A summer of concerts live on WFMT Thomas Wilkins conducts the Grant Park Music Festival from the South Shore Cultural Center Friday, July 29, 6:30 pm Air Check Dear Member, The Guide Greetings! Summer in Chicago is a time to get out and about, and both WTTW and WFMT are out in The Member Magazine for WTTW and WFMT the community during these warmer months. We’re bringing PBS Kids walk-around character Nature Renée Crown Public Media Center Cat outdoors to engage with kids around the city and suburbs, encouraging them to discover the 5400 North Saint Louis Avenue natural world in their own back yards; and we recently launched a new Chicago Loop app, which you Chicago, Illinois 60625 can download to join Geoffrey Baer and explore our great city and its architectural wonders like never Main Switchboard before. And on musical front, WFMT is proud to bring you live summer (773) 583-5000 concerts from the Ravinia and Grant Park festivals; this month, in a first Member and Viewer Services for the station, we will be bringing you a special Grant Park concert from (773) 509-1111 x 6 the South Shore Cultural Center with the Grant Park Orchestra led by WFMT Radio Networks (773) 279-2000 guest conductor Thomas Wilkins. Remember that you can take all of this Chicago Production Center content with you on your phone. Go to iTunes to download the WTTW/ (773) 583-5000 PBS Video app, the new WTTW Chicago’s Loop app, and the WFMT app for Apple and Android. Websites wttw.com This month on WTTW11 and wttw.com, weekend nights in July offer wfmt.com a variety of exciting new content from Great Britain. On Fridays, join us President & CEO for a new season of the wildly popular The Great British Baking Show; Daniel J. Schmidt on Saturdays, enjoy a new series of Agatha Christie mysteries and more COO & CFO installments of Luther with Idris Elba. Sundays, settle into mysteries with Dancing on the Edge, The Reese Marcusson Tunnel, and a new season of Masterpiece Mystery! Inspector Lewis. Chicago Tonight provides exclusive EVP Radio & Project Development cross-platform reports from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, at the special time Steve Robinson of 10:00 pm and online; we premiere a new season of Wild Travels, a quirky installment of Islands Guide Staff Without Cars from Sweden, and a new world music special from the Old Town School of Folk Music. Publisher WTTW’s digital series Chat, Please! serves up a new webisodes all summer long and, last but not least, Anne Gleason WTTW brings you the annual Independence Day celebration from Washington, D.C., A Capitol Fourth. Art Director On 98.7WFMT and wfmt.com, July offers live broadcasts from the Grant Park Music Festival, with Television Contributors guest artists including the National Youth Choir of Scotland, conductor Marin Alsop, and violinist Rachel Julia Maish Barton Pine. Our Lyric Opera repeats conclude on Saturdays with Romeo and Juliet and Rusalka, and Dan Soles we follow these with specials from the Los Angeles Opera. And to honor Independence Day, we’ll have Radio Contributor a mini-festival of American music from July 1-4. Andrea Lamoreaux Distribution Manager We hope all of this, and much more, enhances your enjoyment of the summertime in Chicago. Pat Sheppard Sincerely, Advertising Sales WTTW: Douglas Carleton (773) 279-2128 WFMT: Paul Ansell Dan Schmidt (773) 279-2101 President & CEO The Guide: The Member Magazine for WTTW and WFMT (ISSN 2329-1338) July 2016 Volume 31, Number 223 The Guide: The Member Magazine for WTTW and WFMT is published monthly (for contributors of $40 or Inside the Guide more annually) by Window To The World Communications, Inc., 5400 Member Connections WTTW Kid Grid 3 16 North Saint Louis Ave., Chicago, IL 4 Member Perks 17 Do it Yourself Saturdays 60625-4698. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, IL and additional mailing 5 TV Listings 18 At-a-Glance offices. 6 WTTW Digital Channel Highlights 19 Radio Listings POSTMASTER: Send address 14 Multi-Channel Primetime Grid 31 Sponsors changes to The Guide: The Member Magazine for WTTW and WFMT, 5400 North Saint Louis Ave., Chicago, IL 60625-4698. Copyright 2014, Window To The World Communications, Inc., Chicago, IL. ON THE COVER: On Friday, July 29, we present the Grant Park Music Festival concert live from the South Shore Cultural Center with guest conductor Thomas Wilkins, Omaha Symphony’s music director. Photo credit: Bill Sitzmann 2 JULY 2016 MEMBER CONNECTIONS Live Piano Concert: Alexander Djordjevic Cruise the River with WFMT’s monthly live series, The PianoForte Salon Series, con- WHAT Geoffrey Baer tinues its season of monthly programs and you’re invited to be part The PianoForte Salon Series of the audience! Join WHERE WFMT for a live perfor- PianoForte Studios mance and conversa- 1335 S. Michigan Avenue in tion with pianist Chicago Alexander Djordjevic performing Beethoven, WHEN Photo: Lisa Marie Mazzucco Friday, July 1, 12:00 pm Chopin, and Liszt. Born in Chicago, Alexander Djordjevic began his piano studies at age three and made his debut as concerto soloist with orchestra at age twelve. As a Fulbright Scholar, Alexander Djordjevic furthered his piano studies with Russian pianist Vitaly Margulis at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, where he was awarded the Aufbaustudium Diploma “With Distinction.” Admission to this concert is free. For program information, visit Geoffrey Baer Alexander Djordjevic pianofortefoundation.org. WHAT Summer Night at the Brookfield Zoo Chicago River Architectural Cruise Meet WTTW and PBS Kids character Nature Cat at Brookfield with Geoffrey Baer Zoo’s newest summertime event! Enjoy the zoo with live music, WHERE roaming performers, children’s entertainment, and a new laser light Chicago’s First Lady Cruises show, as you commune with wildlife and nature. Our very own Nature Michigan and Wacker Drive in Chicago Cat is excited to join the festivities, and will be WHEN WHAT Monday, August 22, 5:30 pm Brookfield Zoo’s Summer Nights bringing a new interac- with Nature Cat! tive activity to share with all of our WTTW Cruise the Chicago River with our very own WHERE kids and families. Geoffrey Baer as your guide! Learn about the stun- Brookfield Zoo For more informa- ning architecture, rich history, and exciting new 8400 W. 31st Street in Brookfield tion about this event, developments that make this city great from WTTW visit wttw.com/events. host and producer and Chicago Architecture WHEN Foundation docent Geoffrey Baer. This is an event Friday, July 15, 4:00-9:00 pm you won’t want to miss. A boxed dinner and 2 drinks are included with Nature Cat your ticket. For tickets, visit wttw.com/events. Screening: T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold WTTW, in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs, presents a free screening of the Independent Lens documentary T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold. Flint, Michigan, a city made famous by Michael Moore’s documentary Roger WHAT & Me, and more recently by the lead T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold poisoning water crisis, has been hard-hit Screening & Discussion for years as factories closed, jobs left, and crime, unemployment, and poverty be- WHERE Chicago Cultural Center came endemic. It’s the most unlikely and 78 E. Washington Street challenging of backgrounds for an in Chicago Olympic athlete. But Claressa “T-Rex” Shields is as tough as they come. This is WHEN the coming-of-age story of boxing phe- Saturday, July 16, 2:00 pm nom Claressa Shields, who was just 17 years old when she won the Olympic gold medal for women’s boxing in 2012. Now with a record of 69-1, she is ranked number one in the world heading into her second Olympic competition this summer in Rio de Janeiro. Claressa “T-Rex” Shields For more information, visit wttw.com/events. 2016 JULY 3 MEMBER PERKS 2-for-1 Tickets to the World Premiere of CHOPS WTTW Members have the exclusive opportunity to receive 2-for-1 tickets to the World Premiere of CHOPS. Directed by Jeff Award Winner Richard Shavzin and written by Chicago playwright Michael Rychlewski, this quintessentially Chicago play tells the story of three middle-aged jazz freaks who were the Kings of Rush Street at its peak in the ’50s and ’60s. The only problem is that it’s 1984, and those glory days are gone. In this potent cocktail of jazz, frayed friendships, and testosterone, they still need to prove they have the chops. Previews July 7 and runs through August 14 at Theater Wit at 1229 W. Belmont Street in Chicago. This offer is valid on general admission tickets. Please call (773) 975-8150 or visit theaterwit.org and use code “WTTW’ when purchasing tickets. $10 Off Tickets to Chicago Dance Crash Inspired by a growing demand for Chicago $5 Off Tickets to A Midsummer Night’s Dream Dance Crash’s street dance aesthetic, Evil & WTTW Members have the exclusive opportunity to receive $5 off tickets to First Folio Theatre’s Good utilizes Chicago Dance Crash’s (CDC) Shakespeare Under the Stars production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream signature blend of concert dance and hip-hop, Pack a picnic and experience the Shakespearean classic that the Chicago Sun-Times says “speaks directly offering a boiled-down alternative to its summer to the trees and moonlight.” This is the perfect show for families to laugh at the antics of the mischievous annual movement play: sheer, pulse-raising Puck as this fantastical dance. Throwing CDC’s movement capacity into fairy turns the world overdrive, CDC and special guest Culture Shock upside-down for the Chicago choreograph this explosive full-length quartet of lovers and conceptual piece featuring a hip-hop blend the crazed Bottom, inspired by the world’s constant struggle be- driving them to wild tween its angels and demons.