Talk:Bob Smith (Wordsmith)

Untitled
Fropm the article, moved here:

[This process is new to me, so I'm not too clear how to proceed. Someone directed me to this site, and I was surprised to find myself the object of the inquiry. I am the Bob Smith who did the original series "The WordSmith" in 1964 at KQED in San Francisco and re-created it ten years later as simply "Wordsmith" in the studio on Temple Street in Los Angeles (I forget the call letters of the station--KLCS, I think). I note the dichotomy above between the person and the series, and I'll be glad to provide further information about either or both. In this case, the two are closely joined, since the series and its predecessors at KQED in San Francisco were entirely my creation, although I received grand support from my first producer-director, Joanne Mock. My name in its present form is Bob Kupa'a Smith, and my relevant data is (or are, if you're a purist): P. O. Box 407, Happy Camp CA 96039-0407, cell phone 530-598-9206, kupaasmith@yahoo.com The ball is now in the court of anyone who is interested. Oh, and yes, I'm alive. Thank you for asking.

[The agency which produced the 1974 version of the series was AIT (now the Agency for Instructional Technology, I believe) in Bloomington, Indiana. The executive producer was Gordon Hughan. My wonderful producer-director was Glenn Johnson, aided enormously by his assistant, Karen Hamamura Nelson. Together, they hugely enhanced the quality and effectiveness of the series. AIT came back to me in 1988 with a request to remake the series once again "with a younger, ethnic host" and with me in the role of creator-consultant. I agreed immediately and told them that I wanted Gordon Hughan, who had left AIT, to serve as my agent in negotiations. Gordon had told me that "Wordsmith" had by then served as a "cash cow" for AIT for more than twenty years, so I felt it was a good move. AIT immediately dropped all plans to redo the series, and that was the end of it. It has not had a successor of any kind as far as I know. In fact, I would not want it to have a successor under the Wordsmith name unless I were involved in it and had a voice in how it was done. I don't know anything about the Mark Smith mentioned on Wikipedia.

[I have already received several contacts as a result of my article here. Some are from students who are using the series in class right now, forty-four years after we created the original series. Hey, that's what they call legs! If you know of any current use, I'd be very interested to hear where it's happening, for whom (in class or not, what level), and in what form (videotape or other). I am delighted to hear that the Wordsmith is still in harness and doing some good.

[Article by Bob Kupa'a Smith, kupaasmith@yahoo.com]

moved by DGG (talk) 22:04, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

wordsmith is a great way for kids to learn new words like tintinabulation witch means ringing bells. you can make worksheets for wordsmith too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.230.107.177 (talk) 19:47, 30 September 2009 (UTC)