Schools across the country have been closed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, so public television stations are trying to help fill the education gap facing young people.
Neal Shapiro, president of the New York metro area public broadcasting station WNET, told Cheddar Monday that PBS stations are offering kids the tools to stay on track with their schooling via educational television.
The broadcaster has been working with a group of teachers in New Jersey to provide educational programming during the coronavirus pandemic. "Teachers are actually teaching from their very own homes, and they are using TV in a very interactive way. So, now they’re teaching from nine to one [o'clock], and each hour is a different grade," Shapiro said of the educators.
Public educational television may be a "game-changer" for children going forward, he said, even after the pandemic is over.
"As we think about how life will be different, education is one of those ways," Shapiro explained. "I think there are going to be a lot more ways in which we can use educational television to fill that gap."
PBS provides a vast range of content between its news, educational, and arts programming. Shapiro said increasing content is one way the channels can help communities hunkering down.
"If you look at what we’re doing in the arts, that’s a whole other area where public television has kind of led the way," he noted. "In New York we’ve gone back and done some of our plays over the years. So, even though Broadway is dark we’re not."
WNET has also launched an Arts Only channel where they will stream Lionsgate Live! A Night at the Movies, hosted by actress Jamie Lee Curtis who is also sheltered at home.
Shapiro said channels have seen an increase in viewership on all platforms and credits the broadcaster's unique programming.
"I think one of the reasons we are particularly up is that there are still things PBS does better than other people," he said. "There is nobody who does deep documentaries the way we do. There’s nobody who has this rich library of fantastic drama and costume drama the way that we do."
The iconic 7-Eleven Slurpee cup just got a makeover. The company rolled out the new cups on Monday as part of its "Anything Flows" campaign, and they feature a colorful design on the front with a big "S" resembling the swirly top of the icy drink.
From the end of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to the beginning of a new zombie apocalypse, here's what's going on in entertainment.
One person was killed and multiple people were sent to local hospitals after a boat capsized Monday during a tour of an underground cavern system built to carry water from the Erie Canal beneath the western New York city of Lockport, officials said.
There was plenty of uncertainty in the run-up to this year’s Tony Awards, which at one point seemed unlikely to happen at all because of the ongoing Hollywood writer’s strike.
Classical music concerts have been popular since the age of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart, but you've probably never thought about attending one in a cemetery. Our own Chloe Aiello spoke with Andrew Ousley, founder of Death of Classical, to learn more about a concert series held in the catacombs of the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
You may not know her name, but you've probably seen her face. Madhulika Sharma has graced Vogue India and ELLE Magazine and modeled for popular brands such as Reformation and Skims. Cheddar's own Hena Doba spoke with Sharma to discuss her globe-spanning modeling career, her education in fashion history, and working alongside Kim Kardashian.
The intimate, funny-sad musical “Kimberly Akimbo” nudged aside more splashier rivals on Sunday to win the best new musical crown at the Tony Awards on a night when Broadway flexed its muscle in the face of Hollywood writers’ strike and fully embraced trans-rights with history-making winners.
The ChatGPT chatbot, personified by different avatars on a huge screen above the altar, led the more than 300 people through 40 minutes of prayer, music, sermons and blessings.
New York's Assembly and Senate passed a bill to create a commission that would consider reparations for slavery.
New Orleans' Big Freedia, who many heard on Beyonce's new hit "Break My Soul," talks about upcoming business ventures and music projects, including a new show called Big Freedia Means Business on Fuse TV.
