ELECTIONS, GREAT MUSIC SPECIALS, & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

posted by Jack Gibson

June brings us to the end of another fiscal year and also to our year-end membership countdown. We’ve programmed some great music programs this month for the final TV membership campaign of FY12, starting June 2nd. As always, this campaign is critical to meet our financial obligations, and to securing solid footing for our new fiscal year on July 1st. If you have made a contribution this year, thank you. If not, please take this opportunity to help AZPM to finance the PBS, NPR and local productions that you have come to expect.

June’s pledge programs feature great music performances from some of today’s biggest stars, including, Il Divo: Live in London, and Great Performances: Tony Bennett: Duets II and Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park. Music retrospectives include: Big Band Vocalists, British Beat, Ed Sullivan’s Rock and Roll Classic: The 60’s, and more. Find the complete PBS-HD 6 schedule here.

June 12th is the special CD8 election and AZPM’s award-winning local news team will provide you with the best in-depth coverage and analysis of day-to-day political events on TV, radio and online. Your Vote 2012 is designed to keep you informed and to help get out the vote! Videos, voter resources, and campaign calendars are available at the Your Vote page.

Additional program highlights this month - Mondays at 8 p.m., the new Antiques Roadshow series ‘Vintage’ (highlights of popular Roadshow programs) starts on June 18th with “Vintage Phoenix”. Thursdays at 8 p.m. brings the return of the popular summer series Wacky Americana and at 9 p.m., the premiere of Yes Minister, a classic BBC comedy series about a (fictional) self-serving Minister of Administrative Affairs, James Hacker, played by Paul Eddington (Good Neighbors).

Over the past 11 months, AZPM achieved some remarkable results. Going by the numbers, here is a list of accomplishments to demonstrate the return on your membership investment:

13% increase in PBS-HD 6 audiences; ranked among Top 10 PBS stations nationally.

8% increase in average monthly views on azpm.org

184% increase in original tweets @AZPMnews (April 2011 vs. April 2012)

2142 Facebook friends

24,052 total AZPM members

22% increase in NPR 89.1 average quarter hour audience

2 Classical Community Concerts broadcast on 90.5 FM each week that are recorded locally

642 average total hours volunteers give to the station each month

19 daily local radio newscasts between 5am and 6pm weekdays

5 local radio newscasts on Saturday and Sunday morning

6 original TV news/ public affairs programs produced each week

118% growth in original online news and feature stories

Our efforts for the benefit of Southern Arizona would not be possible without you. Please accept my sincere thanks for your continued support and best wishes for the summer.

Jack Gibson

MYSTERY, CONTROVERSY, A SUCCESSFUL RADIO PLEDGE AND THE KING OF LATE NIGHT

posted by Laura McKee

Thank you to all of the members and supporters of Arizona Public Media for the successful completion of our Spring Radio Pledge campaign on NPR 89.1 FM and Classical 90.5 FM. With your help we exceeded our goal with support from 2,249 loyal contributors. This success provides AZPM with the financial support to continue to fund the national programs from NPR and other radio program suppliers. More than 173 volunteers donated their time to help with this radio campaign and we could have not achieved our goal without them and you – Thank you!

Following on the heels of the great success of Downton Abbey, MASTERPIECE Mystery! presents three new episodes of Sherlock Holmes beginning on Sunday, May 6th at 8 p.m. Crime fighting’s most famous duo are back in this 21st-century version of the Victorian-era whodunit starring Benedict Cumberbatch (“War Horse,” “Atonement”) as Sherlock Holmes, and Martin Freeman (“The Office” UK) as his loyal friend and accomplice, Dr. John Watson. Each of the three new episodes in the new season is pegged to a classic Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – delightfully, weirdly, wittily, and briskly updated – of course: May 6th– “A Scandal in Belgravia” at 8 p.m. May 13th – “The Hounds of Baskerville” at 8 p.m. May 20th – “The Reichenbach Fall” at 8 p.m. Deduce more clues here

Last month, we announced the addition of Moyers & Company to the Sunday morning public affairs program line-up on PBS-HD 6. Starting Friday, May 4th Moyers & Company and The McLaughlin Group join the Friday night news and public affairs programming block.

6:00 p.m. BBC World News 6:30 p.m. Arizona Illustrated 7:00 p.m. The PBS NewsHour 8:00 p.m. Washington Week 8:30 p.m. Arizona Week 9:00 p.m. Moyers & Company 10:00 p.m. Need to Know 10:30 p.m. The McLaughlin Group airs Monday-Friday

The addition of these programs on Fridays exemplifies AZPM’s commitment to bring you the most in-depth, local, regional and national news and public affairs coverage during the congressional, senate, and presidential campaign season. Visit here for program schedules.

On May 16th at 6 – 7 p.m. Christopher Conover and Andrea Kelly, AZPM Political Correspondents, will host a special one-hour CD8 Candidates Forum on Arizona Illustrated. All three CD8 candidates, Ron Barber (Democratic), Jesse Kelly, (Republican) and George Manolakis (Green) will participate and answer questions. This political forum will broadcast on PBS-HD 6, NPR 89.1 FM/1550 AM and also online at azpm.org. Members, viewers and listeners are encouraged to participate. Send your questions to azpm.org/yourvote, Facebook/Azpublicmedia, and Twitter@azpmnews.

PBS-HD 6 features two new Nature shows this month on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. “The White Lions” on Wednesday, May 9th, tells the story of two rare white lion cubs on their journey to adulthood, and “Cracking the Koala Code” on May 16th explores how koalas manage to survive and thrive on a diet poisonous to almost all other herbivorous mammals. Finding Your Roots with Louis Gates, Jr. continues in May on Sundays at 7 p.m.with the last three episodes of this critically acclaimed series: May 6th - Sanjay Gupta, Margaret Cho and Martha Stewart; May 13th – John Legend, Wanda Sykes and Margaret Cooper; May 20th – Michelle Rodriguez, Adam Grenier and Linda Chavez.On Monday, May 14th at 9 p.m. American Masters celebrates “Johnny Carson: King of Late Night”. Narrated by Kevin Spacey, this special explores the life and career of The Tonight Show host through unprecedented access to Carson’s personal and professional archives, interviews with family, colleagues, and performers, who appeared, began or were influenced by The Tonight Show.

The Hollywood at Home film series continues Saturdays at 9 p.m. with more great commercial-free films: “Love in the Afternoon” on May 5th, “Bullitt” May 13th, “Bringing Up Baby” May 19th, and “Key Largo” on May 26th. A special bonus night, Wednesday, May 23rd features “Papillon” with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. For great film trivia go here.

ReadyTV’s featured chef of the month in May is Steven Raichlin. His critically acclaimed series Primal Grill will air throughout the month on Cox 82, Comcast 201 and Broadcast 6-3. Check here for a complete schedule.

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

Jack Gibson