The More You Know: How NBC’s PSA Campaign Got Stuck in Our Brains

You know you grew up with NBC if you can’t hear “the more you know” without mentally adding the rainbow star and that little jingle. Here’s how a well-meaning PSA campaign became permanent pop-culture punctuation.

There are certain phrases you can’t say normally once television gets hold of them.

I am physically incapable of saying “the more you know” without hearing da-da-da-DAAAAH in my head, followed by a tiny rainbow-tailed star shooting across the screen. I suspect I’m not alone.

If you grew up watching NBC in the 1990s or 2000s, The More You Know was part of the culture. You’d be watching Saved by the Bell, Friends, ER, Seinfeld, or whatever NBC had on tap that evening, and suddenly someone you recognized would appear on screen to talk very seriously for about 25 seconds. Then came the star.

Decades later, we still say it whenever we share a random piece of information. “Sea otters hold hands while they sleep so they don’t drift apart.” The more you know. “That little arrow next to your gas gauge tells you which side the fuel door is on.” The more you know.

So how did that happen?

Before the Rainbow Star, There Was One to Grow On

NBC was already in the advice-giving business before The More You Know arrived. From 1983 to 1989, the network aired a PSA series called One to Grow On during its Saturday morning cartoon lineup. NBC stars walked kids through personal safety and ethical dilemmas: peer pressure, staying away from strangers, not playing with matches.

The celebrity lineup was extremely 1980s. Michael J. Fox told kids not to play with matches. Mr. T showed up, along with Justine Bateman, David Hasselhoff, and dozens of others recognizable from NBC’s lineup at the time. Television would briefly stop trying to sell kids cereal so Mr. T could teach them something about responsible decision-making. Honestly, not the worst system.

By the late 1980s, NBC faced a bigger problem: a national teacher shortage. NBC began developing a new campaign after educational organizations approached the network about the issue. In September 1989, The More You Know launched with an education-focused message from NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, aimed at recruiting and retaining teachers.

NBC Had One Very Useful Advantage: NBC Stars

In the 1990s, NBC had a genuinely ridiculous roster of recognizable casts: Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, ER, Frasier, Law & Order, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will & Grace — enough hits to make “Must See TV” feel like an understatement rather than a slogan.

One minute you were watching someone play a doctor, bartender, or deeply neurotic New Yorker. The next, the same person was looking straight into the camera to talk about reading, drinking and driving, prejudice, or getting help when you needed it.

Was there also some convenient network promotion happening? Of course. NBC had figured out a way to perform public service while casually reminding everyone: you like this person, their show is on Thursdays. Still, putting familiar faces behind the messages gave the campaign something most PSAs desperately want and rarely get: people actually paying attention. Over the years, the guest list expanded well past sitcom stars, pulling in journalists, athletes, musicians, First Ladies, and US presidents.

The More You Know Is Still Going

Here’s the part that might surprise anyone who filed this campaign under “Things From My Childhood.” The More You Know never actually went away. The PSAs still air on NBCUniversal networks and platforms.

In July 2025, the campaign released its first-ever animated PSAs, narrated by Saturday Night Live’s Ego Nwodim and aimed at reaching Gen Z and Gen Alpha on mental health.

In 2026, NBCUniversal introduced a “Back to Our Roots” concept, revisiting the style of the 1990s PSAs many of us remember.

Which feels appropriate. Social media may have changed how information reaches us, but apparently there’s still something effective about a recognizable person looking into a camera and saying, “Hey, here’s something worth knowing.”

The More You Know, Indeed

I’m sure I ignored plenty of these PSAs when I was younger. That’s how childhood works: adults try to tell you something important, and you ignore it.

But somehow these stuck. More than three decades later, that little rainbow star is still flying, and the rest of us are still finishing random facts with the same four words.

Because… the more you know….