The Award-Winning Close-UpNovember/December 2012 • Vol. 27 #6 • wcte.org Public Television from the Upper Cumberland Premieres November 18 & 19 WHY SAVE PBS? The Simple Facts TUNE in for WCTE’S SPECIAL PROGRAMMING DURING OUR MEMBERSHIP DRIVE November 23 – December 2 Make an additional gift Please visit wcte.org/addgift 〉 Trusted. Valued. Essential. COMING ATTRacTIONS Music, Health, Drama, Humor, Shows from the Create Channel, TSSAA football and more… Tune in for WCTE’s main Membership Drive Programming November 23 – December 2. Catch the Create Membership Drive November 3, 4, 10 & 11. MEMBERSHIP DRIVE HIGHLIGHTS b b If You Like to Create Music Music Music During the first two With Classic Doo Wop, Motown weekends in November, Hits, Muddy Waters and the we’re bringing you great Rolling Stones, the Tenors. programming on Create. Lawrence Welk’s Big Band You can watch cooking Splash and Christmas music shows like Julia Child with the likes of Rod Stewart, Memories: Bon Appétit! Celtic Thunder and Nathan and America’s Home Cooking: Pacheo, there is something for One Skillet. Also, for those of you who are fans of everyone with a song travel shows, we’re bringing you a thrilling two-hour in their heart. Rick Steves’ Hidden Europe to stoke viewers’ travel dreams. Watch and be inspired on Channel 22.3. Health and Happiness Improve your diet with J.J. Virgin, your health and harmony with T’ai Chi instructor David-Dorian Ross, your super brain with Dr. Rudy Tanzi, your Downton Abbey Revisited heart health with Brenda Watson and much more during our Health and In this riveting special, savor Happiness Pledge Shows. great moments from the series’ first two seasons, along with cast interviews, 2012 TSSAA rare behind-the-scenes footage and a sneak peek BlueCross Bowl Playoffs at what’s in store for the Crawleys as they enter the It’s that time of year again! Tune in as WCTE Roaring Twenties. brings you wall-to-wall coverage of the BlueCross Bowl Playoffs live from Tucker Stadium on the campus of Tennessee Technological University. Beginning Thursday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m., WCTE will be broadcasting all the heart-pounding action of high school football with up to the minute reports and stats from coaches and trusted analysts. Watch as a new champion is crowned. Thank You Everything we do – from educational outreach and community events to award-winning local productions and signature PBS programs – is PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT. possible because of viewers like you. Thank you for your generosity! Pick up the phone and call 1-800-818-2338. Or go online to wcte.org/memberdrive Check the program listings for dates and times. Staff & COMING ATTRacTIONS Contents Management PUBLIC TELEVISION FROM THE UPPER CUMBERLAND (931) 528-2222 or (800) 282-9283 Becky Magura Randall Jackson 4 Why Save PBS? President & CEO Broadcast Engineer With public television at risk, it is Mary Boring Craig LeFevre Assistant Auction Coordinator Master Control Operator critical to be well informed and Reggie Brown Avery Owens ready to voice your support for this Education & Community Sales Manager Engagement Associate 4 valuable public resource. Cindy Putman Erica Duarte Education & Community Writer/Grant Administrator Engagement Associate Desirée Duncan Darla Runge 6 Community Cinema Manager of Production and Content Assistant to the CEO The groundbreaking program Sue Gibbons Programming & Traffic Seth Stanger comes to Cookeville. Sales & Development Assistant Craig Gray Business Development Producer Ralph Welch Chief Broadcast Engineer 8 Art and Artists Energize Sonja Higgenbotham 6 Membership Manager Rick Wells Cookeville during ART Senior Producer/Director Joyce Hunter-Green Prowl 2012 CEO Assistant/ Canaan Williams Special Events Coordinator Online and Programming Associate Don’t miss Cookeville’s annual walking tour of studios and galleries. Upper Cumberland Broadcast Council 9 Spotlight On Dr. Max Atnip, Chair Joe Albrecht 9 Ellie Lenhart Lillian Hartgrove, Vice Chair Marc L. Burnett Dr. Scott Little, Secretary John Cain Alan Tatum, Treasurer Mona Copeland Becky Magura, WCTE Pres. & CEO Jere Hargrove On our cover Mickie Akenson Morris Irby THE DUST BOWL Jack Matson Dr. Wali R. Kharif “Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan give us a gripping drama of people pitted against horrific storms, never-before-experienced, Community then or now,” said Paula Kerger, President and CEO, PBS. “It is eloquently and movingly told through the stories and oral Advisory Board histories of those who lived to tell the tale of that tragic time. Dr. Steve Copeland, DVM Dr. Carl Owens We’re very proud to capture the first-hand testimonies of these Diana Baranowski Jack Barton survivors, many of whom are in their late 70s and 80s, and Kelly Swallows Nina Lunn who are making an important contribution to our nation’s history and furthering our understanding of this time and its implications for the future. Feature story on p.22 Close-Up Public Television from the Upper Cumberland Hal L. Harder - Managing Editor Program guides [email protected] WCTE Close-Up is designed and produced by 9 Daytime Programming CommonSense Media Group for WCTE-TV. For on-air, print and website advertising and promotion Ready to Learn and weekend guide information, contact Avery Owens, Sales Manager at 931.528.2222, ext. 220 or [email protected]. 10 Primetime Programming WCTE Close-Up is published bi-monthly. It is mailed to individuals, Quality PBS evening programs corporations and foundations who contribute $35 or more to WCTE annually. Third class postage at Cookeville, Tennessee. Phone: 11 931.528.2222. Schedule is subject to change without notice. Send address changes to WCTE, P.O. Box 2040, Cookeville, Tennessee 38502. Check out the schedule on the website at www.wcte.org. 2 | WCTE Close-Up November/December 2012 | 3 national news Why save PBS? “I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually, [I] like you [moderator Jim Lehrer], too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for.” Governor Romney, 1st Presidential debate, Oct. 3, 2012 ocial media is a powerful force. budget. That’s about When Governor Romney made $1.35 per person per the above statement, it sparked a year. firestorm of support for BSP on Elimination of STwitter. The words “Big Bird” were tweeted funding would have 17,000 times a minute and “PBS” peaked at virtually no impact on 10,000 tweets per minute. One of the Twitter the nation’s debt. handles, “@FiredBigBird,” garnered 2000 “With the enormous followers in two minutes. One hour after problems facing our the debate, that handle had 16,000 followers country, the fact (ABC News). that we are the focus is just unbelievable to me,” commented PBS President & CEO Paula Kerger in an interview with CNN. “Particularly given the fact that at another part of the (1st Presidential) debate, both candidates focused on the importance of education. We’re America’s biggest classroom.” The Value of PBS PBS serves as a universally accessible resource PBS President Paula Kerger for education, history, science, arts and civil Filmmaker Ken Burns discourse. Over the course of a year, 91% of all U.S. television households tune into their modest, the absence of this critical seed local PBS station. PBS is watched by 81% of money would cripple the system and bring its all children between the ages of 2-8. Earlier in services to an end. In an interview with USA Today, 2012, a Harris Interactive poll confirmed that filmmaker KenB urns said, “…the response Americans consider PBS the most trusted Make Your Voice Heard goes beyond Sesame Street. It resonates public institution and the second most “We are the only media entity charged with because the American people understand valuable use of public funds, behind only serving the American people, not selling to that we have a debt not because of public national defense, for the 9th consecutive year. them,” Paula Kerger said in a recent memo television; we have a debt to public A key thing to remember is that public to the PBS stations. “We must work now to television.” television and radio stations are locally preserve and protect that mission.” owned and community focused and they are The Cost of PBS experts in working efficiently to make limited OK, so what are the facts? Let’s look at the If you agree with Paula, if you value resources produce results. It is a highly PBS and WCTE, go to valuePBS.org for impact of PBS funding on the budget? How effective public-private partnership. information, contact your congressman much does it cost the American taxpayer? Numerous studies -- including one The simple fact is, the federal investment requested by Congress earlier this year -- have and, if you haven’t done so already, voice in public broadcasting equals about one stated categorically that while the federal your support for Public Broadcasting at one-hundredth of one percent of the federal investment in public broadcasting is relatively 170millionamericans.com. 4 | WCTE Close-Up PBS is America’s largest classroom, the nation’s largest stage for the arts and a trusted window to the world. Trusted, Valued and Essential. Find out more at valuePBS.org. November/December 2012 | 5 upcoming events PBS has made available to us for preview,” WCTE’s Reggie Brown, ITVS’s Allison Inman and said WCTE’s Education and Community WCTE President and CEO Becky Magura Engagement Associate Reggie Brown. “We F hope to raise awareness and engage our communities in discussion about these vital issues.” ITVS Regional Outreach Coordinator Allison Inman is excited about offering Community Cinema in her hometown of Cookeville.