If you were a child between 1954 and 1994 within range of WOI-TV Channel 5, you knew Betty Lou and “The House with the Magic Window.” Betty Lou Varnum died last week.
The Magic Window was shuttered the instant ownership of WOI changed from Iowa State University to Capital Communications on March 1, 1994. It was the last of its kind in Iowa, and one of the last nationwide, as the late ’80s and early ’90s swept away what was left of TV stations offering locally produced children’s programming. To riff on an Ames Tribune editorial of the time, once there were many species of kids’ shows roaming the airwaves, and then they were all eaten by a giant purple dinosaur.