BACKGROUNDING THE AZ COMMERCE AUTHORITY

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Lucy Valencia

The Arizona Commerce Authority. What's that? I asked myself when I was assigned to research it for Arizona Week for this Friday's program.

All I had heard was of CEO Don Cardon’s hefty pay increase in August.

The ACA project seemed modern, innovative and a good effort to advance the global competitiveness of our state, in a newsworthy way, of course. So I was very eager to grab my reporter’s notebook and begin making calls to the reputable people backing the project.

At the rudder of the ACA are Gov. Jan Brewer, sports team owner Jerry Colangelo and Cardon, a successful Phoenix developer, among the 31 board members.

The Arizona Commerce Authority is new. It is well known among leaders, politicians and corporations. It has millions of dollars, many of them taxpayer dollars, in its pocket, ready to selectively support Arizona corporations to help fuel and propel their businesses through loan funds.

The ACA project focuses on diversifying the business economy beyond real estate and construction by reaching out to new industries such as science, technology, aerospace and renewable energies. It attracts all business people alike, who can submit proposals to see what the ACA will have to offer.

Brewer and ACA officials took a trip to China this month to pursue new contacts and help the state’s economy.

In other news, the U.S. Department of Treasury recently awarded an $18.2 million grant to the ACA. I knew this story would have a wonderful journalistic aspect to it, any audience would be interested to see uncovered. I was excited to shine some light on the ACA.

I started sending out emails and gathering names for my research about a week in advance. I was excited and scared, without much of an idea in which direction my sources would lead me.

Finally, after scouring a few Websites, I found a way to get hold of Don Cardon. I shoved my phone against my face, half-expecting his media contact would somehow open doors for me that day with the sheer sound of her voice.

When nobody answered, I sent e-mails.

Then I just waited, sort of bemused for a few days. I left voice mails and figured I could wait for them to call back or respond until tomorrow. Tomorrow turned into a few more days, and I began getting nervous.

The problem is, this wasn’t just happening with Cardon. Essentially the entire posse of ACA board members was unreachable. Many experts who might have a global economic or political opinion about the ACA felt they did not know enough about the new project to comment, and I kept getting passed along to different references.

This was all OK, I told myself. I had other options, I said as I tried to stay calm, cool and collected in my research process for the next few days. I began calling government agencies and experts in Tucson and Phoenix, who might have valuable input on the ACA and Arizona businesses’ potential to reach a global status.

I sat at my desk, typing on the computer and looking at my long list of possible contacts for the week’s topic as if this was the only thing left to do. All of the names had been crossed off with little notes next to them indicating they declined or did not answer.

As the week unfolded, however, I learned that I had to start contacting people lower in corporation ladders in order to reach the top leaders and CEOs. I finally got hold of one person, from the Greater Phoenix Economic Council with whom I had an amazing conversation about possibly interviewing for Arizona Week.

I told her about our broadcast, answered all her questions about how our taping was done, and everything seemed to be going great. It took about 10 seconds for the horror to set in after she, too, politely declined.

Would I ever find a source to interview for our topic on the Arizona Commerce Authority? How long would an intern like me be tolerated for such a delay in finding sources? And most memorable of all, I remember feeling inundating by Friday looming around the corner; the final day for interviews.

At the end of the week, Michael Chihak was able to find sources. I was pleasantly surprised when he mentioned he had secured time slots to interview someone in Scottsdale on Thursday.

In the end, the struggle was worth the time. All the people who tried to help me along the way thanked me for the offer and said to call back if I ever needed an interview for a different topic.

14 EMMY NOMINATIONS AND 'IT’S UP TO US’ RADIO CAMPAIGN

posted to From the General Manager by Laura McKee

It is always great to start the second quarter of FY ’12 with awards news. Arizona Public Media’s staff members have been recognized with 14 Emmy® Award nominations, more than any public station in the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and more than any local television station. In addition, NPR 89.1FM/1550AM was the Readers Pick for Best Radio Station for News in Tucson Weekly’s Best of Tucson® 25: Super Tucson and Best Place to Hear About What’s Good in Our Schools. I thank our hard working and highly creative staff for once again putting AZPM ahead of our peers in delivering national-quality local programming. The first radio campaign of the fiscal year, “It’s Up to Us” airs October 15 – 21 on Classical 90.5FM/89.7FM and NPR 89.1FM/1550AM. As always, the campaign features engaging guest announcers from the community who bring meaningful commentary on the benefits of becoming a member of the AZPM family.

As our weather starts to cool off, AZPM programs keep the heat on with exciting programming. October kicks off with one of the most anticipated documentaries, PROHIBITION. Discover the true story of America’s ‘Noble Experiment’ directed by multiple award-winning, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Don’t miss this three-part documentary which airs October 2 – 4 at 8 p.m. PBS-HD Channel 6 and NPR 90.5FM/1550AM will augment the PBS national special, Prohibition, with special local mini-documentary, The Dry Run: Prohibition in Arizona, produced by AZPM’s Tom Kleespie, Senior Producer for Special Projects at AZPM. The mini-doc will air on Thursday, Sept. 29th as a special feature on Arizona Illustrated at 6:30 p.m. and a feature on Arizona Spotlight. You can watch The Dry Run: Prohibition in Arizona online at azpm.org

Hollywood at Home, AZPM’s new weekly film series is a significant collection of movies showcasing the works of innumerable major stars and includes many films never before seen on public television. Funded by the current members of AZPM, the Hollywood at Home series airs every Saturday night at 9 p.m. and includes more than 100 major films spanning from the 1930’s through 2008. Films for the month of October are: After the Thin Man (1936), October 1st, The Music Man (1962), October 8th, Annie Get Your Gun (1950), October 15th, The Nun’s Story (1959), October 22nd and A Shot in the Dark (1964), October 29th. Stay tuned for more exciting programs from AZPM. As always thank you for your continued support!

Jack Gibson

WHO WOULD WIN PRESIDENTIAL RACE IN AZ?

posted to Political Buzz by Michael Chihak

News that Arizona will be the setting for a Republican candidates' presidential debate later this year has set off the political handicapping and back-and-forth.

Arizona Illustrated: Roundtable tonight features a bit of the discussion, with Republican former legislator Jonathan Paton and Democratic strategist Rodd McLeod clashing on the dynamics of the race.

Paton started by saying that Texas Gov. Rick Perry's stance on immigration -- specifically, giving in-state tuition to children in Texas illegally -- hurts him among Arizona Republicans.

McLeod says that when it comes to who will emerge on top of the GOP heap in the state, "Republicans are all over the map." He called Romney the favorite in Arizona , but added that he has had to fend off first Donald Trump, then Michele Bachmann and then Perry.

"There's a big void in the GOP," McLeod said. "Mitt's can't get above the mid 20s in the polls. There's tremendous dissatisfaction."

Paton quickly countered that, "the void is going to be filled when the primary is over," because Republicans in Arizona and nationally are united in opposition to Democratic President Obama.

More on Arizona Illustrated: Roundtable at 6:30 MST on PBS-HD-6.

ARIZONA GETS A REPUBLICAN DEBATE

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Arizona gets a debate.

That's the official word from Republican party officials this week.

The debate was promised after Gov. Jan Brewer agreed not to move the state's primary up to January 2012. The state will vote in the presidential preference election in February, which is still earlier than party officials want, but not so early that we jump ahead of other states.

Until this week, the promise was just that. Now we know CNN and the state Republican Party will co-host the event, and that it will air on the cable network at 6 p.m. Dec. 1. It's not clear yet where the debate will be, but there's speculation it will be somewhere in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

"NEW" BEETHOVEN

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

English music professor Barry Cooper is at it again. He has pieced together a fragment of a quartet movement that Beethoven wrote but discarded while he was toiling on his Opus 18 No. 2 quartet. Cooper admits that Beethoven wrote only a single instrumental line for about half the movement, which means that Cooper has had to fill in a lot of blanks. This is underwhelming news; Cooper is the man responsible for piecing together n the 1990s a bunch of Beethoven sketches that he billed as "Beethoven's Symphony No. 10." It turned out to be one of the dullest, un-Beethovenian pastiches imaginable. Let's hope Cooper has honed his Beethoven impersonation in the interim.

CARMONA RESPONDS TO U.S. SENATE RUMORS

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Last week reports circulated saying U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' associates were urging former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona to run for Senate.

Giffords' Congressional office spokesman denied the office's involvement, and Rodd McLeod, a Giffords' campaign consultant, said he talks to Carmona but wouldn't elaborate.

Carmona responded via email to AZPM attempts to contact him, confirming that Giffords' associates are among those encouraging him to run for U.S. Senate.

"Over the last couple of months I have been contacted by many elected colleagues and their staffs, many who I know, (on both sides of the aisle) in the US House and Senate as well as appointed officials, encouraging me to consider running for the US Senate seat. I was asked to cite specific names but I did not. I was pressed by the reporter to cite Gabby's staff specifically and I did not but rather said that Gabby's staff, who are also friends were among many others that had contacted me," he wrote.

Carmona said, also via email, he is weighing the difficult decision of whether to run.

"I am doing the internal due diligence necessary to balance the call to national service one more time vs the contributions I can continue to make to community, country and globally in my present positions," Carmona wrote.