A tireless and dynamic advocate for media literacy and citizen action, Mary Dorothy “Marieli” Rowe, one of the founders of KIDS-4, the local cable access channel in Sun Prairie, and an early and long-lasting force at the TeleMedia Council has passed away. Marieli died on December 13, 2020, at the age of 94 following a battle with cancer.
In the late 1950’s, Marieli was among the first to be concerned about the effect of media on children. She became interested in how to teach people to be critical consumers of media and how to improve the quality of broadcasting. She served on an array of local and state commissions that focused on media literacy, responsive cable television, and greater funding for public television. She joined the Wisconsin Association for Better Broadcasts (WABB), a group dedicated to helping people understand the new media of television and its impact on youth and became the Children’s Chairwoman of WABB in 1963, Vice-President in 1966 and President in 1967. The WABB evolved into the American Council for Better Broadcasts and then into the National Telemedia Council (NTC). Marieli remained the leader of NTC, changing roles to be its executive eirector, and then led the organization for over 50 years up until the day of her passing.
Marieli always remained focused on children. It was during the 1970s that Marieli, alongside Nancy McMahon, Sharon Garrett, and Bob Rodriguez, formed KIDS-4 in Sun Prairie. The channel was an outgrowth of Rowe’s belief that children learn media literacy – the mindful viewing, listening, and reading of media – by producing their own programming. To be “media literate” is to be able to understand, create, evaluate, and thoughtfully participate in all forms of media.
Former Sun Prairie Media Center (SPMC) director Pam Steitz said of Rowe, “Marieli was a gracious, intelligent, and energetic lady. She was a pleasure to work with and was responsible for promoting the education of generations of children in responsible media consumption. She will be missed, and I am deeply saddened by her passing.”
Current SPMC director Jeff Robbins adds, “I am sorry that I never had a chance to meet Ms. Rowe. She was clearly a brilliant person who led a fascinating life, leaving in particular a profound legacy here in Sun Prairie thanks to her innovative and pioneering work in launching KIDS-4. We strive to honor Ms. Rowe’s legacy everyday by continuing to expand the KIDS-4 curriculum to cover new forms of media and the latest equipment, while never straying far from the idea that we are here to help children be better and smarter consumers of media. With the ease of access of media-making tools and the flood of media sources available to children, the work started by Ms. Rowe and carried on by us to this day has never been more relevant.”
KIDS-4, named after its then-channel placement on Sun Prairie cable TV lineups, is currently available in a variety of ways: On channel 984 on Charter Spectrum, on channels 14 and 1014 on TDS, and streaming online at kids4.tv, on the SPMC Roku and Apple TV channels, and on the SPMC app available to download from the App Store or Google Play.
Rowe was born on August 13, 1926 in Bonn, Germany, eventually moving with her family first to Switzerland and then to New York City. After getting married in 1949, Rowe and her husband moved to Boulder, Colorado, and then to Madison, Wisconsin in 1957. She served on the Wisconsin Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Cable Regulation from 1971-1973 and the Madison Cable TV Regulatory Board from 1978-80. She also became the first President of the Friends of Channel 21 (WHA-TV) and was a leader in the Friends of National Public Broadcasting. She earned her master’s in education from Edgewood College in 1990.
In lieu of flowers, Rowe’s family has asked for gifts and memorials to be sent to the National Telemedia Council, a 501c3 organization, at nationaltelemediacouncil.org.
