Do you know where your children are?

Do you know where your children are? - Public Service Announcement

"Do you know where your children are?" is a question used as a public service announcement (PSA) for parents on American television especially during the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The term was coined in 1967 by Mel Epstein, the Director of On-Air Promotions at New York's WNEW-TV.[1][2]

The question "Do you know where your children are?" is typically asked around 10:00 PM or 11:00 PM, depending on the market and the time of the local youth curfew, usually immediately preceding the station's late-evening newscast.[3][4]

As of January 2017, this question is still asked before the beginning of some 10:00 PM news reports, on Fox stations for example.[5]

The PSA was featured on Time magazine's "Top 10 Public-Service Announcements" list.[6]

The PSA was often parodied.

Following a White Zombie's performance at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, Dennis Miller quipped, "It's 11:00; do you know where your zombies are?".

It was featured in an episode of The Simpsons, with Homer Simpson responding to the television, "I told you last night — no!"[7]

Bill Watterson featured a reference to the announcement in the first book of comic strips for Calvin and Hobbes.

The line was also parodied in the 1990 film, Class of 1999 when Ms. Connors (Pam Grier) sarcastically says to Christy (Traci Lind), "It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your boyfriend is?".

The line was parodied in the Beavis and Butthead episode "Citizen Butt-head", where Butt-head approaches a microphone in the middle of an assembly with Bill Clinton, saying "It's 10 PM; do you know where your wiener is?"

The line was used as a title in the posthumous 2014 Michael Jackson album, Xscape.

In the Freddy's Nightmares episode "Bloodlines", Freddy Krueger quips, "It's after midnight... Do you know who your children are?" The PSA is also referenced in the title of another episode of the same TV show, titled "Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?"

References

  1. ↑ "Top 10 Public-Service Announcements - What Time Is It?". Time. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Kovalchik, Kara. "The Origin of "It's 10 PM. Do You Know Where Your Children Are?"". Mental Floss. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "Top 10 Public-Service Announcements - What Time Is It?". Time. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Kovalchik, Kara. "The Origin of "It's 10 PM. Do You Know Where Your Children Are?"". Mental Floss. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  5. ↑ The news intro of the evening news bulletin on WNYW.
  6. ↑ "Top 10 Public-Service Announcements". Time. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Top 10 Public-Service Announcements - What Time Is It?". Time. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
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