Closing Time For ‘XPN’s Kids Corner
• After four decades of soundtracking childhoods across the region and beyond as host of the Peabody Award-winning show Kids Corner on non-comm WXPN/Philadelphia, host Kathy O’Connell announced her impending retirement… and since O’Connell is irreplaceable, this also means that Kids Corner, which launched in 1988, will draw to a close, with its final shows airing this June.
The news was announced Thursday morning on-air, and WXPN’s Max Bennett has published an article on the WXPN website featuring interviews with O’Connell, Kids Corner Producer Robert Drake, and WXPN GM Roger LaMay.
In the piece, Drake likens their collective impact to that of Fred Rogers, noting, “He talked a number of times about how humbling it was to have generations of people come up to him and say how they grew up with his show,” Drake said. “It’s kind of like that, but a very small version. You play a role in these people’s lives from a developing age through adulthood. You meant a lot to them when they were 12 years old, but then they’re 45 years old and you still mean a lot to them. We have kids who grew up listening to Kids Corner, who now have kids of their own who listen to Kids Corner,” he said. “They come to XPoNential Music Festival together.”
LaMay adds, “If you’ve ever listened to Kathy O’Connell interview kids for an hour about what costume they’re wearing for Halloween and why, it sounds simple, but she makes it magical. She has this unique thing of being able to talk to eight-year-olds on their own level and gets the sort of wide lens that’s part of being a kid.”
Over the next few months WXPN will be celebrating both Kids Corner and Kathy O’Connell with special programming and outreach events. Kids Corner will also be creating The Top 50 Kids Corner Songs of All Time list and launching the Kids Corner Treasure Box, encouraging fans to submit their memories, moments, pictures and audio/video clips for inclusion. The Treasure Box reveal will happen in June. [Photo Credit: Paige Walter for WXPN]
