By Trudy Fowler, former director of Development at KRMA
Each year, principal people from all stations including members of the Boards of Directors would attend the annual PBS Conference; this time in New Orleans. Our license was still held by the Denver Public Schools (DPS). At this meeting, I can't recall why, I happened to attend a presentation by one of the Louisiana stations about a School News program. Bingo! I thought what a great idea for our station and for our volunteers and best of all, DPS.
Well, I could hardly contain myself. Later that day, at a PBS cocktail party we all attended, I exploded with the idea to two members of the Denver Public School (DPS) School Board. They fell for it hook, line & sinker; and so did Don (Johnson). I told them that we could air the spots every week so we would have 52 schools; thirty of which would be DPS and the other 22 twenty-two from other school districts.
I explained what a fantastic experience for a 5th or 6th grader, especially a public school student, and a golden opportunity for DPS to market its diversity and the skills of its students. I knew our production staff could easily handle it and that our volunteers would love to get their hands on it and take care of all the details.
So when we returned to Denver, I shared the concept as I saw it with the appropriate staff and the Volunteer Board – and
Jane Flottman's history continues where I leave off.
I think, without a doubt, that Super (Six) School News was and continues to be, one of the best station outreach programs ever.
