FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — The "BizKid$" TV show, financed by a credit union consortium and set for airing on public television, will now be broadcast Jan 8 with some 100 U.S. stations participating, according to officials of the show and the Washington Credit Union League.
But before one of the 26 episodes gets broadcast in the U.S., a British business TV station has agreed to air the show Oct. 1 with discussions underway with the British Broadcasting Company for more United Kingdom telecasts later on.
Show production, being done in Seattle studios, has been in the works for more than a year, but a decision to delay the U.S. broadcast will provide wider exposure to the CU financial education message, declared Elliot Gregg, chairman of the Washington League.
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"We found out that we can get maximum carriage with more stations signed up if we wait until January," said Elliot Gregg, the league head who also is president of Kitsap Community Credit Union, Bremerton, Wash.
Gregg, joined by others in leadership of the league, said he remains greatly enthused about the "content and production quality of the shows" giving CUs outstanding national exposure when they finally are broadcast in conjunction with Junior Achievement Worldwide, a CU partner.
The shows, he said, "will have all the pop and fizzle" CU benefactors expect, said Gregg who witnessed clips of the proposed shows and heard speeches by PBS producers during the league's annual conference two weeks ago in Spokane.
Since last year the Washington League joined by an estimated 140 CU foundations, leagues and other groups including the National Credit Union Foundation have been the chief cheerleaders and financial sponsors for "BizKid$" in a co-op hookup with JA Worldwide which has some of its showcase operations for young people in the Seattle area.
Last year in deference to Junior Achievement, "JA's BisKid$" was added to the logo, but the joint branding was dropped two months ago "because of confusion", said Roxanne Kruger, senior vice president-member and business development.
The confusion, she said, centered on the "JA" lettering, which proved to be "Jaw" so a new logo was crafted.
Kruger joined by the Seattle BizKid$ producers also met with PBS executives earlier this month at an industry convention in Atlanta to line up support and on that score "we found very favorable acceptance," she said.
A PBS trade group, Association of Public TV Stations, is also working with the CU consortium she said, to sign up more stations. Also involved in the project to line up curriculum courses in the schools in tandem with the show are six state leagues that are currently doing pilot projects.
In addition to Washington State, other leagues involved in the curriculum pilot include California, New York, Texas, and Indiana.
On the international front, said Kruger, the World Council of Credit Unions, which also put up funds for BizKid$ production, is negotiating with stations in several countries beside the U.K. to air the show. Those countries include: South Korea, Israel, Australia, Guyana and Tobago.
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