jeff Erlanger a quadriplegic boy to be on the show and they sang a duet called quotIt39s You I LikequotRogers who died in 2003 lived long enough to see his philosophy widely recognized and honoredamp160 He was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Daytime Emmyamp174 Lifetime Achievement Awardamp160 In 1999 he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of FameAmazingly his fame and influence seem to continue to growamp160 As the subject of a critically acclaimed 2018 documentary and an upcoming biopic starring Tom Hanks perhaps Fred Rogers is set to teach another generation about compassion for fellow humansamp169 2019 AampampE Television Networks LLC All rights reservedClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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HISTORY Moment in Media: The Unexpected Power of Mr. Rogers

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HISTORY Moment in Media: The Unexpected Power of Mr. Rogers

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