From the General Manager – 2013
posted by Laura McKee
The month of June brings us to the end of another fiscal year and our year-end membership countdown. Viewer and listener support is critical to meeting our financial obligations and to starting next year on a solid footing. Your support helps fund your favorite national programs plus the original radio, TV and online programs that are produced here at AZPM, such as AZ Illustrated, Arizona Week, and Arizona Spotlight.
To thank those of you who have stepped forward to help defray programming costs, we have assembled some great shows this month on PBS 6. Matthew Morrison (Mr. Schu from the hit television show Glee) takes the stage in his first PBS special, “Matthew Morrison: Where it All Began.” Other highlights include, “70’s and 80’s Soul Rewind,” “Il Volo: We Are Love,” and Ken Burns’ “Central Park Five.” Also this month, Masterpiece Mystery! “Inspector Lewis, Series VI” premieres Sunday, June 16th at 8 p.m. on PBS 6. Kevin Whately returns for a sixth season as Inspector Lewis and continues to solve cases in the seemingly perfect academic haven of Oxford with his young partner DS Hathaway (Laurence Fox.) For complete program schedules, visit here.
Audiences trust Arizona Public Media to provide entertaining and engaging programs, and we continually research new shows that will resonate with the Southern Arizona community. With that in mind, three nationally syndicated radio programs will begin broadcasting weekends starting June 1st on NPR 89.1: The Splendid Table, Marketplace Money and the TED Radio Hour.
• The Splendid Table with host Lynne Rossetto Kasper, explores everything about food: the culture, the science, the history and the deeper meanings that come together when people sit down to enjoy a meal. The Splendid Table joins the Saturday afternoon line-up at 1 p.m.
• Marketplace Money, produced by the award-winning team of Marketplace and Marketplace Morning Report, brings the week’s economic headlines home by looking at matters of personal finance with wit and wisdom. The program, which airs Saturdays at 3 p.m., offers a mix of interviews with experts and calls from listeners to help people better manage, save and spend their money.
• TED Radio Hour, is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions and new ways to think and create. Each episode includes riveting excerpts from the renowned TED stage where some of the world's deepest thinkers and innovators are invited to give the 18-minute "talk of their lives." Host Guy Raz interviews the guests, delving deeper, dissecting the speaker's ideas and posing probing questions that you would like to hear answered. Ted Radio Hour will be broadcast at noon on Sundays.
For more information about these three new shows, visit azpm.org. The addition of these shows will lead to some changes to the weekend afternoons schedule on NPR 89.1. Tech Nation will not air Sundays, but will continue to air at 5 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Snap Judgment and Living on Earth will no longer be broadcast. For complete NPR 89.1 program schedules, visit radio.azpm.org/schedules.
Rick Bayless, the featured chef on ReadyTV this month, celebrates the ninth season of his highly-rated cooking and travel show, Mexico - One Plate at a Time. Rick takes viewers on a culinary and cultural exploration of the state of Oaxaca. Watch the new season on Sundays starting at 2 p.m. on Broadcast
6-3, Comcast 201, and Cox 81. Rumor has it that Rick will visit Tucson in March 2014 as a guest chef in the Culinary Tent at the fifth annual Festival of Books on March 15th and 16th.
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
June 1st 2013 at 0:00 —
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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 and Classical 90.5. With your help and that of 2,349 other loyal contributors, we surpassed our goal. This success provides AZPM with the financial support to continue to acquire programs from NPR and other national distributors. Volunteers donated more than 400 hours of their time to help with this radio campaign and we could have not achieved our goal without them and you. Thank you!
Speaking of volunteers, each year in April, AZPM honors the loyal corps of dedicated, resourceful, energetic, and enthusiastic people from our community who step up and donate their time to this organization throughout the year. They all share a belief that AZPM plays an essential role in the educational and cultural life of our community and they provide countless hours each year to help make Arizona Pubic Media come alive. This year’s event, held at the beautiful and historic Lodge on the Desert, toasted all these special friends. I encourage you to consider volunteering at AZPM and join this fabulous group.
We launch into May with a live cinecast of “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” The show will be beamed to select theaters in Southern Arizona on Thursday, May 2nd at 8 p.m. from the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts. Here is your chance to see the show in 2D and meet the faces behind one of our audiences’ favorite radio programs on NPR 89.1. Host Peter Sagal and official judge and scorekeeper Carl Kasell will be joined by panelists Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca, and Tom Bodett to play the quiz in front of a live audience. Special guest Steve Martin will join the cast for the “Not My Job” segment. Visit here for a list of local theaters and to purchase tickets.
PBS 6 programming in May features CONSTITUTION USA with Peter Sagal. This four-part series takes viewers on a fast-paced, surprising journey across the nation to examine the 4,418 words — and 27 amendments — that made America. The series debuts on Tuesday, May 7th at 9 p.m. and coincides with the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution. Sagal talks with ordinary Americans who are struggling with issues of affirmative action, same-sex marriage, voting rights, the role of government, and equal protection. The long awaited American Masters special “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise” premieres on Monday, May 20th at 9 p.m. After 60 years in show business, Mel Brooks has earned more major awards than any other living entertainer; he is one of 14 EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winners. Yet, the comedy giant has energetically avoided having a documentary profile made, even issuing an informal gag order on his friends … until now.
For architecture and history buffs, “10 Buildings that Changed America” premieres on Tuesday, May 14th at 8 p.m. This special features striking videography, rare archival images, distinctive animation and interviews with some of the nation’s most insightful historians and architects (including Frank Gehry and Robert Venturi), tied together with fast-paced editing and contemporary music. “The National Memorial Day Concert” airs Sunday, May 26th at 5 p.m (with repeats at 6:30 p.m. and on Monday, May 27th at 8 p.m.) Join co-hosts Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise for a night of remembrance featuring an all-star line-up performing with the National Symphony Orchestra. The 24th annual broadcast of the concert airs live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol before a concert audience of hundreds of thousands, millions more at home, and to our troops around the world on the American Forces Network.
May features a blockbuster line-up of classic films on Saturdays at 9 p.m. for the Hollywood at Home film series. May 4th, “Witness for the Prosecution” (Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich), May 11th, “Planet of the Apes” (the original with Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter), May 18th, “Suspicion” (Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine), and May 25th “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” (Joan Crawford and Bette Davis). For great film trivia visit here.
On ReadyTV, the featured chef of the month is none other than Martha Stewart. On May 1st tune in to the premiere of her brand new baking series Martha Bakes and the new Martha Stewart’s Cooking School. Both programs will air on Wednesdays starting May 1st at 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively.
On behalf of all of us at AZPM, thank you for your viewership, listenership, and continued support.
Jack Gibson
May 1st 2013 at 9:03 —
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posted by Laura McKee
Thanks to all for the outstanding support during the March PBS 6 pledge campaign. With your generous help Arizona Public Media raised $246,769 from 1,877 people. This was slightly behind last year’s results, in spite of a great effort. We now ask your support for the upcoming semi-annual radio membership campaign, April 19th – 26th, on NPR 89.1 and Classical 90.5. Tune in, support AZPM, and help maintain the award-winning, entertaining national programs from PBS and NPR, along with our own local television and radio productions that you have embraced, such as AZ Illustrated, Arizona Week, and Arizona Spotlight.
We just received the February ratings report and PBS 6 increased 7% in primetime viewer frequency. The top shows during the month of February were Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey, Antiques Roadshow and Doc Martin. PBS Kids and World continue to gain in audience reach and ReadyTV had an impressive increase of 65% in viewership during primetime.
Throughout the month of April, AZPM will be out and about in the community. To help promote the new PBS Kids film “Curious George Swings into Spring,” AZPM has teamed with the Children’s Museum Tucson on Saturday, April 13th for their annual Health and Wellness Event. There will be two screenings of “Curious George Springs into Spring.” Kids will have the opportunity to meet Curious George in person and learn how to plant tomatoes. The event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., is free and features a host of fun, interactive events that educate and promote healthy eating and wellness.
On April 1st and 2nd, PBS 6 will air the two-part series, FRONTLINE: “Kind Hearted Woman,” the story of Robin Charboneau, an Oglala Sioux woman, struggling between saving her family and risking it all to help her Native American community and abused women. AZPM, in partnership with the UA Women’s Center, Native American Student Affairs, the One Sacred Nation healing program, Emerge!, the Tucson Indian Center, and several other local social service organizations, will host a screening of highlights from the series and a resource fair on April 16th at 5:30 p.m. at McClelland Hall, Room 207 in the Berger Auditorium. The event will spotlight the work of advocates of domestic violence, sex abuse, and homelessness and is open to the public. RSVP’s can be made by calling 621-5828 during business hours, M-F, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
In partnership with the “Kind Hearted Woman” screening event, AZPM received a national grant to create three profile pieces that tell a positive community story and will air on AZ Illustrated Science at 6:30 p.m. on April 2nd, 9th, and 16th on PBS 6. Gisela Telis, AZPM’s mental health reporter, will tell the story of Sheila-Claw Starr, a healer and single mother who survived domestic violence and substance abuse, and is the founder of the One Sacred Nation Healing program.
Additional TV program highlights for April include the premiere of the second season of “Call the Midwife” on Thursdays at 8 p.m. Sundays carry on as the destination for superb British drama with a repeat broadcast of “Call the Midwife” at 6 p.m., “Born & Bred” at 7 p.m., and Masterpiece Classic: Mr. Selfridge at 8 p.m. Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns returns with “The Central Park Five” on Tuesday, April 16th at 9 p.m. Wednesdays, the "smartest night on TV,” features new programs from Nature at 8 p.m. and Nova at 9 p.m., and a new health, exercise, and diet-focused science series from British journalist and physician Michael Mosely at 10 p.m. Visit here for program schedules and descriptions. Saturday night’s Hollywood at Home film series at 9 p.m. presents a great line-up of classic films including “Hound of the Baskervilles”, April 6th, “Shake Hands with the Devil”, April 13th, “Call for Northside 777” on April 20th, and “Four Weddings and a Funeral” on April 27th.
On behalf of all of us at AZPM, thank you for your continued viewership, listenership, and support.
Sincerely,
Jack Gibson
April 1st 2013 at 6:00 —
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posted by Laura McKee
Sequestration – an unfortunate word that we all have gotten to know intimately in the past year, and a looming reality that will affect the fiscal health of all public media outlets across the nation, including Arizona Public Media. In fiscal year 2012, AZPM received 12% of its funding in the form of a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Now it is almost certain that an across-the-board cut will reduce AZPM’s CPB grant. Due to the unclear nature of the actual amount that will be cut from the overall budget (projections range from 5.1% to 8.2%), CPB plans on issuing checks in March based on the final reduction.
What does this all mean to our services? It means we need your support this month during AZPM’s Spring Membership Pledge Drive as AZPM works to raise more dollars locally to support program services. March highlights include the premiere of a new My Music program, “A 60’s Pop Flashback: Hullabaloo” on Saturday, March 2nd at 9 p.m., Great Performances: “Andrea Bocelli: Live in Portofino” on Sunday, March 3rd at 8 p.m., “Chris Mann in Concert: A Man for All Seasons,” on Sunday, March 10th at 6:30 p.m., “Aaron Neville: Doo Wop: My True Story” on Tuesday, March 12th at 8 p.m., and “Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House” on Saturday, March 16th at 8 p.m. AZPM is very fortunate to be one of the few stations in the country to offer the chance to win a Joe Bonamassa autographed Les Paul Special II electric guitar. Tune-in and watch this special on Friday, March 8th at 9 p.m. or Saturday, March 16th at 8 p.m. for your chance to win. “Blenko Glass: Behind the Scenes,” a brand new program airing on March 4th at 8 p.m., takes viewers into the heat and heart of the Blenko glassworks, a renowned family owned and operated artisan glassware company since 1893. Each weeknight don’t forget to watch the new AZ Illustrated news-magazine program at 6:30 p.m. followed by PBS NewsHour at 7 p.m., and on Thursdays we continue to air the popular Doc Martin series at 9 p.m. Tune in and support AZPM so that we may continue to bring you more original, entertaining, and inspirational programs across all our services.
Spring also brings ‘daylight savings time’ for most of the country on March 10th. So that we can continue to provide you with up to date news from Talk of the Nation, please make note that the time change will shift a few of your favorite NPR 89.1FM radio programs. Starting on Monday, March 11th, Talk of the Nation will begin at 11 a.m. and Fresh Air with host Terry Gross will move to 1 p.m. Additionally, the Market Place morning reports will shift from 5:50 and 7:50 a.m. to 6:50 and 8:50 a.m. On Classical 90.5, select Metropolitan Opera Series programs will start an hour earlier. Be sure to check our website for broadcast start times at azpm.org/classical.
On March 31st at Noon, Classical 90.5 will broadcast the From the Top with Christopher O’Riley concert that was taped live here in Tucson in February. It features two local young performers, Augustus Woodrow-Tomizuka and Cameron Williams. Visit here for the full story.
The Tucson Festival of Books comes to the University of Arizona on March 9th and 10th. AZPM is proud to be a part of this event with our focus on popular PBS Kids characters; Buddy from Dinosaur Train, Curious George and Clifford the Big Red Dog. All three PBS Kids characters will be featured at the 2013 Storybook Character Breakfast and Parade on Saturday starting at 8 a.m. Kids can meet Buddy and Curious George in person at the Science City Bookstore tent, and participate in interactive crafts. Visit here for appearance details.
On behalf of all of us at AZPM, thank you for your viewership, listenership, and continued support.
Jack Gibson
March 1st 2013 at 6:00 —
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posted by Laura McKee
Thanks to the outstanding support of people like you, Arizona Public Media completed a successful calendar year-end campaign, exceeding our $145,000 goal. Your member dollars are an investment that makes possible the enriching local and national news and entertainment programs that we broadcast throughout the year. Thank you.
Fall radio and television ratings were just released and the good news continues for AZPM. For the fall 2012 ratings period, NPR 89.1 set new records as the top-ranked news/talk station in the Tucson Market increasing by 9.8% from a year ago in metro cumulative listeners.(1) For Classical 90.5, the average number of persons tuned in at any moment rose 18.5% from a year ago.(2)
We hope you will join us in welcoming From The Top with host Christopher O’Riley for a live taping of this hit NPR radio program showcasing America’s best young classical musicians. The live show will feature two young Tucson musicians on Sunday, February 17th at Centennial Hall, presented by our colleagues at UApresents. Visit azpm.org for more information. From The Top airs at Noon on Sundays on Classical 90.5.
For the Fall television ratings period, total weekly ratings for PBS 6 went up 12%.(3) The top rated programs were no surprise: Parts One and Two of Ken Burns’ “The Dust Bowl” were the highest ranked programs, followed very closely by AZPM’s original companion production “Arizona’s Dustbowl: Lessons Lost” produced by AZPM’s Tom Kleespie. Hollywood at Home films “The Searchers” and “Walk in the Clouds” on Saturday nights proved to be ratings winners along with the immensely popular Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey on Sundays.(4)
Arizona Illustrated, Southern Arizona’s weeknight news magazine series for over 30 years, and the flagship local TV production for Arizona Public Media (AZPM,) has undergone a makeover. The new AZ Illustrated (pronounced A-Z-Illustrated) debuts in its regular weeknight time slot at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 4, 2013. The new AZ Illustrated features different hosts and topics each night of the week – Metro, Science, Nature, Arts and Politics – offering insight and discussion relevant to Southern Arizona audiences. Tapping into the wealth of talent and experience of AZPM’s award-winning producers, reporters, and production team, while introducing new specialists from the community, the series will feature new voices, new stories and a new focus.
Metro Mondays, with host Maria Parham, covers education, business, government, and the policies that affect our daily lives. Science on Tuesdays explores issues and advances in health, science, and technology with host Jane Poynter. On Wednesdays, Nature host Georgia Davis presents the environmental news and issues unique to our desert landscape, and on Thursdays, embrace the vibrant cultural community that is distinctly Southern Arizona with Arts host Elizabeth Burden. Jim Nintzel, host of Politics on Friday, provides in-depth analysis of the week’s political news. For more AZ Illustrated information, visit here.
Other programming highlights in February include an extensive lineup of special programming in observance of Black History Month on PBS 6, World and NPR 89.1. Highlights include “Black Kungfu Experience” on February 11th, Independent Lens: “The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights,” and American Masters: “Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock and Roll.” For a complete list of programs and airdates, visit here.
On behalf of all of us at AZPM, thank you for your viewership, listenership and continued support. Our efforts for the benefit of Southern Arizona would not be possible without you.
Sincerely,
Jack Gibson
(1) Metro Cume audience persons, age 12+, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, ©Arbitron, Inc. ©Radio Research Consortium, Inc.
(2) Metro Average Quarter Hour share, age 12+, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, ©Arbitron, Inc. ©Radio Research Consortium, Inc.
(3) Nielsen Company, Tucson (Sierra Vista), AZ, November 2012 compared to previous Fall survey, November 2011.
(4) Trac Media Services.
February 1st 2013 at 6:00 —
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posted by Laura McKee
Welcome to the New Year. 2013 will provide both exciting opportunities and challenges. Arizona Public Media’s primary objective remains unchanged: to serve audiences with distinctive, thought-provoking content on-air, online, and on-the-ground through educational community outreach activities.
Downton Abbey, the Emmy® Award winning Masterpiece Classic series, reigns as one of the most popular drama series on television world-wide. The much- anticipated Season Three premieres on Sunday, January 6th at 8 p.m. on PBS 6, and continues through February 17th. The all-star cast returns with a special guest, Academy Award®-winner Shirley MacLaine. Tune in for another thrilling season of one of the great melodramas of the modern television age. In December, we hosted a special Downton Abbey member event featuring an exclusive lecture given by UA’s Dr. Jerrold D. Hogle, Ph.D., at Crowder Hall. The evening featured a special screening of episode one of Series Three. Watch a recap of Seasons One and Two here and a trailer of Season Three here.
This month Arizona Public Media celebrates the 2nd anniversary of Arizona Week, our weekly Friday night public affairs program. The series recently reached a milestone, airing its 100th episode in December. Since the show’s inception in 2010, more than 326 journalists, scholars, and politicians have joined host Michael Chihak in bringing depth and perspective, both on-air and online, to the top state-wide issues of the week. The program airs on Fridays at 8:30 p.m. and repeats on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. It also airs in Phoenix on KAET Eight World on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. The 100th episode saluted the anniversary of Pearl Harbor with the stories of three World War II veterans and Arizona’s plan to create a World War II memorial on the Capitol Mall in Phoenix. Watch the 100th episode here.
Additional PBS-6 programming highlights include:
Sundays continues to be a great night for drama. Preceding Downton Abbey on Sundays at 7 p.m. is the premiere of the long-running BBC series Born & Bred. Set in the Lancashire village of Ormston in the 1950’s, this popular drama series centers on the relationship between city doctor Tom Gilder and his village General Practitioner father, Arthur Gilder.
Antiques Roadshow continues each Monday night at 8 p.m. with brand new shows from Corpus Christi and Boston followed by a new season of Market Warriors at 9 p.m. This season, Market Warriors features a new ‘picker,’ Bene Raia. The group continues their antiquing adventures, scouring flea markets across the country including Walnut, Indiana; Long Beach, California; Chantilly, Virginia; and Liberty, North Carolina.
On Tuesdays, American Experience presents “The Abolitionists,” a three-part program on January 8th, 15th and 22nd at 9 p.m. Vividly bringing to life the epic struggles of the men and women who fought to end slavery, “The Abolitionists” tells the intertwined stories of Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimké, Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Brown. Watch a preview here. Later this month, American Experience premieres a four-part series called Titans starting January 29th at 9 p.m. with “Henry Ford,” a fascinating portrait of a farm boy who rose from obscurity to become the most influential American innovator of the 20th century. Included in the Titans series is “Andrew Carnegie,” “John D. Rockefeller,” and a new program, “Silicon Valley,” an absorbing look at the early mavericks of Silicon Valley.
Exploration Wednesdays resumes on January 2nd with a brand new six-part series, Life on Fire at 10 p.m. narrated by Jeremy Irons, which presents an in-depth look at the difficulties surrounding life around volcanoes. The first episode, “Icelandic Volcanoes,” reveals the country’s molten mountains as ticking time bombs which, when they blow, could have global consequences. The series continues throughout the month with “Volcano Doctors,” on the 9th, “The Surprise Salmon” on the 16th and “Phoenix Temple” on the 23rd. In honor of Sir David Attenborough’s 60th anniversary on television, NATURE presents Attenborough’s Life Stories, a special three-part series starting on January 23rd at 8 p.m. The first episode, “Life on Camera,” revisits key places and events in Attenborough’s wildlife filmmaking career.
Doc Martin, the popular comedy-drama on Thursdays at 9 p.m. continues in January with Season Five. To add a bit more British drama/comedy to the night, PBS 6 debuts Death in Paradise at 8 p.m., an 8-part series about a detective inspector who is assigned to investigate a murder on the paradise island of Saint-Marie in the Caribbean - despite his hatred of sun, sea, and sand.
The popular Hollywood at Home film series continues at 9 p.m. on Saturday nights. This month’s features include “Top Hat” on January 5th, “Bedazzled,” January 12th, “No Way Out” on the 19th, and “Platoon” on the 26th.
Starting Wednesday evenings January 2nd at 8 p.m., Classical 90.5 presents Center Stage from Wolftrap, with hosts Rich Kleinfeldt and Bill McLaughlin. This 13-week, one-hour series showcases live performances from some of today’s finest chamber musicians.
Happy New Year! On behalf of all of us at AZPM, thank you for your viewership, listenership and continued support.
Jack Gibson
January 1st 2013 at 0:00 —
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