Dear Friend,
June is here, bringing with it triple digit temperatures, LGBTQ Pride Month, Flag Day, Father’s Day, Juneteenth, and summer vacation. As we approach the end of our fiscal year, I am grateful to you, as a member of our family of supporters, for your ongoing investment in public media. I hope you will join me in making a fiscal year-end gift to help AZPM end FY24 on solid financial footing.
Arizona Public Media received nine regional Edward R. Murrow Awards in categories including Excellence in Innovation, DEI and Investigative Reporting.
AZPM was recently honored by the Radio Television Digital News Association with nine of regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for outstanding achievements in broadcast and digital journalism, a record number for AZPM, the most awarded to any broadcaster in Arizona, and the most awarded to any public media broadcaster in the five-state region (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming). Category honors include Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Innovation, Sports Reporting, and Investigative Reporting, Breaking News Coverage, Sound, and News Documentary. Notable among the winning stories are The Buzz: El Tour de Mayor, a creative way to converse with mayoral candidates, Arizona Illustrated Increasing Spanish Language Content, and Sirena Linton, Gymnast, which was produced by AZPM content production student Ashland Johnson. All Regional Murrow award winners will automatically advance for national award consideration.
Since 2016, AZPM has been honored with a total of 40 Regional Murrow Awards. AZPM received its third National Murrow Award in 2023 for the television documentary Water Harvester: An Invitation to Abundance, its second National Murrow Award in 2019 for Where Dreams Die, and its first in 2016 for the radio news documentary Divided by Law. Find out more about the Murrow Awards and see AZPM’s most recent award-winning projects here.
Left to right: Tom Brittney as Will Davenport and Robson Green as Geordie Keating.
AZPM has an exciting summer lineup ready for you on PBS 6. Our end-of-fiscal-year on-air fundraising campaign will feature a wealth of concerts and specials, including All Creatures Great and Small: Touring the Dales Sunday, June 2 at 7 p.m., Celtic Thunder: Odyssey on Saturday, June 8 at 7 p.m., followed by Celtic Woman 20th Anniversary Concert at 8:30 p.m. On Sunday, June 9, mystery fans won’t want to miss Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on The Mystery Queen at 7 p.m., followed by Grantchester: Investigating Life’s Mysteries at 8:30p. If you’re a music fan, tune in at 8 p.m. June 3 through June 8 for The Big Band Years (Monday, June 3), Bee Gees: In Our Own Time (Tuesday, June 4), Elton John – The Million Dollar Piano followed by Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn (Thursday, June 6) and Simon and Garfunkel: The Concert in Central Park followed by Chicago & Friends: Live at 55 (Friday, June 7).
The PBS 6 summer drama block begins Sunday, June 16 with the season premieres of three fan favorites: Season 3 of Professor T at 7 p.m., Season 9 of Grantchester at 8 p.m. (introducing the new vicar!), and Season 2 of D.I. Ray at 9 p.m. Other notable premieres this month include Season 3 of The Great American Recipe starting Monday, June 17 at 9 p.m. and the three-part special Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution starting Tuesday, June 18 at 9 p.m. The Wednesday evening 8-11 p.m. block (affectionately nicknamed “Think Wednesday'') will feature the premieres of two new environmental mini-series, the four-part Dynamic Planet and the three-part Hope in the Water starting June 15 at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. respectively. Dynamic Planet takes viewers on an epic three-year journey across all seven continents to explore the front line of climate change, while Hope in the Water tells the story of people who are feeding our growing planet as they work to save our oceans. NOVA wraps up “Think Wednesdays” at 10 p.m.
Beginning Sunday, June 23 at 10 p.m., Luisa Spagnoli, Queen of Chocolate dramatizes the true story of the visionary behind the famed Perugina chocolates and the eponymous fashion empire. Gifted with an indomitable entrepreneurial spirit and boundless creativity, Luisa Spagnoli overcame an environment hostile to powerful, visionary, independent women, and created an empire that offered women respect, employment, and status at a time when expectations were very different and opportunities nonexistent. From Walter Presents, all four episodes are also available to stream on AZPM Passport. (In Italian with English subtitles.)
A brand-new episode of AZPM’s original quarterly science and innovation program, New Frontiers, premieres Tuesday, June 18 at 6:30 p.m. on PBS 6. Hosted by dynamic University of Arizona Professor of Astrophysics Erica Hamden, New Frontiers explores the innovation and scientific discovery taking place daily in our own Southern Arizona backyard.
Hollywood at Home on PBS 6 offers a double feature of classic films every Saturday night at 8 p.m.
AZPM’s own Hollywood at Home returns on June 15 with Eight Men Out at 8 p.m., followed by Witness at 10 p.m. Featuring expert commentary by film historian and host Victoria Lucas, Hollywood at Home brings you a double feature of classic films every Saturday night. Regular viewers of the program may have noticed a new look: the commentary is now shot on AZPM’s new virtual set, the only one of its kind in Southern Arizona. The virtual set allows for unlimited, completely digital backgrounds, eliminating the expense of building, maintaining, and storing physical sets. Hollywood at Home continues throughout June with Witness at 8 p.m. and Chinatown at 10 p.m. on June 22, and Chinatown at 8 p.m. and Terms of Endearment at 10 p.m. on June 29.
Classical 90.5 features the recordings of Grammy award-winning American pianist Emmanuel Ax every hour on his 75th birthday Saturday, June 8. Ax is known for his collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinists Isaac Stern and Young Uck Kim, as well as solo piano recitals and performances with the world’s major orchestras. Works of Mexican composer Carlos Chavez will be featured throughout the day on June 13, the 125th anniversary of his birth, and summer-themed music on the first day of summer, June 20.
Work continues on the Paul and Alice Baker Center for Public Media. It’s astonishing to see how quickly the external structure is going up; the external building “skin” should be completed before the end of the summer. Once in place, it will look like nothing is happening for quite a while. However, there will be a long period of interior construction as internal physical infrastructures are laid down and broadcast and radio and television production systems put in place. This entire project would not have been possible without the generosity of many leadership donors, but we still need your help to raise the last bit of funding necessary. Please consider making a fiscal year-end gift to the Bridging Communities Capital Campaign.
Thanks to you and members like you, AZPM is able to produce award-winning local content as well as provide the very best in trusted news and information, high-quality entertainment, educational programming for all ages, K-12 educational resources, and on-the-job training for University of Arizona students. Your continuing support ensures that AZPM is not influenced by corporate or governmental funding pressures, and that it maintains editorial independence and control over its programming. Thank you for your generous support.
Sincerely,
Jack Gibson
Chief Executive Officer
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