AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Roberto Clemente

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE:  Roberto Clemente, airs Monday, April 21 at 9:00 p.m. on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami.

Baseball great Roberto Clemente’s talent and inimitable style drew legions of fans, but as this AMERICAN EXPERIENCE production reveals, he was more than an exceptional baseball player. He was also a committed humanitarian who challenged racial discrimination and worked for social justice. Through interviews with relatives, childhood friends, former teammates and journalists, this biography tells Clemente's inspiring and tragic story, focusing on a man whose career sheds light on larger issues of immigration, civil rights and cultural change.

Walt Whitman

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Walt Whitman, airs Monday, April 14 at 9:00 p.m. on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami

On a hot summer day in 1855, a 36-year-old writer emerged from an undistinguished printer’s shop in Brooklyn, New York, carrying a slim volume of his work. To family, friends and neighbors, Walter Whitman Jr. may have been just a too-old bachelor who lived in his parents’ attic, but as he walked the city streets that day, he knew something of himself they could not imagine. With his book of a dozen poems, Leaves of Grass, he was about to introduce America to a savior. Ominous events were on the horizon and Walt Whitman offered up his poetry and his persona as a reflection of the America he saw; it was daring, noble, naive, brutish, sexual, frightening and flawed. He hoped his work could heal a fracturing country. In his own time, his poetry was as contested as the idea of America itself. This program tells Whitman’s life story, from his working-class childhood in Long Island to his years as a newspaper reporter in Brooklyn, when he struggled to support his impoverished family, then to his reckless pursuit of the attention and affection he craved for his work, to his death in 1892 at the age of 72.

ATHENS: THE DAWN OF DEMOCRACY

Bettany Hughes (HELEN OF TROY, THE SPARTANS) explores the contradictions of the "Golden Age" of ancient Athens, where democracy emerged nearly 2,500 years ago. Far from an environment of peace and tranquility, democratic Athens was a bloody, tumultuous place of both brilliant ideas and a repressive regime. While the period saw the rise of philosophy, the flourishing of the arts and the creation of a great political ideal, Athens also became a warlike state that carved out an empire to enrich itself, an empire that couldn't tolerate criticism. At the same time Athenians reached new intellectual heights, they practiced "black magic" and created a society where one in three Athenians was a slave. Women were denied the vote and rhetoricians practiced modern "spin control" as an integral part of democracy. No two years went by that Athenians didn't vote to go to war. Eventually the empire withered, to be crushed finally by Alexander the Great. It would be another 2,000 years before society was once again able to tolerate the idea of democracy - rule by the people.

ATHENS: THE DAWN OF DEMOCRACY airs Monday, November 19 at 9:00 p.m. on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami.

MONARCHY II WITH DAVID STARKEY

The Remarkable Story of the English Monarchy Continues in Series Two of MONARCHY WITH DAVID STARKEY premiering Thursday, November 8 at 8:00pm on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami.

“This is not another picture book story of kings and queens, instead, it is a real grown-up history of how a monarchy created a nation.” – David Starkey

MONARCHY WITH DAVID STARKEY II continues the acclaimed series focusing on the evolution of English kingship. From the Restoration Period to the modern English throne, this striking series analyzes the gradual emergence of a unique form of government – a constitutional monarchy.

Renowned British historian and public television host David Starkey (The Six Wives of Henry VIII) brings this prolific tale of England’s royal rulers to life with his compelling narrative style. MONARCHY WITH DAVID STARKEY II begins after the reign of the Stuarts, tracing the kingdom through the post-Civil War Restoration Period in 1660 through the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in the early 20th Century. Interspersed throughout the rich historical facts are specific stories of greed, lust, treason and murder that illuminate the power struggles, political developments and religious convictions that ultimately produced the British monarchy.

In his writings on the monarchy, Starkey discusses why this type of ruling institution is unique. “…In Britain – or, rather, in England – monarchy takes on a special meaning because we still have our monarchy. It is over 1,500 years old, which means it is the oldest functioning political institution in Europe. It is also unique because, right from the beginning, the English monarchy had a strong popular element.”

Miami: Reflections on the River

Thursday, Channel 2 aired its new HD documentary, "Miami: Reflections on the River." This  visually rich program  explores the role the river played in the settlement and development of the Miami area. The documentary comes from the creative team of Mark Baker and Rafael Lima. In a brief half-hour, they weave together a lyrical narrative of images and sound that shares impressions of the past to uncover imprints remaining today.

Yet this documentary is only one part of a larger effort. The documentary's companion website http://channel2.org/miamiriver/ seeks to engage our community in larger conversation. The program is one voice that tells the history of the river. We worked with the University of Miami's School of communications to enlist the voices of students. And with the Open Content" section of the website, we seek even more voices. Here we provide visual images, both still and moving, for anyone to download and use under a Creative Common copyright license to aid in building their story of the river.

The voices of Miami are carried along by the river. We hope that our website will provide an opportunity to engage a few to share their history and impressions.

Next Time on History Detectives

Here's a clip from the HISTORY DETECTIVES airing Monday, July 16 at 9pm on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami.

The History Detectives crack the code of mysterious marks found on two silver bars from a 300-year-old Spanish ship wreck of of Key West,

History Detectives on WPBT/Channel2

Online Videos by Veoh.com

To take a quick look at this week's episode, click on the video above.

Adding New Voices to the Documentary Mix, Part 2

In an earlier posting, I mentioned that we are embarking on a new initiative that we hope will bring new voices into our documentary production work. And since this is a radical departure from how stations have traditionally approached documentary production, we may not have all the right answers. But that shouldn’t stop us from trying.

So the idea behind the "open content" movement is to share, to allow others free access to your copyrighted material, and to allow them to create new derivative works using your material. In return, they extend the same rights to others, fully acknowledge the use of the copyrighted materials and share their new work with the producing entity.

One question that crops us is, “Why would you want to do this?” My answer is simple. I want others to share their stories with us. As broadcast producers are limited by time constraints, so we cannot tell every story. And in some cases, we might overlook a portion of the story all together. But what if we created a process by which anyone could add their voice, their story? With the launch of our video-sharing site, uVu, we have the largest part of this initiative in place. We have created an online community gathering place.

On its heels comes our documentary project, Miami: Reflections in the River. With this documentary we have an opportunity to solicit local historians, teachers, students, film buffs, etc to share their stories about Miami. And through our “Open Content Initiative, we will give them some visual tools to jumpstart their storytelling.

During the project, WPBT/Channel2 plans to make 50-60 clips from the documentary available for anyone to download, free of charge under a Creative Commons license. We hope storytellers will use these clips along with their own visual materials and audio track to share a compelling story with us. After they have written and edited their story, they can upload them to our documentary’s companion website via our uVu video-sharing site.

So keep checking back with us. Our plan is to launch this initiative in September 2007. In the meantime, if you have any ideas about how we can improve this concept, add your comments.

Jack in Production

South Florida Remembers WWII

We're launching a new initiative at the station that seeks to bring the voices and memories of WWII veterans to both our on-air and online audience. Between now and September 2007, we will be taping interviews with veterans. We'll be starting with veterans in Broward County where Divisional commander Dan Duffy is gathering members for us. This is an exciting project because oral histories are one way to preserve our experiences and history.

"South Florida Remembers WWII" will be our local contribution to the PBS/Ken Burns documentary series THE WAR. Clips from our interviews will air before and around the new seven part series. Directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, THE WAR "explores the history and horror of the Second World War from an American perspective by following the fortunes of so-called ordinary men and women who get caught up in the greatest cataclysm in human history."

We know South Florida has its share of ordinary men and women who served. So I would like to extend an offer to every WWII veteran in South Florida to share their experience with us. If you want to do an on-camera interview, give me a call at 305-424-4005. If you'd rather send me a written account of your wartime experience, e-mail at jack_kelly@wpbt.org. And for either, please bring along or send any photographs you have of yourself at that time. A visual reference is a great addition.

- Jack Kelly