Genealogy Roadshow selection process complete

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Genealogy Roadshow

We’re excited about Austin’s overwhelming  interest in the new PBS series Genealogy Roadshow. The show’s producers  have received hundreds of responses and said they wish they could share all the fascinating stories that have been presented.

PBS says the submission process for Austin is now complete and all stories have been selected. The producers said the selection process was difficult because of all the fascinating stories but they know that all our viewers will love learning about Austin, Texas, and U.S. history through the lens of neighbors in your community. Be sure to tune in to the premiere of Genealogy Roadshow, Monday, September 23 on KLRU.

KLRU Collective: BYOBeard

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This week KLRU Collective gets hairy.

BYOBeard is an exercise in unapologetic dorkiness. For one night only, an Austin gallery will be transformed into an ‘apiary of bearded people buzzing around’ while admiring bearded artwork, browsing through bearded trinkets, and sipping from beers from bearded brewers. But the story behind the event is as unique as the event itself. In this video meet seven artists and hear their inspiration as they plan for the event and create their own submissions for BYOBeard. They explain how constraint helps breed creativity and how beards make everything more fun.

Q Night at the Movies 6/15

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KLRU Q - Night at the Movies

KLRU-Q’s Saturday Night at the Movies presents a full-length feature film every Saturday night, plus extra content that gives the evening an exciting spin. Each film explores the work of legendary actors and actresses through many important films from their careers. Here is a peek of what this Saturday has in store:

7 pm Just Seen It - We review the new Sci-Fi thriller, AFTER EARTH, starring Will and Jaden Smith. We check in with The Bluths and their re-boot of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. With all the Sci-Fi movies coming out this summer, we offer you our Sci-Fi Favorites, and welcome back Clark Kent in MAN OF STEEL – plus give you our DVD pick of the week!

7:30 pm On Story: Presented by the Austin Film Festival - The voices behind THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, BRIDESMAIDS, and RACHEL GETTING MARRIED deliberate how the most impressionable characters – both good and evil – are compelling because of their flaws, complexities, and personal truths. Accompanied by the short film, MENTIROSO by writer/director Will Shipley about trailing a young boy whose incessant lies are almost as far-fetched as an astonishing encounter with the most beautiful girl in town.

8 pm Dead Ringer - Edith (Bette Davis) kills Margaret, her twin, and takes her identity, fooling Edith’s boyfriend (Karl Malden) but not Margaret’s lover. Cast: Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford.

10 pm  Drive-in Movie Memories - A film celebration of drive in movie theaters, one of America’s greatest symbols of youth, freedom and the automobile. What started as the business venture an auto parts dealer to make some easy money accidentally became a magical place where romance, fun and a sense of community flourished.

Highlights: June 16 to June 22

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KLRU Highlights

David Suchet on the Orient Express: A Masterpiece at 7 pm takes you across the Europe of today and leads you on an epic journey on an iconic train through a series of romantic cities and stunning scenery.

Antiques Roadshow heads to Palm Springs, California at 7 pm Monday to visit nearby Pioneertown, the location for many Hollywood westerns, to discuss trophy belt buckles.

Antiques Roadshow heads to Louisville, Kentucky at 8 pm Monday to the Embroiderer’s Guild of America and the Kentucky International Convention Center.

Independent Lens  The Revolutionary Optimists at 9 pm Monday follows the story of Amlan Ganguly as he works with children who are living in Calcutta’s slums to transform their own neighborhoods and lives.

American Experience presents the story of John D. Rockefeller at 7 pm Tuesday. Although  the Rockefeller name was despised in America for decades, John D. Rockefeller Jr. would dedicate his life to recasting the family image.

Discover the story of  how predatory pythons slithered into Florida’s Everglades National Park and thrived on Nature Giant Pythons at 7 pm Wednesday.

NOVA  Extreme Cave Diving at 8 pm Wednesday follows the charismatic Dr. Kenny Broad as he dives into Blue Holes — underwater caves that formed during the last ice age when sea level was nearly 400 feet below what it is today.

Tomlinson Hill at 9 pm Wednesday documents how the legacy of slavery in east and central Texas has created a region still divided despite the civil rights changes of the last 60 years.

Overheard with Evan Smith features Newt Gingrich at 7 pm Thursday. Gingrich is a former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

The Daytripper stops by Georgetown at 8:30 pm Thursday. Chet explores Williamson County, including its historic square and the “oldest University in Texas.”

Painted Churches Of Texas: Echoes Of The Homeland at 9 pm Thursday presents the unique story of Texas churches that were built  by 19th century immigrants that were striving to succeed in a new country and still preserve the values and culture of their homelands.

Hosted by President and Mrs. Obama, In Performance At The White House Memphis Soul at 9 pm Friday honors the memorable soul sounds from the mid- to late-1960s that came from Memphis, Tennessee.

Keep rainfall right at home and off the streets with techniques that soak it in where your plants most need it on Central Texas Gardener  Wrangle Rainfall With Rain Gardens at 12 & 4 pm Saturday.

Victory Garden presents Wet at 4:30 Saturday. Join Paul Epsom at Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia to learn about water features and elements that can add to any garden.

Austin City Limits presents Raphael Saadiq and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears at 7 pm Saturday. Saadiq highlights songs from his old-school soul LP Stone Rollin’. Lewis & his Honeybears rock their bluesy soul nuggets from Scandalous.

Science Night 6/19

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Nature Invasion of the Pythons at 7 pm
Florida’s Everglades National Park is one of the last great wildlife refuges in the United States, home to numerous unique and endangered mammals, trees, plants, birds and turtles, as well as half a million alligators. However, the Everglades is also the dumping ground for many animal invaders over 15 species of parrot, 75 kinds of fish and 30 different reptiles from places as far away as Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.  Add to the mix tens of thousands of giant pythons, snakes that can grow to 20 feet and weigh nearly 300 pounds, some released into the wild by irresponsible pet owners, some escapees from almost 200 wildlife facilities destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The predatory pythons slithered into this protected wilderness and thrived, and the refuge has consequently become less of a haven and more of a killing ground every day since then.

NOVA  Extreme Cave Diving at 8 pm
Follow the charismatic Dr. Kenny Broad as he dives into Blue Holes — underwater caves that formed during the last ice age when sea level was nearly 400 feet below what it is today. They are Earth’s least explored and perhaps most dangerous frontiers. With an interdisciplinary team of climatologists, paleontologists and anthropologists, Broad investigates the hidden history of Earth’s climate as revealed by finds in this spectacularly beautiful “alternate universe.”

Admissions on Trial now online

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Sometime before June 30th, the US Supreme Court will issue a decision in a case called Fisher v. University of Texas – one of the most-watched cases of the term.  Interest is high because the case addresses the role of race in university admissions, and has the potential to end affirmative action programs at universities nationwide.

Admissions On Trial: Seven Decades of Race and Higher Education provides background and context to help understand the Fisher case – what’s being debated, why the case was brought and how universities currently use race in the admissions process.  Viewers learn about the Fisher case through interviews with key players at the heart of this debate.  And they discover the deep roots of this story, beginning in 1946 – eight years before Brown v. Board of Education – when an early civil rights pioneer named Heman Sweatt began his fight to integrate graduate programs at The University of Texas and at other segregated schools across the South.  Viewers will also trace the story from the 1940s through Fisher, learning about how the university slowly integrated, why the race-neutral Top 10% rule emerged here, why UT began considering race again and what the experience of university officials here might mean for other schools nationwide.

We interviewed activists, lawyers, students, university officials, admissions experts and people who remember segregation in Texas.  We visit a tiny rural school, a Dallas school that began as an African-American school during Jim Crow, and a big suburban school where competition for grades is tough.  We also get an inside look at the holistic review process, as an admissions official from Georgetown University walked us through some applications and discusses how he makes decisions about who to admit.

If you’re still interested in learning more, you can hear the oral arguments in Fisher at here, you can read the Fisher briefs and commentary at here, you can learn about admissions at The University of Texas at here, you can hear from Abigail Fisher on the Project on Fair Representation’s website here, you can learn about some other efforts to end government use of race here, you can see President Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 speech at Howard University here, you can see more film from the 1963 demonstrations in Austin here and you can learn more about Heman Sweatt’s case here and here.

Highlights: June 9 to June 15

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KLRU Highlights

When botanist Liv Nash accidentally digs up the body of the recently buried Murray Hawes, Lewis and Hathaway are set upon a seemingly impossible quest on Masterpiece Mystery! Inspector Lewis at 8 pm Sunday.

Relax in Palm Springs, California with Antiques Roadshow at 7 pm Monday. Experts discover the most valuable object ever appraised on the series: a 1937 painting by noted American abstract expressionist Clyfford Still.

Antiques Roadshow heads to Louisville, Kentucky at 8 pm Monday. Rafael Eledge displays some valuable Confederate belt buckles and instructs collectors how to avoid falling for a fake.

Independent Lens  Love Free Or Die at 9 pm Monday explores how faith, love, marriage, homosexuality and the Episcopal Church collide in the first openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Independent Lens Two Spirits at 10 pm Monday explores the life and death of a boy, who was also a girl, and the essentially spiritual nature of gender.

Helen Of Troy at 7 pm Tuesday presents an epic journey to find out the truth about Helen of Troy, the woman who has been blamed or causing the Trojan War, a conflict that resulted in countless deaths.

On Story Raising Stakes, Reversals, and Payoffs at 10 pm Tuesday. Thriller master writer/director Shane Black discusses the critical elements of a taut, suspense-filled movie.

With high-definition footage and high-tech presentations of their remarkable abilities, Nature Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air at 7 pm Wednesday will help us to understand the world of hummingbirds as we never have before

NOVA Ape Genius at 8 pm Wednesday reveals the secret mental lives of great apes and why they are turning out to be far smarter than most experts ever imagined.

Battle For The Elephants at 9 pm Wednesday presents the story of five people, each of whom is waging a battle for the elephant and revealing an epic tale of supply and demand, of passion and profit, of love and loss, themes borne out in the quests of our five main characters and the many others whose paths they cross.

Overheard with Evan Smith features Gloria Steinem at 7 pm Thursday. A pioneering activist and best-selling author who co-founded Ms. magazine 40 years ago, Steinem  speaks about how she is no less enthusiastic about or energized by the fight for gender equality today.

The Miró Quartet performs an all-Schubert program on Arts In Context at 7:30 pm Thursday.

Juneteenth Jamboree at 8 pm Thursday celebrates the history and rich culture of African Americans in San Marcos, Texas and takes you on a tour of Calaboose African American Museum and the historic Dunbar neighborhood.

The Daytripper at 8:30 pm Thursday heads to Amarillo, Tx  to visit the historic stockyards, see a cattle auction, view a ranch made for Cadillacs, and attempt to eat the legendary “free” 72oz steak.

Natural Wonder Of Texas: Palo Duro Canyon at 9 pm Thursday follows the timeline from the canyon’s prehistoric origins to its relevance today as a state park.

In Performance At The White House presents Red, White And Blues at 9 pm Friday. President and Mrs. Obama host this all-star celebration of the blues.

Central Texas Gardener presents Get The Kids Outdoors at noon and  4 pm Saturday. See how to get the kids off the computer and outside with fun hands-on activities that connect them to real-life wildlife explorations.

Victory Garden presents New at 4:30 Saturday. Jamie Durie takes viewers to Cornerstone Gardens one of North America’s premier collections of exciting new garden design.

Austin City Limits presents Spoon at 7 pm Saturday as they perform songs from their album, Transference.

 

Science Night 6/12

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Nature Humingbirds: Magic in the Air at 7 pm
Hummingbirds represent one of nature’s most interesting paradoxes — they are the tiniest of birds, yet they qualify as some of the toughest and most energetic creatures on the planet. New knowledge gained from scientists currently making great breakthroughs in hummingbird biology makes this a perfect time to focus on these shimmering, flashing jewels of the natural world. Stunningly beautiful high-definition, high speed footage of hummingbirds in the wild combined with high-tech presentations of their remarkable abilities help us to understand the world of hummingbirds as we never have before.

NOVA Ape Genius at 8 pm
The great apes – which include chimps, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos – seem to have rich emotional lives similar to our own. But just how smart are these animals? A new generation of investigators is revealing the secret mental lives of great apes; our evolutionary next-of-kin are turning out to be far smarter than most experts ever imagined. But just as clever experiments are exposing the extraordinary abilities of great apes, new research is redefining the mental talents of our own species. Scientists are at last zeroing in on what separates us from our closest living relatives.

Battle For The Elephants at 9 pm
What is it about elephants that pull us in, that evoke an almost immediate sympathy? Is it that family is so important to them? That they take care of their young? That they play? Or is it that they are simply so big, smart and powerful? Whatever the allure, elephants are popular. And yet, in 2012, the world witnessed the greatest slaughter of elephants since an international ban on the ivory trade was first put in place in 1989. Now, National Geographic follows five people, each of whom is waging a battle for the elephant. Their stories reveal that this is an epic tale of supply and demand, of passion and profit, of love and loss, themes borne out in the quests of our five main characters and the many others whose paths they cross.

Thursday is History Night on KLRU Q

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KLRU Q Featured

June 6 (anniversary of D-Day)
8:00pm   Map Makers  ”Power: The D-Day Invasion Maps” – Focuses on the top-secret invasion maps of the Normandy coast created during World War II.

8:55pm   Navy Heroes of Normandy – Veterans set out to ensure the Navy’s role in the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944 is remembered.

9:55pm   American Road to Victory “The Americans on D-Day” – Battlefield historian Ellwood von Seibold tours the D-Day landings in his 1943 Dodge Command car.

 

June 13
8:00pm   Hindenburg and Hitler “The Making of a Fuehrer” - The political career of Paul von Hindenburg, Germany’s chancellor from 1925 to 1934, is chronicled.

8:55pm   Hitler’s Lost Soldier - The shattering events of World War II led a German soldier to a life of exile in the United States.

9:50pm   Secrets of the Dead “Bugging Hitler’s Soldiers” – The bugging operation by MI19 that recorded confessions by 4,000 German POW’s is highlighted.

 

June 20
8:00pm   Escape from Iran: The Hollywood Option – The Americans rescued from Iran disguised as Hollywood executives recall the operation.

8:50pm   Ghost Army – A look at US troops who tricked the enemy with sound effects and visual illusions in World War II.

9:50pm   Return to Alcatraz – The prison island of Alcatraz, one of the country’s most mysterious landmarks, is explored.

 

June 27
8:00pm   Battlefield Britain  - Philip of Spain sent the biggest invasion fleet in history against Queen Elizabeth I in what was seen as a religious crusade against England’s Protestant state.

9:00pm   Broadside  ”Emerging Empires Collide, Part 1″
10:00pm  Broadside #102, “Emerging Empires Collide, Part 2″ 
The two-part drama-documentary BROADSIDE tells the story of how the English invasion of Dutch Manhattan sparked the first global naval war.