AZPM IS YOUR HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

posted by Jack Gibson

In 1959, KUAT Channel 6 signed on the air as the first public station in the state of Arizona. What started out 50 years ago as an instructional television “experiment” today provides six public television services, three public radio services and a robust and growing online experience.

Fast-forward to 1973, KUAT broadcast 51 days of unprecedented live, gavel-to-gavel public television coverage of the Watergate hearings in the U.S. Senate, anchored by journalists Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil. Thereafter, public television played an increasingly crucial role as a trusted source of news reporting and analysis on behalf of the American public. The success of those broadcasts led to the development of The MacNeil/Lehrer Report and then, in the mid-1980s, expanded into the nation’s first one-hour nightly evening newscast which you know most recently as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

This month you will note some changes to the broadcast. Jim Lehrer remains executive editor and principal anchor and rest assured The NewsHour’s commitment to top-quality journalism remains unchanged. Starting December 7, the program will feature a new look and a new name - PBS NewsHour - reflecting an enhanced, expanded mission as the nucleus of news programming on PBS-HD Channel 6.

As the year draws to a close I invite you to join the Arizona Public Media family of stations for some great holiday programming, all made possible through the support of viewers and listeners like you.

On behalf of all of us at Arizona Public Media, please accept our very best wishes for the holiday season and in 2010. We have an exciting schedule of programs and original productions in store for 2010: all designed to serve you, our audiences. Thank you for your continued support!

Jack Gibson

P.S. Arizona Public Media’s offices will be closed Dec. 24 & 25 and again on Friday Jan. 1. If you would like to make your year-end contribution to AZPM, please call 520-621-5828 and we will assist you with your donation, or you may also give online here.

WARM-UP FOR WINTER WITH AZPM THIS NOVEMBER

posted by Jack Gibson

Please join us for the first Mister Rogers’ Sweater Drive November 1-7. This drive carries on Fred Rogers’ giving spirit by helping children and their families share clothing with those who need it. Sweaters can be new, or clean and gently-worn. Both adult and children’s sweaters are welcome, and they will be donated to the clothing banks at our local school systems. Drop off a sweater to any Shaffers Dry Cleaning location, or join AZPM and McDonald’s for the finale at UA Homecoming from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the UA Mall November 7th where there will be lots of family-friendly activities in our tent. Special thanks to our partners Shaffers Dry Cleaning, McDonalds, Diamond Ventures, and Horizon Moving Systems.

All eyes are on PBS this November for some amazing programs. Starting November 3 at 8 p.m. and continuing each Tuesday for three weeks, join us for Nova’s Becoming Human, a comprehensive three-part, three-hour special - investigating explosive new discoveries that are transforming the picture of how we became human. We’ll entertain you all month long with humor through the Mark Twain Prize honoring those who make us laugh like Bill Cosby, Neil Simon, and Billy Crystal on Sundays with encores throughout the month.

We also honor our Native American history this month with special encore presentations of the We Shall Remain series from PBS, and the locally produced Native American student documentaries. Check our schedules page for show times.

Thanks to you, I’m also pleased to report that our radio stations just completed phenomenal membership drives. NPR, KUAZ-FM raised $214,663, a 16.5% increase in dollars over last year, from 2120 pledges. Classical raised $70,183, a 35.7% increase in dollars over last year, from 662 pledges, an increase of 21.2% over last year. These are wonderful numbers and a wonderful testimony to the value our community places on the many services we provide.

Arizona Public Media also took home six Emmy Awards. Producer Sooyeon Lee Johnston is the big Emmy winner in 2009 with three Emmy Awards for her work covering the arts scene in Southern Arizona. Videographer and producer Dan Duncan along with producer Pamela White won an Emmy for Wavelengths 4: Paths of Life in the category of Informational and Instructional content. WaveLengths is the science program from Arizona Public Media now in its second season. And producer Luis Carrión earned an Emmy for his story, Tucson Islamic Community, in Religion, News Single Story category. Congratulations to everyone!

STARS SHINE IN OCTOBER, SOME PLANETS, TOO.

posted by Jack Gibson

For our Classical music fans, in October we invite you to join us for the second annual 20th-21st century composers festival, “Ives/Copland and the American Spirit Music Festival (The Fathers of American Concert Music)” at The University of Arizona. The Festival will include four concerts and an introductory symposium, providing a rich panorama of the music of these two progenitors of American music. The entire School of Music will be engaged, with performances including the Arizona Symphony Orchestra, UA Wind Ensemble, Arizona Choir, Arizona Contemporary Ensemble, and faculty from the wind, string, voice, and piano areas. Additional information is available at www.music.arizona.edu.

On television, you won’t want to miss Phoenix Mars Mission: Onto the Ice, documenting the experiences of the people responsible for the success of the Phoenix Mars Mission. The one-hour program premieres Tuesday, October 13th at 9 p.m. on PBS-HD channels 6 and 27. From practice landings and simulations to real-life and the heart-pounding "seven minutes of terror" for the spacecraft’s decent onto the planet’s surface, Phoenix Mars Mission: Onto the Ice follows Principal Investigator Peter H. Smith and the rest of the Phoenix Lander team as they work to successfully land an exploratory vehicle on Mars for the first time in over a decade.

Phoenix Mars Mission: Onto the Ice picks up where the last Phoenix Mars Mission documentary left off, just after the exciting launch from Earth. Onto the Ice will be released to public television stations nationally, in early 2010.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate our terrific staff on some exciting news. Arizona Public Media’s staff earned 13 Emmy nominations in seven categories. The 2009 Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards ceremony will be held Oct. 24 in Phoenix, when winners will be announced. Also, KUAZ 89.1 our NPR affiliate again won the Tucson Weekly Best of Tucson award for “Best Radio Station for News.”

Our team works hard to bring you the best locally produced programs, none of which would be possible without your continued support. On behalf of our entire team, thank you.

Sincerely,

Jack Gibson
Director and General Manager
Arizona Public Media®

NATIONAL PARKS ALL MONTH LONG!

posted by Jack Gibson

The long awaited Ken Burns documentary, 'National Parks: America’s Best Idea' begins on Sunday, September 27th at 8 p.m. and continues all week long. Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska — 'The National Parks: America's Best Idea' is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background — rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

Arizona Public Media will also feature National Park highlights on National Public Radio, and on Arizona Spotlight. Be sure to watch locally produced 'Southwestern Gems: Our Desert National Parks' premiering September 23rd at 8 p.m. with encore broadcasts on the 27th at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Each Thursday in September, Arizona Illustrated will highlight National Parks from a local to international perspective. And you can share your favorite National Parks stories, photos, and video on our Web site.

If all the excitement surrounding Ken Burns’s National Parks leaves you wanting more, be sure to keep an eye out for a very special half-hour preview of Burns’s latest documentary. The preview will air as part of special programming during the second half of our TV fall membership drive starting Saturday, September 5th and running through Sunday, September 13th. In additional to the National Parks preview, we are also pleased to announce the return of Celtic Woman to our air, and to Tucson, for a very special one-night-only live concert. The ladies of Celtic Woman really put on an outstanding show, so we hope that you’ll tune in for their special. Celtic Woman will be in Tucson, Monday, November 16th at the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall at 7:30 pm. Watch for ticket information beginning September 5th when PBS-HD special programming brings to the screen the talented Celtic Woman.

Whenever you feel the urge for a classical music treat, at work, at home, or in traffic, KUAT-FM might be just what you need. Fine classical music 24-hours a day, on 90.5 and 89.7 on the FM dial in Tucson, 89.7 in Sierra Vista, 88.9 in Bisbee and 91.7 in Nogales. I invite you to tune in to our Community Concerts series recorded right here in Southern Arizona and broadcast Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. and Thursday evenings at 9:00 p.m. on Classical KUAT-FM and online at AZpublicmedia.org.

Sincerely,

Jack Gibson
Director and General Manager
Arizona Public Media®

COME CELEBRATE NATIONAL PARKS WITH AZPM’S SPECIAL EVENT AUGUST 29TH

posted by Jack Gibson

This month we begin our special celebration of Ken Burns’s latest documentary series, National Parks: America’s Best Idea. While the series begins on September 27, 2009 – our events start in August with the National Park Family Expo at Centennial Hall on the campus of The University of Arizona, Saturday, August 29th from 2-6 p.m. We have interactive events for all ages, a preview of the National Parks programs, and a Community Conversation roundtable hosted by our own Bill Buckmaster. Panelists for the roundtable include Senator Tom Udall, Congressman Raul Grijalva, and Darla Sidles the new Superintendent of Saguaro National Park. There will be something for everyone at the event, and I would love to see you there.

I hope you had the chance to join us for our coverage of the Judge Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings. True to our name, Arizona Public Media provided you with options to tune in with whatever media was most convenient for you. Complete coverage of the proceedings and analysis from NPR and PBS included gavel-to-gavel coverage via live webcast on the radio page at AZpublicmedia.org and from our newest television channel, PBS World (KUAS Channel 27-3, Cox 83, Comcast 203), in addition to regular updates throughout the day and special evening wrap-up programs on NPR, KUAZ-FM 89.1/1550 AM and The Newshour with Jim Lehrer. This type of broad content delivery (radio/television/online) is what I believe will be the future of our organization as we work to keep you informed.

On August 9th we begin a week of transmitter power reductions and periodic outages for channels 6-1 PBS-HD, 6-2 V-me, 6-3 Create, and Classical KUAT-FM. These service disruptions are necessary to ensure a safe working environment for tower crews who will be at our Mt. Bigelow transmission site, working to install a new digital television antenna. This will only affect over-the-air viewers who use a set-top or rooftop antenna to receive their television signals, and all classical radio listeners. Our hope it to return all stations to full power by mid-August. Updates on our progress will be available on our website. Please accept my apologies in advance for any inconvenience these service disruptions may cause you.

The first pledge week of the new fiscal year begins on August 1, so I hope you’ll join us for the best that public television has to offer in outstanding music, self-help, news, and entertainment programming. When it’s hot outside – stay cool with us from the comfort of your living room!

Sincerely,

Jack Gibson
Director and General Manager
Arizona Public Media®

FY 2009 BY THE NUMBERS

posted by Jack Gibson

Last month, I reported on the goals we needed to reach to successfully close our 2009 fiscal year. I’m pleased to follow this month with the good news that we exceeded our membership goal for the year. Membership increased 5% over 2008 thanks to more than 30,000 individual supporters, including more than 4,100 first-time supporters. We are now in a position to meet our financial obligations to NPR and PBS. Thank you for your continued support!

Arizona Public Media also smoothly transitioned into the digital age on June 12. KUAS Channel 27 concluded analog PBS program services and will continue with a 30-day “Nightlight” service broadcasting only programs on the digital transition in English and Spanish. On July 12 at 11:59:59 p.m., our analog broadcast service will terminate completely and we will continue to broadcast using digital-only technology on both Channels 6 and 27. With respect to digital service on Channel 6, repairs have been completed to the main digital antenna which was damaged by a severe ice storm on Mt. Bigelow last winter. We expect reinstallation of the antenna in the early part of August and a return to full signal strength shortly thereafter.

According to the Nielsen Media Research from May:

• Channel 6 prime time viewing is up 3.45%
  

• Full week viewing is up 9.1%

• Arizona Illustrated attracted 20% more viewers this May than last

• The Desert Speak, In-Tune and Wavelengths attracted good audiences

On radio, our own Arizona Spotlight which airs on KUAZ-AM/FM, celebrated its 200th show at the end of June. The NPR News section of our website has some features you might not have seen before. You still get links to NPR's hourly newscasts and the top stories, and if you go there or refresh the page when NPR is offering extra coverage of special events or breaking news, you'll find a link to a live stream.

The numbers have been good to us. But the rest of the news is that we start all over again with a new fiscal year beginning July 1, and there are many challenges ahead. We look forward to your continued support as we work to meet them on your behalf.

Sincerely,

Jack Gibson
Director and General Manager
Arizona Public Media®

P.S. Hopefully you had a chance to see Tucson Remembers: The Korean War. If not, info is still on our Web site, here.