FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- The credit union-sponsored BizKid$ TV show finally went "live" with no less than 279 stations in 43 states signed up to air the pre-taped financial literacy telecast during its first week of national broadcasts in January.
The rollout--representing 81% of potential stations in the Public Broadcasting System--was aired from Seattle to Buffalo. Staffers at the National Credit Union Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the Washington Credit Union League, the two key financial backers of the project, were elated that PBS participation was going far better than expected. The penetration included three of the top TV markets: Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.
For months, state leagues have been encouraging their members to watch the 26-part series as well as downloading and customizing BizKid$ brochures, posters, postcards and statement stuffers. In many locales, CUs were able to tagline each broadcast with "brought to you by the credit unions of ..." under local agreements with affiliates.
Credit unions, leagues and their foundations have raised more than $2.6 million so far to sponsor the first 13 episodes, which are also being produced in coordination
with Junior Achievement Worldwide.
BizKid$ also will air on all high-definition PBS stations--about 100 in total--on Sundays afternoons nationwide, beginning Jan. 27, according to the Washington league.
BizKid$ already is airing in the United Kingdom and Ireland on a national business channel.
Among stations broadcasting the show last week were those in Las Vegas; central Kansas; Birmingham, Ala.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Dayton, Ohio; and central Illinois with those this week set for San Diego, Florida, and Albany, N.Y.
"The National Credit Union Foundation is proud to be BizKid$' largest sponsor," affirmed NCUF Executive Director Steve Delfin in a statement. "This TV series, together with the teaching curriculum being produced in partnership with Junior Achievement, will fulfill a key part of our mission: to bring financial education and literacy to our nation's youth."
BizKid$, he added, "has the potential to be the most visible youth financial literacy program our nation has ever seen."
--jrubenscut@aol.com
