ANNIVERSARIES AND PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS FOR JANUARY

posted to From the General Manager by Laura McKee

A year has passed since the tragic events of January 8th rocked our community. On Thursday, January 5th, AZPM will premiere a locally produced, one-hour special, Together We Heal, a thought-provoking documentary of the emotional healing both individually and community wide over the past year. Narrated by NBC News correspondent and Tucson native, Savannah Guthrie, Together We Heal features in-depth interviews with victims and their families, and the doctors and nurses who treated them. This special will repeat again on Sunday, January 8th at 6 p.m. We also encourage you to let us know how you are healing by telling your story on our website.

We start the year with some terrific new programs! We are very excited about the second season of the Emmy® Award winning Masterpiece Classic series, “Downton Abbey”. World War I has shaken Downton Abbey to its foundations and both heroes and villains struggle to survive and forge ahead. Don’t miss the first episode of season two which begins Sunday, January 8th at 8 p.m. and continues in February. Check out a preview.

We celebrate the first anniversary of Arizona Week this month, AZPM’s weekly statewide news program hosted by Michael Chihak. Each Friday at 8:30 p.m. Arizona Week reviews the week's top news in Arizona and provides depth and understanding of the key issues that affect the state. Highlights of the past year include two lengthy interviews with Gov. Jan Brewer, one, the day her economic package passed, the other, the day she vetoed several bills at the end of the legislative session; and a group interview with five Arizona mayors discussing finances, economics and politics. Arizona Week airs each Friday in Tucson at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. and in Phoenix on Fridays on KAET8/World.

Other highlights include Antiques Roadshow, with new shows from Tulsa, Oklahoma and Eugene, Oregon. On Tuesdays American Experience brings us back to the Wild West with “Billy the Kid” on the 10th, a two-hour “Custer’s Last Stand” on the 17th, “Wyatt Earp” and “Geronimo” on the 24th and “Annie Oakley” and “Jesse James” on the 31st.

Topping off Wednesdays, ‘the smartest night of the week’, international science series, Inside Nature’s Giants, airs new episodes, “Sperm Whale” on January 18th and “Monster Python” on January 25th. Add this to new Nature programs: “Kangaroo Mob” and “Fortress of the Bears” Wednesday at 8 p.m. followed by new NOVA episodes; “Deadliest Volcanoes”, “Bombing Hitlers Dams”, “Spies of WWII” and “Mystery of a Masterpiece” at 9 p.m.

Ready TV feedback from loyal viewers continues to roll in and bring in new viewers and programs. The chef of the month in January is Hubert Keller, one of the most imaginative and talented chefs in the United States. Check out his series Secrets of the Chef throughout the month on ReadyTV Cox channel 82, Comcast channel 201 and Broadcast channel 6-3.

The popular Hollywood at Home film series continues each Saturday at 9 p.m. This month films include: Arthur, the comic love story starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli on January 7th, Shake Hands with the Devil the Irish drama with James Cagney, January 14th, the original Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway on January 21st and the romantic drama, Goodbye Again with Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins and Yves Montand on January 28th. For fun film trivia go here.

On behalf of all of us at AZPM, thank you for your viewership, listenership and continued support.

Jack Gibson

SINEMA FOR CONGRESS

posted to Political Buzz by Christopher Conover

State Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Phoenix) resigned from the Legislature in order to concentrate on a run for Congress. The Secretary of State’s office says Sinema did not have to resign in order to run for office.

Sinema says she wants to go to Washington to “fight for the forgotten middle class”. She is running in the newly created 9th Congressional District.

ONE YEAR LATER: NEW DYNAMIC OR SAME OLD?

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

Friday's Arizona Week will focus on the ramifications of the shooting tragedy of last Jan. 8.

The program will feature a panel of veteran journalists who covered the news that day and in the days that followed as the story took on many manifestations politically, socially, in terms of community and healing.

The journalists will discuss Tucson and Arizona as they are today, comparing with a year ago to gauge any changes.

They also will look ahead to the continued push for civility in politics and public discourse, for any signs of added resources for the mentally ill and their issues and for what political change the events of Jan. 8 may yet bring about.

THE GERMAN ROMANTIC SYMPHONY 101

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

Through January, Classical 90.5 will explore German Romantic symphonies. Every morning between 10 and 11 (except New Year's Day, when we actually launch the series around 11:30), we'll be working our way through the most popular compositions that define the very notion of "symphony"--at least as defined in Germany and Austria.

We'll begin with Ludwig van Beethoven, highlighting one of his symphonies per day Jan. 1 through 9. We'll hear how Beethoven inherited the elegant, Classical symphonic form from Mozart and Haydn and gradually transformed it into something more personal and dramatic. Then, starting Jan. 10, we'll work through the eight canonical symphonies of Franz Schubert (they're numbered through 9, but there's a hole in his catalog where No. 7 should be). Again, this is the work of a pioneer in the Romantic style, building on the Mozart and Haydn models until he takes full possession of the form with the intense lyricism of his "Unfinished" Symphony and nearly bursts from the symphonic seams with his big, irrepressible Ninth.

On Jan. 18, we turn to Robert Schumann, whose four symphonies begin to blur the line between symphony and symphonic poem--particularly with No. 3, a musical voyage along the Rhine River. Then, Jan. 22 through 25 will be devoted to Schumann's good friend Johannes Brahms, whose four symphonies prove that purely abstract forms are capable of high drama.

New attitudes toward just what a symphony should be emerge as we hear the five symphonies of Felix Mendelssohn Jan. 26 through 30. Three of them are homages to specific times or places--the German Reformation, Scotland, Italy--and No. 2, inspired by Beethoven's monumental Ninth, is nothing less than a huge cantata in praise of the printing press and the first printed Bible. We'll wrap things up Jan. 31 with a work that completely erases the distinction between the symphony and the symphonic poem, the "Faust" Symphony by Franz Liszt, the leader of what was, by Romantic standards, the avant-garde in the middle of the 19th century.

One German Romantic symphony will be played each January morning between 10 and 11 (between 11 and noon on Jan. 1, shortly following our New Year's Day in Vienna broadcast).

OUT OF THE RACE

posted to Political Buzz by Christopher Conover

Former state Senator Chuck Gray (R) pulled his hat out of the proverbial ring after taking a close look at the new Congressional District 6 map. Gray told supporters in a statement that the new boundaries for the Fountain Hills district would split the conservative vote between himself, Kirk Adams, and Matt Salmon. It is for that reason, Gray said he is withdrawing and throwing his support behind Salmon.

Not long after the announcement, Salmon tweeted that Gray’s endorsement is a “great gift” for 2012. He also called Gray one of the most influential conservatives in the East Valley.

The last round of campaign finance reports showed that Gray raised $35,000 during the third quarter of 2011. Salmon and Adams both raised in excess of $300,000 during the same time period.

THE ARIZONA GREEN PARTY HAS A PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Arizona will have a Green Party primary for the presidential nomination.

So far, two candidates have filed for a spot on the Green Party presidential primary ballot, and with the Jan. 9 deadline for candidacy, there's still time for others to join.

Richard Grayson, of Apache Junction, and Gerard Davis, of Phoenix, want to represent the Green Party in the presidential race. Candidates have to file in each state they're seeking a nomination, so there could be candidates running in other states, too.