, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

The Legendary Broadcast of "War of the Worlds"

On October 30, 1938, just after 8 p.m. on the east coast, the millions of Americans tuned to CBS Radio were treated to an unusual dramatization of H.G.…

On October 30, 1938, just after 8 p.m. on the east coast, the millions of Americans tuned to CBS Radio were treated to an unusual dramatization of H.G. Wells’s classic “The War of the Worlds,” performed by 23-year-old wunderkind Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater on the Air. Although most listeners understood that the program was a radio drama, the next day’s headlines reported that thousands of others — perhaps a million or more — were plunged into panic, convinced that America was under a deadly Martian attack. Timed to air in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of Welles’s notorious radio broadcast War of the Worlds premieres on American Experience on Tuesday, October 29 at 9 p.m. on WV PBS.

http://video.wvpubcast.org/video/2365071541/

Featuring interviews with film director and cinema historian Peter Bogdanovich, Welles’s daughter Chris Welles Feder, and other authors and experts, as well as dramatizations of some of the thousands of letters sent to Welles by an alternately admiring and furious public, War of the Worlds explores how Welles’s ingenious use of the new medium of radio struck fear into an already anxious nation. “In an era when the public can still be fooled or misled by what is read online, in print, or seen on TV, War of the Worlds is a timely reminder of the power of mass media,” said American Experience Executive Producer Mark Samels.

It took place on the night before Halloween, long known as Mischief Night. It began like any other ordinary Sunday evening, with millions of Americans tuned to their radios. But beneath the outward calm was a nation tense with worry and fear; the Great Depression refused to let up, and the threat of war in Europe loomed larger every day. Then, at 8:15 p.m., the voice of a panicked announcer broke into the dance music with a news bulletin reporting that strange explosions were taking place on the planet Mars, followed minutes later by a report that Martians had landed in the tiny town of Grover’s Mill, New Jersey.

Almost instantly, frantic listeners responded to the shocking news. Chicago newspapers were flooded with calls; in St. Louis, people gathered outside to discuss what to do about the “invaders”; in San Francisco, many feared that New Jersey had been laid to waste and that the Martians were heading west. Callers pleaded with the power company in Providence to shut off the lights so that the city would not be seen by the invaders. Similar reports of panicked reactions came from Baltimore, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Memphis, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake. At the epicenter of the event, New Jersey national guardsmen flooded armories with calls asking where to report. And in cities and towns across the country, people stopped a moment to pray — then grabbed their loved ones and fled into the night.

Seventy-five years later, War of the Worlds explores this legendary but misunderstood event. With the CBS radio broadcast serving as its narrative spine, the film examines the elements that came together to create one of the most notorious media events in U.S. history: our longtime fascination with life on Mars; the emergence of radio as a powerful, pervasive medium; the eagerness of newspapers to disparage their radio rivals; the shocking Hindenburg explosion of 1937, the first disaster to broadcast live; and the brilliant enfant terrible Orson Welles, the director of the drama and mischief maker supreme.

http://video.wvpubcast.org/video/2365071577/

Unlock the Secrets of the Tower of London

Standing guard over its city for nearly 1,000 years, the Tower of London has been a royal castle, a prison, a place of execution and torture, an armory and the Royal Mint. Over the centuries it has gone from a symbol of imperialism and tyranny to a national treasure–the protector of the crown jewels and many other historic British traditions. In Secrets of the Tower of London, PBS goes behind the tower’s ancient walls, exposing its stories, unlocking doors to rooms never before seen on television, talking to the people who do stealth jobs in the edifice and revealing little-known facts about this English icon.

Watch Secrets of the Tower of London, Sunday, October 27 at 8 p.m. on West Virginia PBS.

West Virginia Morning – October 22, 2013

On this West Virginia Morning, Ashton Marra reports on Governor Tomblin's call for a bill that would insulate businesses and individuals from another…

On this West Virginia Morning, Ashton Marra reports on Governor Tomblin’s call for a bill that would insulate businesses and individuals from another federal shutdown, Glynis Board has more on the Israeli Consul General’s visit to a Morgantown synagogue, Concord student Chad Brown bring us more on a college “prep rally”, and more.

College "Prep Rally" helps W.Va. students prepare for higher education

High school students across the state are getting help applying for college thanks to an initiative. The statewide college application and exploration week kicked off last week at Concord University.

Representing several different high schools from across the state, around two students filed into Concord University’s main auditorium last week to kick off the statewide initiative meant to encourage and help students apply for and attend college.

The event featured four speakers who each gave advice about the steps in the college application process, ranging from how to select a college suited to a student’s needs to important financial advice.

Melissa Gatusso helped coordinate the Prep Rally. She is a representative of GEAR-UP, which stands for “Gaining Early Aware and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs”.

She says this was not just for giving hints and pointers for prospective college students. It’s much more than that.

“The purpose of the College Prep Rally is to gather the seniors together and go through the admissions process with them,” she said. “It will help them feel secure, they’ll be doing it as a group, there will be staff there to answer any questions. Taking that first step, applying to college and getting that first acceptance letter; it’s a big deal and we’re going to do it as a group.”

The students, each equipped with a provided laptop, had their chance to apply to a college of their choice via a website for the College Foundation of West Virginia.

Application fees and essays are not the only challenges that West Virginia high-schoolers face; The financial conditions of the state stack the odds against them as well.

West Virginia has been ranked as the second poorest state in the Union from sources such as the Wall Street Journal. Also, according to aecf.org, which stands for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 22 percent of the population of West Virginia from ages 18 to 24 do not have a job or an education past high school.

This is why the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and GEAR-UP wanted to hold the College Application and Exploration Week.

Adam Green, senior director of the division of student success at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission is confident that programs like this can improve the state’s college attendance rates.

“Both through the GEAR-UP program and through the College Foundation of West Virginia, we’re creating those local cultures where people can talk about higher education early on and begin to think about it as an option and as as a way to a better means of life,” he said.

“One research study out from Georgetown University shows that by the year 2020, in the state of West Virginia, we’re going to need 50 percent of our population to have a two to four year degree. Unfortunately, right now we’re less than 30 percent. So we gotta move those numbers and it’s programs like this that I think are going to move it.”

GEAR-UP empowers high school students to help their peers as well. These students are called “Higher Education Readiness Officers”, or HEROs. Three of them at Tuesday’s Prep Rally seem to take their responsibilities as HEROs seriously.

“It entails being a role-model in general for other students and making sure they’re prepared for college as much as we are as HEROS ourselves,” one hero said.

West Virginia Morning – October 21, 2013

On this WV Morning we hear from a Preston County man now living in Africa who is working to end extreme poverty; also nearly 9,000 schools around the…

On this WV Morning we hear from a Preston County man now living in Africa who is working to end extreme poverty; also nearly 9,000 schools around the country took part in the annual Lights on Afterschool program last week; and the sixth annual Create WV Conference took place this weekend in Richwood in Nicholas County.

Local schools take part in national afterschool program

As part of a nationwide celebration of afterschool programs, Lavalette Elementary in Wayne County took part in Lights on Afterschool, “Get up and Go” last…

As part of a nationwide celebration of afterschool programs, Lavalette Elementary in Wayne County took part in Lights on Afterschool, “Get up and Go” last week.

At nearly 9,000 schools around the country students from elementary to high school took part in the annual Lights on Afterschool program last week. Over 150 kids attended the event here at Lavalette Elementary. The students had dinner, listened to instruction and participated in STEAM related activities.

The afterschool program was sponsored by Playmates Preschools and Child Development Centers, the Wayne County Board of Education and the Afterschool Alliance. Amy Wagoner is with the Playmates Preschools and Child Development Centers and the 21st Century Wayne County Community Learning Centers program.

“Afterschool programs all over the United States are celebrating today and it’s to help raise awareness and promote afterschool programs locally within your communities and its helped raise awareness with the parents, children and community members about the importance of having safe afterschool programs to go to in your communities,” Wagoner said.

Wagoner said afterschool programs play a vital role for young students.

“The afterschool time is the high-risk time between 2 and 6, so it’s important for them to have a safe place to go afterschool and be able to have dinner or a snack and have enrichment activities, tutoring services or just a safe place to be while their parents or family members are working,” Wagoner said.

At 30 sites in Wayne County and three in Cabell County the students are taught by certified teachers who work after hours in the afterschool program. The goals of the program they say are to help raise the academic level, cut down on dropouts and to increase school attendance.

The focus during the annual Lights on Afterschool celebration, was STEAM, or Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. Through activity stations that had students creating robots out of Leggos, looking at rocks from prehistoric times and creating their own plastic, students touched on each of the STEAM areas. Jessica Williamson and her daughter, 4^th grader Jessalyn Perry took part in the program.

“It gives them something to do, it also helps them learn, they had different activities and different learning programs for them, so to me that’s very important as a parent to make sure that my child has something educational to do rather than being out on the street and getting into trouble,” Williamson said.

Williamson said the program teach the students in a unique and interesting way.

“It’s really neat to see how the different kids react to it, to see which ones actually enter into the different activities, because some of them will draw to the Leggo’s and some of them will draw to making homemade slime, it’s kind of neat to see which kids draw to which activity,” Williamson said.

Perry said all the activities were fun to her.

“I like to take part in the Leggo’s and the slime and the airplanes,” Perry said.

Jeanette Barker is the executive director of Playmates Preschools and Child Development Centers Inc. She said the fun atmosphere is beneficial to both the students and teachers.

“The teachers I think find it refreshing because they don’t have as many restraints and they’re not on such a tight schedule, so they’re able to do things that they might not typically be able to do during the regular day, so it motivates teachers to want to be part of the expanded learning time,” Barker said.

The Lights on Afterschool Program is in its 14^th year.