Wooing A Captive Audience

By John E. Gallagher

Christopher Whittle has a high-tech answer for the problem of cultural illiteracy among American students. Beginning next month, his Knoxville-based Whittle Communications firm will beam Channel One, a slick news program for teenagers, directly into schools for a seven-week test period. Whittle has provided each of the six pilot schools with $50,000 worth of television sets and satellite equipment to use as they wish. The only requirement: each day students will have to watch a twelve-minute Channel One broadcast -- including two minutes of ads.

Whittle's plan to introduce commercial television into the classroom has sparked considerable controversy. "I think it's appalling and greedy," says Arnold Fege of the national PTA. Whittle counters that the venture will not only inform students about current events but also provide schools with valuable hardware to increase learning opportunities. "The equipment we install has enormous secondary benefits," he claims.

Few educators object to the idea of the news program itself. Modeled on the Today show and Good Morning America, Channel One will be a fast-paced montage of news headlines, facts and features, along with a focus piece examining one story in depth. The young announcers, who include Kenny Rogers Jr., son of the country-and-western singer, will even spring pop quizzes on their viewers. Example: Which of these two is older, the pyramids or the Great Wall of China? (Answer: the pyramids.)

However, each program will also carry four 30-second ads, causing some educators to worry about the encroachment of commercialism on the classroom. "Do we want our young people to get the idea from school that buying fast food is as important as learning when Columbus discovered America?" asks Patricia Albjerg Graham, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Adds Bella Rosenberg, an official at the American Federation of Teachers: "By showing commercials, schools are implicitly endorsing the product." Others charge that principals are selling their students' souls for a pile of high- tech hardware. Says Peggy Charren, who heads Action for Children's Television: "They see stars in their eyes in the shape of television sets."

Administrators at some pilot schools admit that the lure of free equipment influenced their decisions to air the program. But other officials insist that they chose Channel One primarily on its merits. "Some people assume we're mindless dolts and victims of rampant commercialism," says Thomas Sharkey, principal of Billerica Memorial High School in Billerica, Mass. "I consider this the best form of corporate-school partnership." David Bennett, superintendent of the St. Paul school district, cites lack of public funds as ; a key reason why schools would accept the offer.

If the $5 million pilot succeeds, Whittle will open Channel One to schools nationwide. He hopes to have signed up as many as 10,000 schools by 1990, giving the program an audience of up to 7 million. The estimated cost to Whittle Communications, half of which is owned by Time Inc., would be $100 million dollars. Already 70% of the pilot's ad time has been sold, with the rest likely to be gone by next month. While Whittle will not release sponsors' names, product categories include sneakers, food and toiletries. Whittle pledges there will be no ads for alcohol, tobacco or contraceptives.

Whether Channel One will succeed with its captive audience is yet to be seen. Early reviews from students who saw a prototype program were generally favorable. "I thought it was very interesting and informative," said Hajir Ardebili, a seventh-grader at Eisenhower Middle School in Kansas City, Kans. He had one familiar reservation: "Too many commercials."

With reporting by Naushad S. Mehta/New York