The December/January 2009 issue of "Reminisce" Magazine features an article on KBPS on page 65, under, My Favorite RADIO Memory; titled:

----------------------Remember the Safety Lady?----------------------

AT MY elementary school, in Portland Oregon, during the 1940s and '50s, every room had a table radio, usually tuned to KBPS, which was operated by the school district and staffed mainly by students.

The station produced a large number of programs in-house, the others being obtained from outside districts. For some reason, the Flint, Michigan school district seemed to be a major producer of school radio shows.

Many of the programs were aimed at specific grade levels, although some, like the "Standard School Broadcast"--a musical program funded by Standard Oil--appealed to a wider audience. Truth be told, one element of the Standard show's appeal was that it aired on Friday, thus signaling the end of the school week. It was also an hour long, which kept us from having to do [real] schoolwork while it was on!

"Teens talk" was intended for eighth graders entering the awkward years of adolescence. It was well produced, in a manner that was informative and didn't talk down to its listeners.

On the other hand, "Fun with Music", with Miss Wolf, was anything but fun for primary-grade boys, who did not want to [fly around the room like a butterfly] or [float like a falling leaf] to the accompaniment of whatever music Miss Wolf happened to play.

Another program aimed at the primary grades was "The Safety Story Lady". Like many school radio programs, it was 15 minutes long. In it, grade school students, filling all the roles, presented a dramatized story to promote safety in various situations a child might encounter.

The end of the program featured the "Songs of Safety". For some reason, the words and music for some of the songs have stayed with me all these years. Here's one:

"Ice-skating is nice skating, But here's some advice about ice-skating. Never skate where the ice is thin. Thin ice will crack and you'll fall right in, And come up with icicles under your chin, If you skate where the ice is thin."

--Jack Rubeck, Portland, Oregon
http://www.reminisce.com/