TV SpotlightTV Spotlight
170 Million Americans Depend on Public Broadcasting
If you are one of the 170 million Americans who enjoy public television, then WGCU invites you to join 170 million Americans.org . Federal funding for public broadcasting is once again being threatened. Let your voice be heard by calling Florida's U.S. Senate delegation. Here's the phone numbers:Sen. Bill Nelson: 202.224.5274 and Sen. Marco Rubio: 202.224.3041.
Sherlock is Back
Season 2 of the wildly successful Masterpiece Mystery! Sherlock begins Sunday, May 6 with
A Scandal in Belgravia. In this new episode, Sherlock and Watson are plunged into a case of blackmail involving crafty dominatrix Irene Adler, whose motto is “know when you are beaten.” It seems she has incriminating photos of a session with a British royal. Can she outsmart Sherlock at his own game? And at a battle he is ill prepared to wage — love? Don't miss new episodes of Sherlock on Sundays at 9 pm on WGCU HDTV.
Sunday, May 6 @ 9 pm A Scandal in Belgravia (reairs @10:30 pm)
Sunday, May13 @ 9 pm The Hounds of Baskerville (reairs @ 10:30 pm)
Sunday, May 20 @ 9 pm The Reichenbach Fall (reairs @ 10:30 pm)
Your Voice Focuses on Mental Health
WGCU's multimedia initiative Your Voice will focus on Mental Health starting November 14. Your Voice: Mental Health will include a TV broadcast of "Where is the Help?" on Thursday, November 17 @ 8 pm on 30.1/Cable 3 & 440. "Where is the Help?" is the first-ever pre-taped broadcast of WGCU's popular Gulf Coast Live! radio show. This special Your Voice radio show will feature a live studio audience along with mental health professionals discussing access to mental health services in Southwest Florida. Gulf Coast Live! host, Valarie Edwards will ask the question: If you or a loved one is living with mental illness, are you finding the help you need? To learn directly from those impacted by menal health issues, WGCU has partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Charlotte, Collier and Lee Counties. NAMI has invited people with mental illness and their families to participate in this special show. On Friday, November 14 @ 8:30 pm on channel 30.1/Cable 3 & 440, WGCU will premiere its locally produced Your Voice program: Sharing Hope: Living with Mental Illness. In this half-hour documentary people living with mental illness and their family members share emotional journeys towards recovery. Their stories offer hope, hard-earned wisdom and community-based recovery options.
CLICK HERE for all YOUR VOICE: Mental Health radio, television, magazine and web content.
Curious Kids Explore the Everglades
WGCU Public Media’s one-of-a-kind, locally produced TV program by kids and for kids, Curious Kids, premiered its newest episode on Saturday, Sept. 17 on WGCU-TV. In this episode, the local “stars” travel to the Florida Everglades, where they ride an airboat into the river of grass, cook up some gator burgers and discover what a swamp angel is on a visit to the historic Smallwood store in Everglades City. The Curious Kids also take a swamp walk with renowned photographer Clyde Butcher, and visit the world of invasive creatures at the Calusa Nature Center. In each episode of Curious Kids the stars explore themes of My Self…healthy eating, exercise and self-esteem; My Backyard…the world of Southwest Florida from an environmental and historical perspective; and My World…exploring the people, places and ecology of Southwest Florida and discovering characteristics shared with countries across the world. Curious Kids is a project of WGCU Public Media with partnership support from the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, Florida Gulf Coast University, Department of Education and Edison State College, Department of Education. Click here to watch.
Peter Thomas Shares His Talents with WGCU
If you bump into Naples resident Peter Thomas, you may immediately recognize him — not by his celebrity face but by his celebrity voice. Thomas, a voice-over professional, is a talent on PBS series such as NOVA and Changing Seas. For 26 years, he’s provided the opening and closing for Nature, and has worked on PBS documentaries such as Hallowed Ground, which toured American military cemeteries in other countries.
He is also the voice behind WGCU’s documentary, Into the Wild: Edison, Ford & Friends and several others that have earned awards and have been distributed nationally, including Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, Edge of the Everglades: Big Cypress National Preserve and Protecting Paradise: Conservation in Collier County.
His list of commercial credits is a long one, including Burger King and American Express commercials, Forensic Files, Medical Detectives and National Geographic programs. The 1995 HBO-produced documentary, One Survivor Remembers, which he narrated, earned an Academy Award.
Thomas also is a rock icon of sorts. Twenty-five years ago, musician Paul Hardcastle sampled Thomas’ narration from the 1982 documentary Vietnam Requiem, in which Thomas says: “In World War II, the average age of the combat soldier was 26. In Vietnam, he was 19.” It became the central theme for the chart-busting, anti-war song, “19.” (Thomas sued him in federal court because Hardcastle did not have a contractual arrangement to use the narration, and Thomas won rights to royalties.)
Thomas, a Florida native, has been a long-time supporter and member of WGCU Public Media. He recalls talking about the making of NOVA programs during a live pledge broadcast 20 years ago for the station.
