Operation Alphabet (TV series)

Operation Alphabet
Genre	Educational
Starring	Alexander Shevlin
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	190
Production
Location(s)	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	WFIL-TV
Picture format	NTSC (480i)
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	1961 – 1965

Operation Alphabet was a daily educational television program designed to teach literacy to adults. Produced in Philadelphia by WFIL-TV (now WPVI-TV) in association with the Philadelphia Junior Chamber of Commerce and the National Association for Public School Adult Education, the program was hosted by Alexander Shevlin of the Philadelphia Board of Education.

The series is designed to teach the basics of reading and writing to adults who were illiterate, using subjects that are relevant to adults; the program especially benefitted 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 this program was 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 broadcasted the series at 6AM on weekdays—the station opted to place the program in this early timeslot, so that adults could watch the program and take the coursework before going to work. The early hour also benefitted the viewer, as they can learn to read without fear of embarrassment.

An instructional book published for the Civic Adult Education Project by Noble and Noble^[1] was designed as support material for the program, featuring supplementary material that correlates 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.

See also

• Learn to Read

References

1. ^ ERIC: "ED017886 - OPERATION ALPHABET 2, TEACHER'S GUIDE."

External links

• Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia: "Operation Alphabet"