In November 1953, Rogers moved back to Pittsburgh at the request of WQED, the nation's first community-supported public television station. The station was not yet on the air, and Rogers was asked to develop the program schedule for the following year. One of the programs he developed was called The Children's Corner. It was a freewheeling, live, hour-long visit with puppets and host Josie Carey, another Pittsburgher. In addition to co-producing the program, Rogers also served as puppeteer and musician. In 1955 the program series won the Sylvania Award for the best locally produced children's program in the country and remained on the air for a total of seven years.
It was on The Children's Corner that several regulars of today's Mister Rogers Neighborhood made their first appearances - among them, Daniel Striped Tiger, King Friday XIII, X the Owl, and Lady Elaine Fairchilde.
During off-duty hours, Rogers attended both the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Development. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1963 with a charge to continue his work with children and families through the media.
Opportunity led Rogers to Toronto later that year. There he created a children's series of fifteen-minute episodes called MisteRogers and made his on-camera debut as the program's host. He chose to return to Pittsburgh and in 1966, at WQED, he incorporated the fifteen-minute segments into a half-hour format. The new series was distributed by the Eastern Educational Network until 1968 when it was made available for national distribution through the Public Broadcasting Service.
Also in 1968 Rogers was appointed Chairman of the Forum on Mass Media and Child Development of the White House Conference on Youth. Besides two George Foster Peabody Awards, Emmys, "Lifetime Achievement" Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the TV Critics Association, Fred Rogers has received every major award in television for which he is eligible and many others from special-interest groups in education, communications, and early childhood. In 1999, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. His life and work have been the subject of feature articles in national publications, including Life, Reader's Digest, Parents, Esquire, Parade, and TV Guide.
Honorary degrees have been awarded to Fred Rogers at more than 35 colleges and universities, including Yale University, Hobart and William Smith, Carnegie Mellon University, Boston University, University of Pittsburgh, North Carolina State University, University of Connecticut, and his alma mater, Rollins College.
Rogers is chairman of Family Communications, Inc., the nonprofit company that he formed in 1971 to produce Mister Rogers Neighborhood and that has since diversified into nonbroadcast materials that reflect the same philosophy and purpose: to encourage the healthy emotional growth of children and their families. Almost 900 episodes of Mister Rogers Neighborhood have been produced, and Rogers continues to add new episodes to the series, adding freshness and intimacy to what has now become the longest-running program on public television.
Fred Rogers and his wife live in Pittsburgh and have two married sons and two grandsons, born in 1988 and 1993.
In 2003, Mr. Fred Rogers, died at the age of 75, from Cancer. . . . to some he will not be more than a memory but for me hes my Neighbor and always will. . . . . LIve on Mr.Rogers. . . .
