''Operation Alphabet'' was a daily educational television program designed to teach

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

to adults. Produced in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

by WFIL-TV (now

WPVI-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...

) in association with the Philadelphia

Junior Chamber of Commerce The United States Junior Chamber, also known as the Jaycees, JCs or JCI USA, is a leadership training, service organization and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 40. It is a branch of Junior Chamber International (JCI). ...

and the National Association for Public School Adult Education, the program was hosted by Alexander Shevlin of the Philadelphia Board of Education. The series was designed to teach the basics of reading and writing to adults who were illiterate, using subjects that are relevant to adults; the program especially benefited immigrants, prisoners and those in the military. ''Operation Alphabet'' was not only one of the first educational programs to deal with literacy, it was one of the first to be aimed at an adult population, rather than towards children. Two series of the program were produced—the first (100 episodes), aimed for reading at a fourth-grade level, was produced in 1961; a second series (90 episodes), for reading at an eighth-grade level, was filmed in 1964. Each series was designed for daily, weekday telecasts. In Philadelphia, WFIL-TV broadcast the series at 6 AM on weekdays—the station opted to place the program in that early time slot, so that adults could watch the program and take the coursework before going to work. The early hour also benefited the viewers, as they could learn to read without fear of embarrassment. An instructional book published for the Civic Adult Education Project by Noble and NobleERIC: "ED017886 - OPERATION ALPHABET 2, TEACHER'S GUIDE"
/ref> was designed as support material for the program, featuring supplementary material that correlated with each show. In many areas, tutoring service, supported by "The Clubwomen Across America", was offered to viewers to help reinforce the material presented in the program. ''Operation Alphabet'' was also syndicated by WFIL-TV to commercial and educational television stations nationwide—stations received tapes or films of the program free of charge, provided that they were returned after broadcast. WFIL-TV and the later WPVI-TV had regularly included ''Operation Alphabet'' in their daily schedules from its 1962 debut into the early 1980s, making it one of Philadelphia's longest-running programs, despite the fact that it was only in production in the early 1960s.

References

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External links

Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia: "Operation Alphabet"

Douglas F. Bodwell papers
at the

University of Maryland libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...

. Bodwell worked in the field of instructional and educational television primarily for the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

. This collection contains materials that he collected about ''Operation Alphabet''. Adult education television series 1961 American television series debuts 1965 American television series endings Reading and literacy television series Television in Philadelphia Education in Philadelphia

See also

References

External links