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ZOOM From Wikipedia

ZOOM was an American educational television show, created almost entirely by children, which aired on PBS from January of 1972 to February of 1978. A new version of the show, also on PBS, premiered in 1999 and ended production in 2005. Both versions were produced by WGBH-TV in Boston. Christopher Sarson was ZOOM’s creator and original producer (1972-1974).

ZOOM encouraged children to “turn off the TV and do it!” On the show, a rotating cast of seven kids (known as ZOOMers) performed various activities such as games, plays, poems, recipes, jokes, and science experiments, all suggested by viewer contributions. The performers in the original series were known for wearing striped rugby shirts, and for performing the show barefoot. The mail-in request became a pop culture reference for its musical exhortation to, “Write ZOOM, Z-Double-O-M, Box 3-5-0, Boston, Mass 0-2-1-3-4: send it to ZOOM!”. There was also a language game on the show called Ubbi-Dubbi and another called Fannee Doolee.

ZOOM was a new kind of series when it premiered on January 3, 1972. Unlike other children’s fare at the time, it was for the most part unscripted. Far from seeking to capitalize by making stars of the child actors, the contracts prohibited them from making any television appearances or doing commercials for three years after they left the show.

ZOOM was intended to inspire children to be active investigators, creators, and problem-solvers as well as introduce them to the principles of ethnic diversity. The show’s ZOOMSci segment, for example, featured on the later incarnation, encouraged viewers to try the activities shown on ZOOM and to send in their results.

When ZOOM made a comeback in 1999, parents who had grown up watching the show could now share it with their own children, and found that it was very much the same as it had been in the 1970s. The theme song was similar, there was still Ubbi-Dubbi, and the ZOOMers continued to play games and perform skits suggested by other children. While the ZOOMers would occasionally appear barefoot for certain games and skits, the entire show was no longer performed barefoot. With the advent of the Internet, the “0-2-1-3-4″ jingle was rarely sung, supplanted by one that emphasized “PBSKids, dot org!” Also, when reading aloud the names of contributors, the later version provided only first names and abbreviated surnames (e.g., “Paul T.”), presumably as a compromise between crediting the children and meeting modern privacy expectations for child safety.

The show was last filmed during the summer of 2004, many episodes taking place off of the ZOOM set. The decision to cancel the show was largely due to falling ratings, with the last season’s ratings down almost a fifth from the previous year. There is currently talk of putting ZOOM on either PBS Kids Sprout or a soon-to-be 24-hour digital PBS Kids Go! Channel.

The first ZOOM series lasted six seasons (1972–1978) and featured 49 ZOOMers. The second ZOOM series lasted seven seasons (1999–2005) and featured 32 ZOOMers. At the end of every season of the second series, cast members who had grown too old were replaced by new cast members.
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Originally funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Ford Foundation and McDonald’s, ZOOM lost its funding in 1975, after the end of the fourth season. It was off the air from the summer of 1975 until January of 1976, when it was brought back in reruns.

Some PBS stations continued to broadcast reruns of the series as late as early 1980.

During the 1970s version of the series, WGBH never disclosed the ZOOMers’ last names, which was likely part of the producers’ policy of just using ordinary kids who would be likely to stay ordinary kids; this policy also included a contract, in which the ZOOMers would not appear on television for five years after leaving the show.

Theme song

1970s Version

(spoken)Cha cha cha, ZOOM!
Come on and zoom, zoom, zoom-a zoom!
We’re gonna zoom-a, zoom-a, zoom-a zoom!
Everybody’s movin’ it, everybody’s doin’ it,
Everybody’s writing the show, yeah!
So would you zoom, zoom, zoom-a zoom?
Come on and zoom-a zoom-a zoom-a zoom!
I’m (name of ZOOMer)!, etc.

Each introduction in the roll call is followed by a few quick slides of that particular ZOOMer in various poses (often in a silly fashion).

Who are you?
What do you do?
How are you?
Let’s hear from you…
We need you!
We’re gonna zoom, zoom zoom-a zoom!
Come on and zoom-a zoom-a zoom-a zoom!
Come on, give it a try,
We’re gonna show you just why,
We’re gonna teach you to fly high!

Come on and zoom!
Come on and zoom, zoom!

These last two lines were repeated until fading out. In the early seasons, after the kids left the stage in the closing credits, it was often replaced after a few times with an instrumental version.

Second Generation Version

Come on and Zoom, Come on and Zoom,
Come on and Zoom, Come on and Zoom,
Come on and Zoom, Zoom, Zoom-a, ZOOM!
ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM!
Come on and Zoom, You call the tune,
Come on and Zoom, We’re starting soon,
Come and Zoom-a, Zoom-a, Zoom-a, ZOOM!
ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM,

I’m (Zoomer’s name)

We’re all plugged into one world now
So let’s talk, we want to hear from you
Come on give it a try!
And if you like what you see, turn off your TV,
AND DO IT!
ZOOM (x5)

Come on and Zoom, Come on and Zoom,
Come on and Zoom, Zoom, Zoom-a, Zoom
Come on and Zoom, Come on and Zoom
Come on and Zoom-a, Zoom-a, Zoom-a, Zoom!

ZOOM!

In 1974, A&M Records released an album of songs from the show entitled ZOOM (LP OCLC 3060311; cassette OCLC 18900529). The master number for the album was SP-3402. There were at least two books published for children that were based on the 1970s ZOOM series.

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