In yet another attempt to drive me away from public broadcasting, the powers that be have axed Reading Rainbow. They stopped taping new episodes in 2006, citing budget issues – now we learn it”s part of a strategy to teach phonics & fundamentals. Well, C-R-A-P on you CPB.

Reading Rainbow comes to the end of its 26-year run on Friday; it has won more than two-dozen Emmys, and is the third longest-running children”s show in PBS history — http://www.phpaide.com/?langue=fr outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers.

Grant says that PBS, CPB and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that”s not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do.

“Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read,” Grant says. “You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read.”