X-Nico

42 unusual facts about PBS


1st Battalion 1st Marines

A PBS documentary on the unit, Warriors, by Ed Robbins, documents this unit's deployment.

A-frame house

A broadcast of the documentary is anticipated to air on PBS.

Americans At War

The vignettes have aired on PBS as individual segments and, on November 11, 2007, in a half-hour program containing 21 vignettes.

Anna's Hummingbird

A PBS documentary that first aired January 10, 2010, shows how Anna's Hummingbirds eat flying insects (at 16:45).

Celia Cruz and Friends: A Night of Salsa

The album was recorded during a 1999 concert which was broadcast by PBS.

Chico the Rainmaker

It was shown in 1974 on PBS in the USA, and broadcast in many UK cinemas in the 1970s and 1980s as part of their "Saturday Matinees".

David, Kentucky

The David School is featured in the six-hour documentary film Country Boys which was broadcast in Frontline on PBS, about two residents, Chris and Cody, and their life in a poor, rural mountain town.

Edge West Productions

For more than a decade, Day has been an active producing partner with National Geographic Channel, Public Broadcast Service, Discovery, The History Channel, TLC, BBC Television, Channel Four (TV UK), and NHK Japan.

Elizabeth Zimmermann

Zimmermann's PBS knitting series is still available on VHS and DVD.

First I Look at the Purse

In the early 2000s, the Contours performed the song on the PBS special Motown: The Early Years.

George Sotter

In a recent episode of Antiques Roadshow on PBS, filmed in Philadelphia, a Sotter oil painting was appraised $120,000-$180,000, much to the delight of its visibly stunned owner.

Gridiron Club

Recently, however, it has begun opening its doors to such non-newspaper media figures as Tim Russert of NBC News, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, Mara Liasson of National Public Radio, and Judy Woodruff of PBS.

Home mortgage interest deduction

On March 9, 2012, PBS aired an episode of its show Need to Know in which a bipartisan panel discussed tax reform.

Hubert Invents the Wheel

Missouri teachers selected the book for their Reading Circle program and PBS TeacherSource recommended it, among others.

James Hood

Hood himself was convinced that Wallace was sincere after that meeting, as he wrote in an interchange following the PBS documentary on Wallace, Setting the Woods on Fire.

Jane Elizabeth Manning James

A 20-minute documentary based on James' life, Jane Manning James: Your Sister in the Gospel, premiered in 2005, and has been shown at This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah, the 2005 annual conference of the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), and on public television (PBS).

Jean-Joseph Mouret

Even though most of his works are no longer performed, Mouret's name survives today thanks to the popularity of the Fanfare-Rondeau from his first Suite de symphonies, which has been adopted as the signature tune of the PBS program Masterpiece and is a popular musical choice in many modern weddings.

Jeffrey Ethell

He was featured in the PBS Nova documentary "Top Gun Over Russia" about the military aircraft of the former Soviet Union, and appeared as an expert commentator on numerous documentaries.

Kenneth Clark

Also broadcast in the US on PBS in 1969, Civilisation was successful on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining Clark an international profile.

La Bayadère

Makarova’s production premiered on May 21, 1980 at the Metropolitan Opera House, and was shown live on PBS during the Live from Lincoln Center broadcast.

Marilyn Jager Adams

Dr. Adams has served as Literacy Advisor for "Sesame Street" and has been Senior Advisor for Instruction for PBS's "Between the Lions" since its inception.

Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Jimi Hendrix

Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Jimi Hendrix is a ten track companion release to the critically acclaimed television documentary series Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues shown on PBS in September 2003.

Mason Brothers

Other songs from The Sun, the Moon & the Sea have also been featured on a variety of television shows and documentaries, on networks including the CW (90210), CBS (Flashpoint), History Channel, Biography Channel, PBS documentaries; as well as various surfing broadcasts, films, and documentaries.

Mel Leven

In later years, he wrote songs, stories, and did voice-over work for the PBS children's series Big Blue Marble, and well as working on a number of projects for television commercials.

Michal Aviad

The film received several prizes and was the first to be broadcast within the prestigious documentary slot POV (Point of View) on the American public network PBS.

My Life as a Turkey

My Life as a Turkey is a television episode that premiered in 2011 in the UK on BBC (season 30 of the series Nature World, August 1) and in the US on PBS (season 30 of the series Nature, November 16).

Nathan Abshire

Abshire was featured in Les Blank's 1971 documentary Spend It All and the 1975 PBS documentary, The Good Times Are Killing Me. He was also included in the documentary film, Les Blues de Balfa, along with Balfa.

National Alliance for Hispanic Health

According to PBS's "Remaking American Medicine" series, it is the oldest and largest network of Hispanic health and human services providers, delivering services to more than 14 million people each year.

National Memorial Day Concert

Broadcast live on PBS, NPR, and can also be seen overseas by U.S. military personnel in more than 175 countries and aboard more than 200 U.S. Navy ships at sea on American Forces Network.

Native American Public Telecommunications

They encourage Native American media to be shown on PBS,

Operation Plumbbob

As shown and reported in the PBS documentary Dark Circle, the pigs survived, but with third-degree burns to 80% of their bodies.

Our Lady of Victory Catholic School

The recognition came from the teachings of Deacon David Jones, whose 5th grade art class curriculum that school year was based on the works of noted artist Bob Ross, host of the American PBS television show The Joy of Painting.

Paramount Home Media Distribution

PHMD also had agreements with DreamWorks Animation, PBS, and Hasbro for DVD/Blu-ray distribution of various programs that the former aired, and several films and TV series based on franchises owned by the latter.

Patricia Thompson

Her documentary The Cheese Nun, a profile of Sister Noella, a Benedictine nun who upon being made cheese-maker of her abbey in Connecticut, studied microbiology and crisscrossed France to study cheeses, was broadcast by PBS in the United States in 2006.

Rochel Gelman

Dr. Gelman was featured on Closer to the Truth: Science, Meaning and the Future, a PBS series created, produced, and hosted by Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

Rodef Shalom Temple

Across the street from the temple is the headquarters of Pittsburgh's PBS station WQED.

Sesame Street: Old School

Sesame Street: Old School is the title of a series of DVD releases produced by Sesame Workshop, featuring episodes from the early years of the PBS series, Sesame Street, plus highlights from that era.

Sutro Tower

Sutro Tower also leases space to other Bay Area radio and television stations, including PBS outlet KQED; independent station KOFY-TV; and KBCW, a sister station to KPIX.

The Making of The Wizard of Oz

After the success of the book, Aljean Harmetz adapted her knowledge and contacts with the film's survivors into a 30 minute PBS documentary in 1979.

Trash Gordon

Trash Gordon is the name of a fictitious character on the long-running PBS children's television show Sesame Street.

WQED Multimedia

The program reaches over 8 million households on over 300 PBS stations.

Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood hosted his namesake show, that was taped in at WQED in Pittsburgh, for over 3 decades on PBS, teaching lifelong lessons to children using storytelling and enforcing them to use their imagination.


Accidental Empires

A documentary based on the book, called Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires was produced by PBS in 1996, with Cringely as the presenter.

Alive from Off Center

Notable episodes included "As Seen on TV," starring comic actor Bill Irwin as an auditioning dancer who becomes trapped in a television, wandering among daytime dramas, MTV, and PBS's own Sesame Street and the atmospheric puppet melodrama "Street of Crocodiles," adapted by the Brothers Quay from the Bruno Shultz story.

Angee Hughes

She is best known for her role as Wanda Gilmore on the PBS series Wishbone and the film Wishbone's Dog Days of the West.

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai

After 9/11, he took leave without pay from the World Bank and engaged in intensive interaction with the media, appearing regularly on PBS's NewsHour as well as BBC, CNN, US National Public Radio, other broadcasters, and writing for major newspapers.

Avery Fisher Hall

The PBS series Live from Lincoln Center continues to feature performances from Avery Fisher Hall.

Band of Heathens

Following the Austin City Limits PBS show, the band also played on the German television live concert series Rockpalast on October 9, 2009, performing 14 songs, many from the albums "Band Of Heathens" and "One Foot In The Ether.".

Ben Wicks

He also created and illustrated the Katie and Orbie series of children's books written by his daughter Susan which in 1994 were turned into an animated television program for Family in Canada and for PBS in the United States.

Charles Darrow

In 2004 the PBS program History Detectives investigated a game board owned by Ron Jarrell of Arden, Delaware, which had elements of both The Landlord's Game and Monopoly.

Chrysler LH platform

One episode of Robert Reich's 1992 PBS miniseries Made In America focused on the then-yet-to-be-released LH's development and its role in reversing Chrysler's flagging fortunes.

David Mitton

The show became an instant success on British television and in 1989 it was released as Shining Time Station in the United States on the PBS channel and proved equally as popular.

Eric Siday

Among his other contributions to the use of electro-acoustic music in television were numerous station IDs and commercials, including that of the National Educational Television network (the forerunner to PBS), the 1966 CBS "in color" bumper, the news sounder for the ABC Radio Networks, and the 1965–1976 Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures Television logos.

Eugene Sledge

His 1981 memoir With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa chronicled his combat experiences during World War II and was subsequently used as source material for Ken Burns's PBS documentary, The War, as well as the HBO miniseries The Pacific, in which he is portrayed by Joseph Mazzello.

February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four

Nationally broadcast on Independent Lens on PBS, it tells the story of The Greensboro Four, four young college freshman, Joe McNeil, David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Ezell Blair Jr. now Jibreel Khazan, who staged a sit-in at Woolworth's in 1960 to protest segregation practices.

Force Theory

Their later work included composition and sound design on director Marjan Tehrani's Arusi: Persian Wedding (PBS, 2009) and a complete sound design for Benson Lee's Planet B-Boy, which aired on MTV in January 2009.

Garbage Dreams

Garbage Dreams aired on the PBS program Independent Lens for the occasion of Earth Day 2010 and has been screened in many international film festivals.

Get Up, Stand Up: The Story of Pop and Politics

A much shorter, two-hour version, called Get Up, Stand Up: The Story of Pop and Protest, aired on PBS in September 2005, hosted and narrated by co-founder of Public Enemy Chuck D.

Hammer Damage

Hammer Damage were one of the three bands profiled in the 2005 PBS documentary, If You're Not Dead, Play, along with Chi-Pig and Unit 5.

IL-Informed

The half-hour long pilot was produced by PBS member station WTTW (Channel 11) and premiered locally on Sunday, May 4, 2008.

Jamy Ian Swiss

Jamy Ian Swiss is the author of the essay collection Shattering Illusions. He is also a co-author of the companion volume to the PBS documentary The Art of Magic and the Explaining Magic chapter of Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte.

Jerome Toobin

He was Bill Moyers’ producer, including as the first executive producer of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS in the 1970s, and at CBS.

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Middle School

In 2002, KCET, then the local PBS station, produced a 17-minute documentary on the school and its "severe problems".

Kartemquin Films

After receiving the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Hoop Dreams was released theatrically by Fine Line Features and became the highest grossing documentary at that time and one of highest-rated documentaries broadcast on PBS.

Katherine DePaul

She has produced the TV concert of Judy Collins at the Metropolitan Museum of Art shown on PBS Autumn 2012.

Kenny Bishop

He has been a regular performer on the Gaither Homecoming video series and radio program, and has performed on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, Fox News, C-SPAN, CNN, and PBS.

Kim Mitchell

he has contributed voice work for several episodes of the PBS animated series Cyberchase voicing Appollo in "out of sync", chief in "The guilty party" and Walter the walrus in "When Penguins fly"

Lisa Lynne

Music from her Love & Peace album was used in Alone in the Wilderness, a documentary from filmmaker Bob Swerer that aired on PBS, chronicling the life of Richard Proenneke in the Alaskan wilderness.

Mischa Scorer

In 2003 he wrote and directed “Degas and the Dance” for PBS “Great Performances” series, a film in HD about the painter Edgar Degas and his obsession with dancers.

New South China Mall

Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Sam Green made a short film about the South China Mall called "Utopia Part 3: the World's Largest Shopping Mall." The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS's documentary series POV.

Pacific Broadcasting Services Fiji

Consumer Council of Fiji CEO Premila Kumar said PBS had taken money in advance from subscribers and failed to provide services which was illegal.

Paul Andrew Hutton

Dr. Hutton has appeared in, written or narrated over 150 television documentaries on CBS, NBC, PBS, Discover, Disney Channel, TBS, TNN, A&E, and the History Channel.

Perry Como's Christmas Concert

Recorded live at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, before an audience of 4,500, including Irish President Mary Robinson, it was also recorded on videotape and aired on PBS.

Pledge drive

Although the federal government of the United States, primarily through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and corporate underwriting provide some money for public broadcasting organizations like National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), they are largely dependent on program fees paid by their member stations.

In order to appeal to such a largely Euro-American, middle-aged and affluent demographic (the so-called "Baby Boomers" and "Generation X"), PBS has resorted to specials such as self-help programs with speakers such as Suze Orman, nostalgic popular music concerts, and special versions of PBS' traditionally popular "how-to" programs.

Ray Di Carlo

The studio's advertising agency clients including DDB Worldwide(Chicago, NY, LA, and Tribal British Columbia), FCB, Leo Burnett Worldwide, Santo (Bueno Aires/London), Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Sedgwick Rd., Campbell Ewald, Pedone, Euro RSCG, The Buntin Group, Borders Perrin and Norrander, and Ogilvy & Mather, as well as networks clients NBC, TBS, Cartoon Network, The Learning Channel, and PBS.

Ronnie Claire Edwards

Edwards also briefly appeared on an episode of PBS's Antiques Roadshow (2008) from Dallas, Texas, when she brought in for appraisal a chair formerly owned by P. T. Barnum.

Sandusky, Michigan

WDCQ channel 19 (PBS) from Bad Axe is also available over-the-air, but is not seen on Comcast.

Shadowmation

Shadowmation is a relatively new technique, but has so far been used in several prominent kids TV shows, including Disney's The Book of Pooh, PBS' It's a Big, Big World, Bear in the Big Blue House and CBC Television and Discovery Kids' Wilbur.

Shaw Broadcast Services

The CRTC approved and on 1 September 1983, CANCOM began transmitting the four Detroit affiliates of the three major commercial networks and PBS: WJBK-TV, WDIV-TV, WXYZ-TV and WTVS.

Take a Letter, Mr. Jones

Take A Letter, Mr. Jones was never a ratings success (only running one season), but in recent years it has been resurrected by many American PBS stations, where Are You Being Served? is also a hit.

The Horse Whisperer

Monty Roberts, horse trainer subject of a BBC/PBS documentary "The Real Horse Whisperer"

The Landlord's Game

In a 2004 episode of PBS' History Detectives (title: Monopoly; Japanese Internment Camp Artwork; The Lewis and Clark Cane), the show investigated a game board belonging to a Delaware man, having an intermediate version of a game combining elements of The Landlord's Game and Monopoly.

Tom Sito

He co-directed the animation for the Warner Bros 2001 movie Osmosis Jones, and contributed to other animated films such as Garfield (2005), the PBS TV series Click and Clack's As the Wrench Turns (2008), and the 2006 Taiwanese short Adventures in the NPM, which won first prize at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Festival.

Welcome Back, Carter

Peter then interjects his hatred of PBS, after viewing a nine-part series on traffic signs by director and producer Ken Burns, the fourth of which on the yield sign.

WHRO

WHRO-TV, a PBS member broadcasting on channel 15 analog/16 digital on terrestrial television services, with offices in Norfolk, VA

Willie Morris

One of Morris' books, Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood was made into a TV movie for Public Television by Disney and PBS Wonderworks and later re-titled The River Pirates in 1988 not far from where Morris lived.It starred Richard Farnsworth, Maureen O'Sullivan, Dixie Wade, Ryan Francis, Caryn West and Richard E. Council.

WPBS

WPBS-DT, a PBS member station operating on Channel 41 (virtual channel 16.1) in Northern New York and serving eastern Ontario.