FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — This is the kickoff week for the industry's BizKid$ PBS show on financial literacy with 143 TV stations in 33 states now slated to finally air the program which has been in the works for nearly two years.
"We're seeing great momentum among credit unions and by the PBS stations to promote this worthwhile program aimed at young people and their parents," said Roxanne Kruger, who has long served as coordinator and the leading spokeswoman for the BizKid$ credit union coalition.
Under the latest timetable, the first broadcast of the 30-minute show was slated to air on an Alabama station with statewide coverage plus another in Las Vegas last Monday. The move into the major markets starts on Wednesday in Los Angeles with two PBS stations participating.
Recommended For You
"Ideally, we'd like to have all 340 stations but we know that a project like this takes time to build interest," said Kruger, who also is senior vice president of the Washington Credit Union Foundation and has long guided the fundraising among CUs, leagues, and the foundation community.
The 26-episode series is underwritten by the national CU coalition spearheaded by the Washington league and with $2 million in funding from the National Credit Union Foundation. After Alabama, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, the show, produced in Seattle by veterans of the successful "Bill Nye the Science Guy" series, will air on PBS outlets in Chicago Jan. 13 and in New York Jan. 11.
BizKid$ is produced in association with Junior Achievement Worldwide and allows CUs to include a branded co-op plug at the end of the broadcast. San Diego CUs are the first to include a "brought to you by San Diego credit unions" message, said Kruger.
As part of the branding tie-in, CUs were sent materials over the last two weeks including customized newsletter articles, lobby posters, and statement stuffers all available to create a local tie.
BizKid$ also will air on high-definition channels on Sundays beginning Jan. 27. The program already airs in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Steve Delfin, executive director of NCUF, which is the largest funder of the underwriting group, said the TV series "together with the teaching curriculum being produced in part with Junior Achievement, will fulfill a key part of our mission: to bring financial education and literacy to our nation's youth,"
The show itself is described as a "fun, educational series about entrepreneurship and financial literacy that entertains and teaches kids how to make and manage money, while inspiring them to pursue their passions."
Each episode of BizKid$ comes with teaching materials developed by Junior Achievement. Companion materials and other resources for teachers and parents are available at www.bizkids.com. The site also features clips from the series and invites youth to appear on the show. Web site visitors also can sign up for the BizKid$ monthly newsletter, The Vault.
In Texas, the Texas Credit Union Foundation said it has recently approved six grants totaling $28,000 to JA programs in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, Longview, Tyler, and Abilene. Meanwhile, Texans CU, the Ft. Worth Chapter, East Texas Professional Credit Union, Smart Financial Credit Union, Altra Credit Union, and Communities of Abilene FCU all have said they will provide volunteers to teach the JA program in local schools.
The Texas league said there will be high definition PBS channels in Lubbock and Austin will air the program on Jan. 27 with additional Texas stations committed to run the series.
TCUF, along with Texans CU, American Airlines FCU, First Community CU of Houston, Lone Star CU, and Southwest Corporate FCU are among the charter sponsors of the 26-episode series in Texas.
Wings Financial Re-Registers Airline Credit Union Web Sites
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. — Are two airline-based credit unions that Wings Financial Credit Union had previously contacted as possible merger candidates still on the financial institution's radar?
A recent search on the Internet name registration site godaddy.com revealed that FAAFirstWings.com and AlaskaHorizonWings.com were re-registered on Dec. 4, 2007 with an expiration date of Dec. 4, 2008. The $291 million FAAFirst FCU and $48 million Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Employees FCU confirmed with Credit Union Times in March 2007 that both had been approached by $1.8 billion Wings Financial about merging. Both credit unions turned down the proposals.
Wings Financial Spokesman Jon Austin said the recent domain registrations were automatically renewed: "Like most domains, those were set up to auto-renew and did," he said, adding "I'll guess that it auto-renews on an annual basis and that when the current period expires–sounds like in December 2008–they'll decide what to do then."
At press time, the registration information on godaddy.com had not changed.
In April 2007, a Wings Financial spokesman confirmed that one of its employees had registered a Web site with the domain name FAAFirstWings.com on Dec. 4, 2006. That registration was set to expire on Dec. 4, 2007. The domain name was created by Brent Andersen, who was listed as the Minnetonka, Minn.-based registrant, administrative contact, and technical contact. AlaskaHorizonWings.com was also registered on the same day with Andersen also listed as the contact.
Wings Financial made headlines in March 2007 when it conducted what some described as a "hostile takeover" of $178 million Continental Federal Credit Union. The same day Wings Financial sent its merger proposal to Continental FCU in March, it launched continentalwings.com, a site that included an online petition for Continental FCU members to sign urging Continental FCU's board to enter into merger discussions. The site is still up and running today but was changed to court Continental Airline employees.
After NCUA ruled that the $200 payments Wings Financial would give to Continental FCU's members should a merger go through were impermissible under the Federal Credit Union Act, Wings Financial ended its merger campaign. It soon shifted gears by partnering with Eos Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Sun Country Airlines, and Colgan Air to serve those carriers' employees.
Several calls to FAAFirst FCU and Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Employees FCU seeking comment were not returned.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
