The New York Observer interviews Aaron Brown, the new host of Thirteen/WNET’s Wide Angle series. And USA Weekend writes: “Former CNN news anchor Aaron Brown returns to TV tonight on PBS’ Wide Angle. I know this is happy news for many of you news junkies out there…”

The New York Times calls The War of the World with Niall Ferguson ‘a brash, copious, assured investigation of 20th-century global violence,’ adding “Mr. Ferguson’s feisty pedantry is purely the provenance of PBS and a reminder of why the network ought not vanish.”

“Almost from the day he arrived in February 2007 as president and designated heir to CEO Bill Baker, Shapiro began to question long-held assumptions about production, promotion, scheduling and fundraising. He even dared to challenge the PBS penchant for narrating documentaries at the pace of a Gregorian chant,” writes TV Newsday in an extensive feature interview with Neal Shapiro.

Thirteen/WNET’s documentary, The Waterfalls – Making Public Art, has received press in The New York Times, The Daily News and The Star Ledger.

The New York Post’s Page Six includes a photo of actress Gretchen Mol at Monday’s New York and Toyota Celebrate Nature event at the Central Park Zoo.

This week’s Reel13 shorts winner, filmmaker Pedro Carvajal, is featured in The Jersey Journal.

The Irish Echo highlighted The Police: Synchronicity Concert and where to get tickets for The Police’s last concert at Madison Square Garden.

The New York Times highlighted Made in Spain on WLIW21.

Neal Shapiro and Gretchen Mol

Over cocktails, a group of a hundred patrons and special guests mingled and took in the oasis that is the Zoo, a real jewel within this bustling big city of ours. We gathered for a few photos with our VIPS, including Neil Retting (filmmaker of American Eagle); Fred Kaufman (Executive Producer of Nature); Stephen Segaller (Thirteen’s V.P. of National Production); Shigeru Hayakawa (President & Chief Operating Officer, Toyota Motors North America); Dian D. Ogilvie (Senior V.P. & Secretary, Toyota); Steven Sturm (Group V.P. of Americas Strategic Research & Planning and Corporate Communications, Toyota) and Thomas Hartman (V.P. Corporate Sales, Condé Nast Media Group).

Talked a bit about parenthood and animals with Gretchen, a new mom and an avid NATURE viewer (she told me she finds the series relaxing), then headed to the ceremony. The crowd was wowed at the amazing film footage screened and the behind-the-scenes stories Neal Rettig shared, and we presented our friends at Toyota with a commemorative photo from the film, signed by the filmmaker. Not even a passing shower dampened the festivities, which included a live performance by One eskimO, the band that does the music in NATURE’s Toyota funding spot.

Neal Shapiro, Shigeru Hayakawa and Fred Kaufman
(both photos: Marion Curtis)

My kind of NATURE experience!

Yesterday we celebrated a very special event here at Thirteen. It was Volunteer Recognition Day! Although National Volunteer Week is observed in late April, at Thirteen we traditionally celebrate in June, at the end of the fiscal year. It just seems like a good time to take stock and recognize the accomplishment of our volunteers who contribute an extraordinary amount of time and effort to the mission and goals of the station.

Thirteen staff member Cora Myers and
volunteer Betty Lou Necarsulmer

Our President and CEO Neal Shapiro primed the pump by sending out an all-station email reminding employees to pick up a ‘V for volunteer’ ribbon at the reception desk on their way in to work. It was great to see most people wearing the blue V-shaped ribbon. Employees realize that even if they don’t work directly with volunteers, their life here at 450 West 33rd St. is enhanced by the volunteers’ presence. Neal noted that although it’s important to set aside a day to formally recognize our volunteers, a simple “Thank you” at any time during the year is an important investment in our volunteer program.Today we got to see how that investment pays off.

At the luncheon in their honor, Neal pointed out that our volunteers racked up an impressive score card this year. Almost 120 individuals in departments throughout the company and an equal number of corporate volunteers contributed over 17,000 hours of service. They staffed the reception desk, helped with huge mailings, staffed the Member & Viewer Relations information line, answered those ringing pledge phones, gave tours and helped at community events such as World Science Day and the Teaching and Learning Celebration.

We paid special tribute to volunteers who celebrated significant milestones – 10, 15, 20 and - believe it or not- 30 years of service to the station. Really- how many of us can say we’ve been dedicated to a cause or stuck with a commitment for 30 years? But these people are not just dedicated to the mission of public television. There’s something more that keeps them coming back week after week, year after year. That “something” is the lasting bonds they have forged with their fellow volunteers and the staff at Thirteen. That camaraderie, team spirit and sense of accomplishment were very apparent in the room today. On days like today, we all know why we’re here.

Gloria Deucher (L) and Thirteen President & CEO Neal Shapiro present Elizabeth Nathan with her certificate for ten years of service.

All photos: Joe Sinnott

Interested in volunteering at Thirteen? Call 212-568-1313 for more information.

Recently, a huge fire ravaged several back lots of the Universal Studios, and you might have watched a blazing roof collapse into billows of thick, black smoke as reporters told us a New York city street scene and other bits of Hollywood scenery were gone.

For the moving-image archivist community, it was far more alarming. The building that collapsed housed the Universal film library, and it was 40,000 plastic video and film boxes reduced to ashes that released all that toxic smoke.

Universal sent out word that “…the fire destroyed nearly 100% of the archive prints kept on the lot. Nothing irreplaceable was lost, but many of these films will never be seen publicly again.” Even though these were only copies, they were shown at public programs and screenings, and now all of us have lost access to thousands of iconic films that have lived in popular memory for generations (except on Reel 13!).

Like me, you may have also gotten important formative images from television. Added to movies, my early view of the world was indelibly shaped by Ernie Kovacs, CBS Reports with Edward R. Murrow and Great American Dream Machine, all in black and white.

Now is this kind of history being saved?

It’s easy to assume that, if you went looking for an old TV show, it would be right there on a shelf, waiting to be viewed. But it takes money and planning to create a media archive, a long-term investment that has to be maintained and supported over time.

Losing the Universal vault was just another reminder of how important it is to preserve what you have. The video Archive was established 10 years ago, and though many programs were thrown out, taped over, lost from age, or never recorded in the first place, this collection has close to 35,000 videotapes, including many early programs and historical broadcasts. As Thirteen continues to produce, we’re adding outstanding new programs each year.

But even though these shows exist, it may be very difficult to view them. Most older programs are on videotape formats that we can’t play back without specialized expertise and equipment. At the same time, new programs are increasingly taking the form of video files, which themselves may not be viewable in a few years without planning their playback now.

Safely storing Thirteen’s programs is crucial, but that’s not enough to keep them viewable. Over time, we also need the extra commitment of restoring them. Then not only will we be saving our television history, but also guaranteeing that copies will continue to live and be seen well into the future.

Tim Russert was a good friend and longtime colleague of mine at NBC News.

I could write so much about my memories of him when we both worked in the news division, but in this space, as we mourn his passing, I wanted to acknowledge that there is so much more to Tim than just being one of the most respected political reporters of our time.

Tim cared about his community…in fact, he cared about many communities.

He spoke at churches and synagogues and universities and community groups.

He cared passionately about education and played a vital role here at Thirteen, as our Vice President of Education, Ron Thorpe remembers:

Very few Americans don’t know Tim Russert, the smart, affable, respectful but no-nonsense host of NBC’s “Meet the Press.” In fact, it says a lot about the man that we all think we know him just from our television sets. He had that ring of authenticity.

In March 2007, I not only got to meet Tim Russert, but shook his hand, had my picture taken with him, and actually talked with him for a bit. Amazingly, he was the guy I “knew,” and there was no screen separating us. I wasn’t the only lucky one on that occasion. There were thousands of others, mostly teachers attending our annual education conference, the Celebration of Teaching & Learning. Tim Russert had accepted our invitation to speak at the conference, which wasn’t a surprise since the invitation came from our Board Member and Education Committee Chair, Meredith Brokaw. They were old friends, and I remember smiling when I saw Mr. Russert’s email reply: “How can I say no to the Divine Ms. M!”

We hadn’t really asked Mr. Russert to give a talk at the Celebration. Rather, we invited him to carry on a conversation with five amazing people – the chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Karen Cator, Asia Society President Vishakha Desai, IBM executive Nick Donofrio, RPI President, Shirley Ann Jackson, and New York State Education Commissioner Rick Mills. Of course, such an environment was the perfect milieu for Mr. Russert, and his questions swirled through the group, bringing out each distinctive voice and perspective without letting them get away with anything.

But as good as the panel was, what I remember most is what he offered the audience before the panelists came on stage. Alone, pacing from side to side, Tim Russert spoke to the teachers about the teachers who made the difference in his life. He talked specifically about one teacher who, in order to channel the young Russert’s “excess energy”, created a school newspaper and put Russert in charge of everything from writing the articles to collating and delivering the sheets. The message got through to the 2,000 teachers in that room: a teacher had made him who he was.

There was so much humanity and grace in what Mr. Russert shared with that audience, and even more in how he did it. Happily, thanks to digital video, we still have that story, and it’s a much-visited clip on our Web site. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house that March afternoon. Today when I think about that story and the news of Mr. Russert’s death, I’m right there again.

-Ron Thorpe

Watch Tim Russert’s speech at the 2007 Teaching & Learning Celebration here.
The panel discussion is here.

It must have been the hottest day in Albany so far this year. The high ceilings of the state Capitol trap lots of hot air (I am avoiding easy political jokes here), so the Capitol building felt like an oven. Efforts were underway to conserve energy: no air conditioning in the hallways, lights were dimmed everywhere, and all escalators were stationary.

Despite the heat, or maybe because of it, the Capitol and Legislative Office Buildings were teeming with people. Throngs of folks of all ages, persuasions and interests were trekking the halls of both the Capitol and the Legislative Office Building: tour groups of school children, constituents pressing their cases for or against pending bills, legislators and staffers hurrying to and from one meeting or another … and me.

Public television stations in New York State are educational institutions chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and as such, we are also the recipients of State funding in the annual budget.

As one of the newest “kids on the block,” I went to Albany to introduce myself and spend a few minutes meeting some members of the Legislature and several of Governor David Patterson’s key staff. The reception I received, I am happy to say, was as warm as the weather!

First up was a meeting with Charles O’Byrne, Secretary to the Governor, and reputed to be one of the new Governor’s most trusted advisors. He was gracious and a great fan of public television. I took the opportunity to extend an invitation for the Governor to do a call-in program or town meeting that we would broadcast live in prime time on all nine of New York’s public television stations. I hope the Governor agrees to do it, I think he’s a natural for television.

Next up was a short visit with Deputy Secretary to the Governor Carl Andrews. He is a former State Senator from Brooklyn, and I was again impressed by how much he knew about Thirteen and public television. I reiterated my invitation to the Governor to do a live call-in.

I also spent some time with Long Island Assemblyman Bob Sweeney and Commissioner “Pete” Grannis of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation — both ardent environmentalists. We talked about telling the State’s conservation and restoration stories on public television.

I ended the day with a quick visit to Assemblyman Dick Gottfried. Thirteen’s broadcast offices are in the Assemblyman’s district and the Assemblyman, who also chairs the Assembly’s Health Committee, has always been a great supporter of the station.

My recent foray up to Albany is likely to be first of many in the months and years ahead. I just hope the next time I hop a train to the Capitol, the reception up there is just as warm, but the temperature isn’t!

Real journalists don’t spend their idle hours writing about Hillary’s pantsuits. Nor do they tell people who sit in front of their office writing screenplays about world-threatening weather and world-threatening insects and world-threatening greed and stupidity and world-saving special effects done in Flash animation to hold their calls, should they get any.

Imagine my satisfaction, then, when cartoonist Roz Chast agreed to let me present “Public Television: The Swimsuit Issue,” as if done by her mother-in-law, a sweet unsuspecting woman with grandchildren. Roz understands that I live in the world of words, while she lives in the world of the senses, of color, and light.

So when I sensed a unique promotional opportunity for public television in a concept immortalized by Sports Illustrated, I grabbed it. I drilled down. I did not pander to the least common denominator. No. I pandered to the most uncommon numerator. And I retained the celebrity-driven power of art.

And Roz understands this, even if she is totally unavailable at the present time. Which is why, for our first summer issue of “The Thirteenth,” I give you “Public Television: The Swimsuit Issue,” by Roz Chast’s mother-in-law, as storyboarded by me, exclusively for you. What can I add except to say, bring on summer and bring on summer tv!

Please note: No members of the Chast family were harmed during the making of this cartoon. Members of the Thirteen family were neither consulted nor harmed, except for Rafael, who looks ten pounds heavier when illustrated.

Inside Thirteen blogger: The Thirteenth (Vickie Karp, Freelance Writer for 13)

Coming Soon: Look for Vickie Karp on The Huffington Post starting Summer 2008.