Tag: Public Radio

March 25, 1992: West Virginia Public Broadcasting Pioneer Harry Brawley Dies at 82

Broadcaster Harry Brawley died on March 25, 1992, at age 82. The Charleston native was a polio survivor. He eventually learned to walk but struggled with it his entire life. After earning two degrees from West Virginia University, Brawley became a teacher. At Charleston High School, he had the novel idea of incorporating the radio into the classroom. In 1945, he became the director of public affairs for Charleston’s WCHS radio station and won an award for his “School of the Air,” a pioneering program for high schoolers.

Brawley played a key role in forming West Virginia educational television and later public radio—the forerunners of today’s West Virginia Public Broadcasting. He worked closely with his friend Congressman Harley O. Staggers to craft federal legislation that helped public broadcasting stations throughout the nation acquire the necessary equipment to get on the air.

After retiring, Brawley volunteered his time to teach Charleston history to school kids through a series of popular slide shows. In addition, he served on the Charleston City Council for 14 years. A walkway in downtown Charleston is now named in honor of this broadcasting pioneer.

Radio Announces Program Changes for the New Year

West Virginia Public Broadcasting is proud to announce a new program from America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) founder Christopher Kimball, Milk Street Radio. With ATK ceasing production of its radio show (television will continue) at year-end, the timing of Kimball’s new adventure couldn’t be more perfect.

The wide world of food is coming to Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio and in turn, to foodies everywhere. From street food in Thailand to a bakery in a Syrian refugee camp to how one scientist uses state of the art pollen analysis to track the origins of honey (and also to solve crimes), Milk Street Radio goes anywhere and everywhere to ask questions and get answers about cooking, food, culture, wine, farming, restaurants, literature, and the lives and cultures of the people who grow, produce, and create the food we eat.

With a four-star cast of contributors, the long-time public TV and radio host brings Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio to West Virginia Public Broadcasting beginning January 1, 2017. The program will air Sundays at 3pm.

Former West Virginian Bridget Lancaster and other ATK personalities will join Lynne Rossetto Kasper to share practical, hands-on culinary expertise on The Splendid Table, which airs Sundays at 2pm.

On Monday nights, due to its unfortunate mid-season cessation of production and distribution, another program change has occurred with World of Opera.

Director of Programming Kristi George explained, “After we got over the surprise, we learned that the source of live opera performances, the European Broadcasting Union, was no longer able to provide them.”

George added, “We were assured that numerous options for continuing the program were explored, but none had been fruitful.”

WVPB will air holiday specials with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to round out the remaining Mondays in December. Then beginning in January, the BBC World Service will air from 9pm throughout the night.

Be sure to check out our other holiday specials too.

As we move forward, we are heartened by other opportunities for opera fans and invite you to join West Virginia Public Broadcasting in supporting them.

A variety of music options – including opera and classical music – is available to our television audience. Among these are Great Performances and Live from Lincoln Center. Program schedules for the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Television Network and the WV Channel can be found here.

Live statewide events for the Met are being held through May. The Met’s 11th season of Live in HD is transmitted live in high-definition cinema simulcasts at three area locations: Huntington Mall – Barboursville, Nitro Stadium 12, and Morgantown Stadium 12. The 2016-2017 schedule includes the following:

  • January 7, 2017 – NABUCCO (Verdi) — Live in HD start time: 12:55 p.m. ET (Encore: January 11 at 6:30 p.m. local time) Approx. runtime: 3:04
  • January 21 – ROMÉO ET JULIETTE (Gounod) – New Production — Live in HD start time: 12:55 p.m. ET (Encore: January 25 at 6:30 p.m. local time) Approx. runtime: 3:29
  • February 25 – RUSALKA (Dvořák) – New Production — Live in HD start time: 12:55 p.m. ET (Encore: March 1 at 6:30 p.m. local time) Approx. runtime: 4:05
  • March 11 – LA TRAVIATA (Verdi) — Live in HD start time: 12:55 p.m. ET (Encore: March 15 at 6:30 p.m. local time) Approx. runtime: 2:54
  • March 25 – IDOMENEO (Mozart) — Live in HD start time: 12:55 p.m. ET (Encore: March 29 at 6:30 p.m. local time) Approx. runtime: 4:18
  • April 22 – EUGENE ONEGIN (Tchaikovsky) — Live in HD start time: 12:55 p.m. ET (Encore: April 26 at 6:30 p.m. local time) Approx. runtime: 3:57
  • May 13 – DER ROSENKAVALIER (R. Strauss) – New Production — Live in HD start time: 12:30 p.m. ET (Encore: May 17 at 6:30 p.m. local time) Approx. runtime: 4:47

Marilyn DiVita, Director of Development and Marketing, states, “Between the quality of the Met’s award-winning HD broadcasts at local cinemas and the playbills provided by the Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting at each event, it’s almost like being at the Met in New York City. 
“Thanks to the volunteer efforts of the Friends, we are pleased to again offer a limited number of complimentary movie theater passes to the Met event.”

For more information about the operas, including casts, synopses, and videos, visit The Met.

For more details on these changes, please see our FAQs.

Enjoy these Holiday Radio Specials from WVPB

Discover our holiday line-up of radio specials. 

With a combination of local and national programs, pianist Bob Thompson’s “Joy to the World” once again takes center stage. The producers of “Mountain Stage with Larry Groce” celebrate this 23-year tradition with jazz arrangements of holiday favorites new and old, featuring special guest vocalist Lena Seikaly. This year’s episode premieres Monday, December 19th at 9pm, with several repeats scheduled. A Joy to the World mini-marathon is also planned for overnights during the Christmas weekend.

Local productions during the season include specials with The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and The Appalachian Children’s Chorus, as well as the unveiling of 2016’s Inspiring West Virginians. 

A Letter to 'Prairie Home' Fans From Its New Host

Fellow Public Radio Lovers,

First of all, thanks for reading this. Starting a conversation with you is one of the most exciting parts of what I’m finding to be a roundly exciting endeavor.

Here’s a little too much about me: I grew up in Southern California and Western Kentucky (we moved when I was 14), the eldest of three boys. My folks were and are devoted public radio fans, who started listening to A Prairie Home Companion in the 1980s; Garrison and Co. were the permanent headliners of their weekends. Many of my earliest memories feature my little brothers and me frolicking (quietly, by request of Mom and Dad from the couch) to performances from the likes of Chet Atkins and Jethro Burns, listening to the News From Lake Wobegon, and singing along to the Powdermilk Biscuit jingle.

Those Saturday evenings were topped off with a drive to a nearby pizza place for a couple more hours of live entertainment, provided by a locally beloved bluegrass band. Suffice it to say, anyone who spends the first 200 or so Saturdays of his life thusly is bound to become utterly obsessed with music.

I’ve picked up a few other obsessions over the years: Tolkien, baseball, Wodehouse, coffee, Federer, cocktails, and perhaps obsession itself. (I figure the more completely one is preoccupied with weird, wonderful things, the better one’s chances of making new weird, wonderful things!)

Prairie Home’s new host, Chris Thile

And speaking of weird, wonderful things, there was that voice mail I received two years ago from one Mr. Keillor: “Hi, Chris. It’s Garrison Keillor. I’d like to discuss something with you that I think you may find interesting. Or maybe you won’t. Either way, call me back.” I nervously obliged and listened dumbstruck as Garrison began laying out his plan.

So here we are, smack dab in the middle of that plan. And frankly, I’m chuffed as all get out.

A Prairie Home Companion is such a profound, transcendent variation on the grand theme of the variety show. My job is to compose/improvise variations on that theme, and a good variation never strays so far that the listener loses sight of the source. With that in mind, we’ll be changing the actual format of the show very little. (If it ain’t broke …) But I also look forward to expanding our reach. Not that the show will suddenly be geared specifically toward millennials, mind you! It will be for anyone who loves good music and good fun.

There will still be musical guests, drawn from the width and breadth of music new and old. We’ll add a spoken-word guest to every show — maybe a comedian or actor, novelist or poet. And look for all involved to weave those talents together.

For now, please let your local public radio station know your hopes for A Prairie Home Companion as it moves forward. It is indeed a conversation, and we want to hear what you’re thinking. Here’s what I’m thinking: Garrison Keillor has given us a truly extraordinary, immortal radio show that is for and about all of us. LET’S GET PSYCHED!

– Chris Thile

New NPR Chief Visits West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Talks Future of Public Radio

NPR has a new president and CEO.  Jarl Mohn was once a music DJ, but he says he has a passion for  public radio. That’s why he chaired Southern California Public Radio after making his career in cable TV as President and CEO of E-Entertainment Television.

Mohn and friend (and pilot and Los Angeles County Museum of Art director) Michael Govan finished their “Low and Slow” tour with a visit to West Virginia Public Broadcasting on Wednesday. The two traveled by small aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., making stops at public radio stations and art museums across the country.  

Mohn met with Public Broadcasting employees and board members to discuss his vision for public radio and some of the challenges he faces.

"The other things we can do on the fundraising front to get away from the pledge drives which most people dread, inside the radio stations and outside the radio stations is to do a nationwide capital campaign.  It's never been done at NPR with the stations to raise a lot of money, so that there can be less of a focus on pledge drives."  – Jarl Mohn, President and CEO, NPR

And, of course, Mohn took the time to pose with some West Virginia Public Broadcasting staff for #selfieswithjarl.

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