TV Networks Are In It For Profits, Not Educating Your Children

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Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – I am not of the opinion that television networks exist for any purpose other than taking the capital that was invested therein and returning it with a profit or dividend to those that invested.  That is my understanding of why there are television networks.  There may be television networks that purport to help you raise your children by providing wholesome family education and giving them access to the kind of programming that you cite.  Again, I am not personally aware of any such programming that is totally directed at the children.  Check out today’s audio and transcript for the rest…

 

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Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  While we’re on the subject of Parents magazine and parenting, a listener sent me this.  This is from Justin:

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Dude, I along with many parents across the country pay extra money to get the Nick Jr. network for our children to watch.  This was the last network that offered children’s programming and no commercials so that our kids were not exposed to the garbage that is the rest of the mainstream media.  They now have a new segment at night on the same channel called Nick Mom with programming for adults.

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Mike:  Andrew, do you remember the old Adult Swim on Cartoon Network?

AG:  I think it’s still going on.

Mike:  Is it still going on?

AG:  I think so.

Mike:  I think all of Cartoon Network is now adult, isn’t it?  They’ve gone from Powerpuff Girls to Powerpuff Slutty Teenagers.

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The TV was left on tonight and a show came on at 9 p.m. called “Parental Discretion with Stefanie Wilder-Taylor.”

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Mike:  I must tell the audience at this juncture, I know not of Ms. Wilder-Taylor.  I’ve never seen the show.  I do not know who this woman is.  I am operating in the dark here.  I’m just reading Justin’s letter, which intrigues me.

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The TV was left on tonight and a show came on at 9 p.m. called Parental Direction with Stephanie Wilder-Taylor, which absolutely disgusted me.  Within 20 minutes, I heard the phrases “stripper pole” and “ass backwards.”  The host was asking new mothers at the mall if they were getting more sex or sleep.  This was on Nick Jr.  It is pitiful that there are no longer any suitable entertainment options other than the backyard for our kids to experience that will not expose them to trash.  Please inform your audience that this forum is no longer aimed at providing our children with quality television but has stooped to the level of further degrading the moral fiber of the country.

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Mike:  Justin, I am not of the opinion that anyone that currently runs a television network does it for any other purpose other than profit, maybe with the exception being National Communist Television, you know it at NPR, or CPB, Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Do you have a CPB channel in Maryland?

AG:  I think so, yeah.

Mike:  Or do you guys just get the one out of Mordor, the main PBS?

AG:  I think they do local Maryland-type stuff.

Mike:  Justin, I am not of the opinion that television networks exist for any purpose other than taking the capital that was invested therein and returning it with a profit or dividend to those that invested.  That is my understanding of why there are television networks.  There may be television networks that purport to help you raise your children by providing wholesome family education and giving them access to the kind of programming that you cite.  Again, I am not personally aware of any such programming that is totally directed at the children.

I am aware of some small efforts that are not television networks.  There are some people out there that are doing some things with family and educational television programming.  You can look at my friends at LibertyClassroom.com, Tom Woods, Professor Gutzman, Professor McClanahan.  In their lecture series, they have some lectures that are tailored for younger audiences.  All of those gentlemen are very knowledgeable and very entertaining.  I would suspect your kids would learn far more, even if they didn’t understand it, from watching a Tom Woods lecture at LibertyClassroom.com, a link to which you can find on my site at MikeChurch.com, than they would through Nick Jr.  We also have a feature we produce every day called “This Day In Founding Fathers History.”  I know the content of it because I produce it and I’m the host every day.  I can tell you that it is 100 percent family friendly.  It covers the era of 1765 to 1865.  As I said, there are some small efforts out there but I’m not aware of any network out there.

Besides, I have to ask the question: When did it become accepted doctrine that television sets were babysitters?  I know the television set does a good job of babysitting.  Does it do a good job of childrearing?  Is this an instance in which the listener and the writer of the letter is trying to say to me it’s not so much about the education as it is about occupying the child’s time?  One might ask the question, once upon a time, what did children do when there was no boob tube?  What did they do?  They had these things called books.  Maybe once upon a time children in the 1960s and 70s might have read Dr. Seuss books or had Dr. Seuss read to them.  I know when my twin daughters, 16 now, were but infants, one of their favorite books for me to read to them, and they weren’t even a year old — I thought this along with Bible stories is innocuous stuff — about the wonderful things Mr. Brown can do.  Do you remember this children’s book, Mr. Gruss?  Were your parents Dr. Seussian?  Did they read Seuss to you?

AG:  I don’t remember.

Mike:  See if this rings a memory bell: “Oh, the wonderful things Mr. Brown can do!  He can go like a cow, he can go moo moo.”  Does that ring a bell?

AG:  Not off the bat.

Mike:  Young Eric, does it ring a bell in Bain’s head?  [mocking] “I must say, my parents were reading to me Batman comic books.  I dreamed of the day I would become a superhero villain that would find Mr. Wayne and exterminate him from the face of the planet.”  Does Bain remember the wonderful things Mr. Brown can do?  He doesn’t.

AG:  No, he’s got nothing either.

Mike:  I am batting zero.  I’m Bob Uecker with a baseball bat.  It may be a good exercise to determine or study what children were doing when there weren’t television sets with Nick Jr. on them.  I remember back in the day we used to have this thing called UHF.  Have either one of you in the DC command center ever seen a television that actually had two dials on it, one for VHF and one for UHF?

AG:  Very, very old-school, yes.

Mike:  You have seen it?  UHF is where you’d find the local, yocal not network television station, the local public broadcasting station.  I don’t know, Justin.  My advice for you would be to not rely on Hollywood or Madison Avenue or anyone in Hollywood or Madison Avenue that owns a television station to provide you with anything other than the trash that they think is acceptable pop culture, if indeed there is such a thing, for juveniles, toddlers.

End Mike Church Show Transcript