SINGER LAUNCHES NETWORK FOR KIDS

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary has a new project, a 24-hour-a-day radio network for children. The Kids Choice Broadcasting Network, a $4 million undertaking for Yarrow and five partners, started Saturday with its first station, WPRD-AM in Orlando, Fla. "It's taken over my life right now," Yarrow said. "This has been an area of passion in my life ever since the birth of my kids." Yarrow has produced three television specials for children but calls TV the bane of parents' existence. "Minds become stymied by television," he said. "In radio, their minds make the pictures." Yarrow has written and recorded theme songs for each of the programs, plus network jingles. "They're as good, for their purpose, I think, as anything I've done, as good as `Puff,' " he said. The network's advisers include Marlo Thomas, singer Pete Seeger, children's TV host Fred "Mr." Rogers, Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., and Robert Coles, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Children of Crisis" series.