ZOOM is a children's television show that's still produced at WGBH in Boston and broadcast nationally on PBS stations. It started in the early 70's and has gone through lots of changes over the years.

This site focuses on the "classic ZOOM" era, which I was a part of. I was in the third "cast" of the show. The cast in the early years was always made up of seven kids, half of which would be retired after two years, making room for a group of three or four new faces.

I was eleven years old at the time and the show was really popular, especially in Boston. So much so that the producers of the program were able to contact theatre arts teachers in Massachusetts schools to recommend kids they thought would do well in the audition process. I wrote a skit with some pantomime elements which got everyone in the audition room laughing and which got me asked back for round two, in front of a camera. After a third on-set audition at WGBH and a private interview with the producers and directors, I came home from school one day to find out I had been one of three kids chosen (out of thousands) for the upcoming cast switch-out. I was thrilled yet strangely ambivalent, knowing that my little-kid lifestyle would soon change.

The four kids remaining from the previous cast (Danny, Lori, Edith, and Neal) were very helpful to us three new ZOOMers, (Donna, Timmy, and myself) and I quickly adapted to the 4-days-a-week taxi rides to WGBH for rehearsals and tapings of the show's segments and songs. I also adapted to but never quite got used to the constant attention from lots of strangers.

You see, I was the token chubby kid on the show as well as in the classroom, which had me feeling self-conscious from the start. I couldn't shake the feeling that I didn't want people looking at me and following me around. I felt vulnerable and anxious, but I also couldn't shake the desire to perform and to sing (to somehow be a Beatle, but that's another website). I guess that's another facet of the ambivalence I referred to. Overall though, the experience was a very positive one, wherein I learned all kinds of behind-the-scenes television production stuff and recording studio stuff. I also felt a part of the "Big Three" of PBS kids' TV shows: Sesame Street was for the youngest kids just learning their ABC's, 1-2-3's, and how to love fuzzy muppets; The Electric Company was the follow-on show for older little kids learning sentences, simple math, and human socialization skills; and finally ZOOM, for the tweeners, who wanted to put their new writing, thinking, and even craft-making abilities to good use and share them with others through the show.

There was no writing staff at all for ZOOM. Everything on the shows (except for the musical production number at the end of each one) was sent in by kids all over the country. The result was genuine and sincere in the way that only kids can produce.

This hands-on creativity and motivation was and still is a factor in my learning to do watercolors and paint with oils; learning to play guitar and bass; write songs and sing in bands, as well as put together this site with its crafty-interactive pages for you all to share. I hope you also check out the art and music pages to see where my ZOOM experience has taken me, and then to EMail me to share your thoughts, memories, and questions.