Claster Television

Claster Television, Inc. was a Baltimore, Maryland–based television distributor founded in 1953 by Bert and Nancy Claster as Romper Room Inc. It was originally a producer of the children's show Romper Room. Romper Room was one of the first children's programs, predating Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Sesame Street, and Barney & Friends. Romper Room was fairly successful in its early years. CBS offered to pick up the show, but the Clasters instead decided to syndicate and franchise it, by taping episodes and selling the tapes to local stations or giving the option to local stations to produce their own version of the show. In 1969, Hasbro bought Romper Room Inc. and renamed it Claster Television Productions. Throughout the 1970s, Claster continued to make Romper Room and did not distribute anything else until 1978 when it brought the anime program Star Blazers into the United States. It also developed the television series Bowling for Dollars. In the 1980s, Hasbro formed contracts with animation studios to make cartoons that would promote the sale of Hasbro's toys. In 1983, Claster distributed the animated series G.I. Joe, which was fairly successful.