CBS Television Reading Program

This is something I remember from when I was in grade school, in the 1980s. CBS would provide material to its affiliate stations, which would collaborate with local publishers to print newspapers that were distributed to students in classrooms, while teachers received their own guides to go along with them. The newspapers contained scripts and images from special movies or TV series episodes airing on CBS, which had educational value, and might encourage students to read more about the events the TV shows depicted. I saved three of these newspapers, from 1987, 1988, and 1989, and I scanned the covers in 2014. At that time, I did google searches for "CBS reading program" and "television reading program," but I didn't find very much. Apparently the program began in 1977, but I have no idea when it ended. (I assume it did end, or there'd be more about it online. It probably ended before the internet really became a thing in the mid 90s, and for all I know the newspaper I have from 1989 could be the last one ever made. Or not.) Anyway, I really don't remember if I ever received more than the three newspapers I still have, but if I did... I obviously didn't keep them. But I wanted to make a page about the program, for the purposes of nostalgia.

1987 - Escape from Sobibor

Aside from the cover, the only other image I scanned was this map:


1988 - April Morning


1989 - My Past Is My Own

Aside from the cover, I also scanned the inside back page. I think all the Television Reading Program publications were meant to have things like this, but of the three that I have, this is the only one that does:



TV Index