Friends of Arkansas PBS, a newly formed group that hopes to keep PBS programming in Arkansas, hosted its first event Thursday night: a conversation and Q&A with Sara Dewitt, vice president and general manager of PBS KIDS. Dewitt came to town to discuss the importance of PBS educational programming, even as viewers in the state will lose access to it in July.
About a hundred people concerned about the pending cutoff of PBS programming in Arkansas showed up to the downtown branch of the Central Arkansas Library System.
“We recently had a survey by YouGov that showed that 78% of Arkansans believe that PBS KIDS is really essential in their community, so I was thrilled that they invited me to come out,” DeWitt told reporters. “This event this evening is for me to share a little bit more about PBS KIDS, show an episode of one of our new shows and be able to talk a little bit about how this really connects with families.”
PBS programming remains on Arkansas public television only until July. The Arkansas PBS Commission voted in December to end its partnership with PBS and rebrand to Arkansas TV, a change that will bring a shift to more local shows. The unprecedented move came a few months after Gov. Sarah Sanders approved the commission’s decision to hire former state Rep. Carlton Wing to head the organization. Wing resigned from his seat in the Legislature to take the job, where he’s been pushing the network to rely more on locally produced content.
“PBS is really trying to get the word out about how much Arkansans love PBS and love PBS KIDS and how much they’d like to keep it in the state,” DeWitt said before the CALS event.
After a sneak-preview of an episode of “Phoebe & Jay,” a new PBS KIDS show designed to support early literacy learning, DeWitt spoke about the importance of PBS KIDS research-backed programming.
“We know that many kids who watch shows like ‘Super Why,’ like ‘Sesame Street’ — shows that have literacy embedded in them — have statistically significant gains in their university scores,” DeWitt said. “We know that this kind of content works. It helps kids learn.”
While much of PBS’ programming is accessible via streaming and on the internet, DeWitt pointed out that lots of families, especially in Arkansas, lack access to quality broadband they need to have to be able to stream.
“I would hate to see Arkansans lose access to PBS programming, to PBS KIDS shows. And it’s more than just the shows themselves. It’s also the delivery of it … There are lots of kids in this country and a lot of children in Arkansas who don’t have great broadband, and they watch on broadcast,” DeWitt said. “This is a lifeline for so many families, and I really want to make sure that we are reaching those kids who can most benefit from this content and who are the hardest to reach.”
About 110,000 Arkansas households, many of them in rural areas, are underserved when it comes to broadband access, according to a 2022 report from the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Organizers with Friends of Arkansas PBS urged attendees to sign an online petition, send letters to Arkansas TV commissioners, start attending commission meetings and spread the word among their friends and their own organizations. The next meeting of the Arkansas TV Commission is scheduled for March 12
Several state Legislators attended DeWitt’s talk, including Rep. Denise Garner (D-Fayetteville), Rep. Tippi McCullough (D-Little Rock) and Rep. Denise Ennett (D-Little Rock), who was recently appointed to the CALS Board of Trustees. Little Rock City Director Kathy Webb also attended.
