Romper Room was a syndicated children’s program that began in Baltimore in 1953 and ran on WRAL-TV in the late 1950s.

The program aired each weekday and featured a teacher leading a small class of preschoolers through games, exercises, songs and other lessons that sought to teach good manners and citizenship.

WRAL-TV’s first Romper Room “teacher” was Jo Ann Federspiel, a former classroom educator who came to Raleigh from South Carolina. “Miss Jo Ann” joined the WRAL staff in the spring of 1958.

The legendary Paul Montgomery provided musical accompaniment for the early Romper Room classes on Channel 5. Montgomery went on to fame as the host of the “Time for Uncle Paul” show. He was also a noted jazz musician.