PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (October 1, 2003) - Newport Jazz Festival 2003 features performances taped at the world's longest-running jazz festival, held annually in Newport, Rhode Island. The hour-long program will air on public television stations across the nation beginning November 1 (check local listings). Known as the JVC Jazz Festival at Newport, this year's August 9-10 jazz celebration marks the nineteenth consecutive year that public television stations have aired a program from the festival.

This year's program features highlights of performances by Pat Metheny, Terence Blanchard, Stanley Clarke, Eddie Palmieri, Lizz Wright, and The Bad Plus, on the stages at Newport's historic Fort Adams State Park on Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island.

Artists in order of program appearance are:

Lizz Wright (photo), a 23-year old Atlanta-based vocalist, conveys a degree of spirituality not often encountered among young jazz artists. With her penchant for leisurely tempos, soulful interpretations and gloriously resonant low notes, Wright easily justified the buzz she has been generating in the jazz world. Uniquely gifted with a full-bodied contralto, emotionally-intuitive phrasing, and a yen for quiet drama, she sings with an articulate maturity that surpasses her youth. Her selections in Newport Jazz Festival 2003 include The Eagle and Me and Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly. She concludes the program with Love Will Lead The Way and the title cut of her new release, Salt.

Pat Metheny started on trumpet at the age of 8 and switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age. His trademark playing style blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility - a way of playing and improvising that was modern in concept but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. He reinvented the traditional "jazz guitar" sound for a new generation of players, performing with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie.

In addition to being an accomplished musician, Metheny has also participated in the academic arena as a music educator. At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. At 19, he became the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he received an honorary doctorate more than twenty years later, in 1996. He has also been a true musical pioneer in the realm of electronic music, and was one of the very first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. He has won fourteen Grammy Awards spread out over a variety of different categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Best Instrumental Composition. The Pat Metheny Group won an unprecedented seven consecutive Grammys for seven consecutive albums. In Newport Jazz Festival 2003, Metheny performs two of his signature compositions, Change of Heart and James.

Eddie Palmieri's musical career spans 40 years as a bandleader of salsa and Latin jazz orchestras. His discography includes more than 32 titles, and he has been awarded seven Grammys, including the first presentation in the Best Latin Album category. In 1988, the Smithsonian Institution recorded two of Palmieri's performances for their catalog of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., a rare public honor. His solid interpretation of Afro-Caribbean music and its confluence with jazz is evident in Palmieri's astute arranging skills, which assemble those components in dramatic and compelling compositions. Palmieri remains a powerhouse of brilliance and sound that has stirred audiences for more than 37 years, continually and successfully seeking to captivate and elevate the senses, and taking them down paths of intensity to a place where there are no musical boundaries. Palmieri performs Tu Tu Tu Ta Ta in Newport Jazz Festival 2003.

Terence Blanchard (photo) is one of the most important musician/composer/bandleaders of his generation, and winner of Down Beat magazine's Artist of the Year, Trumpeter of the Year and Album of the Year in 2000. He has also enjoyed success at the top of the Billboard jazz charts. He is a multi-Grammy Award nominee, most recently in 2002 for Lost in A Fog from his Sony Classical Release Let's Get Lost. He is also a Golden Globe nominee for his work on the film, The 25th Hour. Terence has been touring with his new band, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Brandon Owens, drummer Eric Harland, guitarist Lionel Loueke and saxophonist Brice Winston, in preparation for the release of his next CD in the fall of 2003. In Newport Jazz Festival 2003, Blanchard performs a stirring solo version of Amazing Grace and Fred Brown with the ensemble.

The Bad Plus features bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King, three post-modern jazz iconoclasts who combine keen wit, dynamic musical contrasts, and an original sensibility in what's been called "the loudest piano trio ever." Drawing inspiration from the worlds of dance, pop, and rock, The Bad Plus apply their influences in a steadfastly pure jazz idiom all their own. "We think you should only be limited by imagination, not by style," say band members. The group has been collecting a portfolio of rave reviews for their live shows and 2001's The Bad Plus, which found its way onto many critics' Top 10 lists for the year. Theirs is a balance of styles: Iverson has a dry touch and a classical-sounding technique, Anderson is the swinging, deep-toned fulcrum, and King is the mischief-maker. The group's original compositions run the gamut of style and mood, a roaring smorgasbord of rhythms and sections. In Newport Jazz Festival 2003, they perform Big Eater.

Stanley Clarke exploded into the jazz world in 1971 as a lanky teenager from the Philadelphia Academy of Music. He arrived in New York City and immediately landed jobs with famous bandleaders such as Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Pharaoh Saunders, Gil Evans, Stan Getz, and a budding young pianist composer named Chick Corea. All of these musicians recognized immediately the ferocious dexterity and complete musicality the young Clarke possessed on the acoustic bass. The word "legend" was used to describe Clarke by the time he was 25 years old. By this tender young age, Clarke was already a celebrated pioneer in fusion jazz music. He was also the first bassist in history to double on acoustic and electric bass with equal virtuosity, power, and fire. Clarke's musicality and command of these instruments clearly define him as the greatest living bass virtuoso in the world. Experiencing one live performance crystallizes everything Clarke has accomplished and his full musical greatness as a composer, producer, arranger, and performer. His performance in Newport Jazz Festival 2003 includes the hit School Days.

Newport Jazz Festival 2003 is available in High Definition Television (HDTV) as well as in the standard broadcast format, NTSC. Produced by award-winning videographer Stephen Reed, in conjunction with executive producer and festival impresario George Wein and his Festival Productions Inc., the program is presented by Rhode Island PBS in Providence, Rhode Island, and distributed by American Public Television (APT) in Boston, Massachusetts.

Producer Stephen Reed, president of SDR Films since its inception in 1988, has produced live performances and documentaries for Paul McCartney, Lena Horne, Sadé, Tony Bennett, Michael Jackson, John Mellencamp, Mel Tormé, B. B. King, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and others. His production, An Evening with Lena Horne, resulted in a Grammy-winning live album and a Cable Ace Award nomination. This is the eighth consecutive year that he has produced the Newport Jazz Festival program for public television.

Newport Jazz Festival 2003 is made possible by JVC, whose ongoing support of jazz - the defining American music of the 20th century - has showcased the music around the globe for nearly two decades. JVC, innovators in audio and video products, is a worldwide consumer electronics company.

Rhode Island PBS is owned and operated by the State of Rhode Island, and is a viewer-supported member of the Public Broadcasting Service. As Rhode Island's most accessible learning resource, Rhode Island PBS is dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning and broadcasts family-oriented programming that educates, informs, enriches, inspires, and entertains viewers of all ages in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and eastern Connecticut. For more information about the programs and services at Rhode Island PBS, visit www.RIpbs.org.

Newport Jazz Festival 2003 is a copyright of Festival Productions, Inc., New York.

# # #

Two publicity photos are available for download at APT online, or by contacting:
Lucie M. Houle
Public Information Manager
WSBE-TV Rhode Island PBS
lhoule@RIpbs.org
401-222-3636, x216

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (June 10, 2003) - David W. Piccerelli has been promoted to vice-president and chief financial officer of Rhode Island PBS, as announced today by Susan L. Farmer, president and CEO, and by Sheldon Sollosy, chairman of the Rhode Island Public Telecommunications Authority. The Authority is the governing board that holds the FCC license for the station and oversees its operations.

Mr. Piccerelli joined Rhode Island PBS five years ago as the director of finance and administration. During his tenure, Mr. Piccerelli has assumed a progressively responsible role in the fiscal management of the station. He has also accepted diverse functions ranging from human resources direction and contract negotiations with the station's three unions to co-hosting Rhode Island PBS auctions.

"We're very fortunate to have someone as dedicated and capable as David at Rhode Island PBS," said Mrs. Farmer. "It's a long-deserved promotion. David has taken on additional responsibilities over time, and is now being duly recognized for it."

A lifelong Barrington resident, Mr. Piccerelli graduated from Bryant College with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting.

Rhode Island PBS is owned and operated by the State of Rhode Island, and is a viewer-supported member of the Public Broadcasting Service. As Rhode Island's most accessible learning resource, Rhode Island PBS is dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning and broadcasts family-oriented programs that educate, inform, enrich, inspire, and entertain viewers of all ages in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and eastern Connecticut. For more information about the programming and services at Rhode Island PBS, visit www.RIpbs.org.

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (June 4, 2003) - Teams of Providence fourth and fifth graders will compete in the second annual VIPS Battle of the Books. The competition, taped at Rhode Island PBS studios in late May, will air on Rhode Island PBS (check local channel listings) on Thursday, June 5 at 2:30 p.m. The program will be re-broadcast on Saturday, June 7 at 9:30 a.m.

Earlier this spring, the Volunteers In Providence Schools (VIPS) posed a reading challenge to the capital city's fourth and fifth graders by giving schools a list of eight books, chosen by Providence public school librarians. After the children read the books, they competed with their classmates for a chance to represent their school during the televised interscholastic competition. Participating school teams will answer thought-provoking questions in a quiz show format, hosted by WPRI-12 News Anchor Karen Adams, and sponsored by Verizon SuperPages.

"The goal is to encourage reading, but more importantly, to enhance comprehension by having the children apply critical thinking and analytical skills to what they read," said VIPS Executive Director Terri Adelman.

Judges will include Rhode Island's First Lady Susan Carcieri. Twelve schools are participating this year. 2002 champions Kennedy Elementary School will defend their title. The other eleven schools participating in the 2003 competition are Bailey Elementary School, Carnevale Elementary School, Flynn Elementary School, Fogarty Elementary School, Fortes Academy, Kizirian Elementary School, Lima Elementary School, Messer Elementary School, Reservoir Avenue Elementary School, Veazie Street Elementary School, and Webster Avenue Elementary School.

A VIPS Battle of the Books trophy will be awarded to the first place school. Members of the teams who finish first, second and third will receive individual prizes.

Organizers hope to make next year's competition a statewide event.

Rhode Island PBS is owned and operated by the State of Rhode Island, and is a viewer-supported member of the Public Broadcasting Service. As Rhode Island's most accessible learning resource, Rhode Island PBS is dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning and broadcasts family-oriented programs that educate, inform, enrich, inspire, and entertain viewers of all ages in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and eastern Connecticut. For more information about the programming and services at Rhode Island PBS, visit www.RIpbs.org.

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (May 5, 2003) - Rhode Island PBS, Roger Williams Medical Center and Providence Business News announce the roll-out of their comprehensive, community-based campaign to raise awareness of the high cost of addictions in Rhode Island workplaces. The first part of the multi-faceted project is a one-hour film entitled, Addictions In The Workplace: The Price We All Pay. The special will premier on Rhode Island PBS on Monday, May 12 at 8 p.m.

Last autumn, the three organizations were awarded grants from Sound Partners for Community Health, a national project of the Benton Foundation funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. These grants funded the video production, plus publication of a companion Resource Guide for Rhode Island employers. The Resource Guide is an insert to the May 5 issue of Providence Business News. Grant funds will also support dissemination of the information to the target community through workshops and distribution of the Resource Guide and 500 copies of the video to employers, Chambers of Commerce, libraries, and hospitals across the state.

In what is ordinarily considered a personal issue, Addictions In The Workplace: The Price We All Pay illuminates addictions' high economic impact on business through low productivity, absenteeism, theft, and embezzlement, as well as the less quantifiable but very real social cost. The film focuses on addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling, and the entire project offers tools and best practices to help employers find help for their addicted employees.

Rhode Island PBS will re-broadcast the film on Wednesday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m. During this broadcast, a panel of experts in the field of addiction treatment will answer questions from viewers during live call-in segments. The film will be aired a third time, on Sunday, September 21 at 1:30 p.m.

Providence Business News will sponsor a summit featuring experts in the field of addiction who will discuss specific addictions, the impact of the disease, and tools to assist employees. The summit, taped earlier at Rhode Island PBS studios, will be broadcast on Thursday, September 25 at 8 p.m. .

As part of its role in the project, Roger Williams Hospital will host four separate workshops on various addictions at its facility. The workshops target businesses, but the public is invited to register. The workshops are scheduled for Thursday, October 30, 8-9 a.m., Wednesday, October 22, noon-1 p.m., Wednesday, November 5, 5:30-6:30 p.m., and Wednesday, November 12, noon-1 p.m. Workshops are free of charge. The phone number to call for registration is 401-456-2323. More information will be available on the Roger Williams Medical Center Web site later this year.

Roger Williams Medical Center, with nearly 1,800 employees, is a comprehensive health care institution offering a broad range of adult health care services to residents of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. It is affiliated with Boston University School of Medicine.

Providence Business News is the leading local and regional business publication serving Providence, Rhode Island, and southeastern New England since 1986. The publication is regarded as the primary source of business news by local executives. PBN's editor appears every Monday morning on the top-rated NBC TV station. Providence Business News has won regional and national awards for high quality reporting. PBN also publishes Technology Monthly as a supplement, the annual Book of Lists, operates pbn.com and produces a variety of special events.

Rhode Island PBS is owned and operated by the State of Rhode Island, and is a viewer-supported member of the Public Broadcasting Service. As Rhode Island's most accessible learning resource, Rhode Island PBS is dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning and broadcasts programming that educates, informs, enriches, inspires, and entertains viewers of all ages in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and eastern Connecticut. For more information about the programs and services at Rhode Island PBS, visit www.RIpbs.org.

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (May 2, 2003) - It started out as casual interest. But one fascinating discovery led to another. Then another. It soon burgeoned to full-scale research.

That's how producer and writer Maria Patsias created the documentary Ghost and Vampire Legends of Rhode Island. Now the film is a Boston/New England Emmy nominee. The award ceremony takes place on Sunday evening, May 4.

Maria's partner in the project, director and editor Scott Saracen, is also her chosen life-partner. The two will be married on Sunday, May 4 - the day of the Emmy Awards ceremony.

"We're unable to attend [the award ceremony] because of a 'previous engagement'," she quips.

The Emmy nomination is particularly impressive, considering this is the duo's first independent effort. Both are full-time employees at Rhode Island PBS, but conducted this project on their own time. Their Rhode Island PBS colleagues strongly supported the effort.

"Maria and Scott are highly creative individuals. Together, they make a powerful, talented team," said Kathryn Larsen, programming director at Rhode Island PBS.

The film features local historians and experts on the supernatural in Rhode Island, as well as eyewitness and anecdotal accounts of spectral apparitions, particularly those at Belcourt Castle in Newport.

The film premiered on Rhode Island PBS last October - in time for Halloween - and has been re-broadcast several times since. The next two airdates are Monday, May 5th at 9 p.m., and Thursday, May 29th at 1 p.m.

Rhode Island PBS is owned and operated by the State of Rhode Island, and is a viewer-supported member of the Public Broadcasting Service. As Rhode Island's most accessible learning resource, Rhode Island PBS is dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning and broadcasts family-oriented programming that educates, informs, enriches, inspires, and entertains viewers of all ages in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and eastern Connecticut. For more information about the programs and services at Rhode Island PBS, visit www.RIpbs.org.

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (April 29, 2003) - Beginning May 1, 2003, Rhode Island's only public television station, WSBE-TV Channel 36, will have a brand new look and name - Rhode Island PBS.

"We're very excited to announce our new name - one that says more about who we are," said President and CEO Susan L. Farmer.

To celebrate the announcement of its new identity, Rhode Island PBS will broadcast locally-produced programs and documentaries and programs with strong local themes, beginning May 1 and continuing throughout the month.

Why the new name?

"Few people use our call letters - WSBE," Mrs. Farmer replied. "Cable subscribers watch us on different channel numbers, depending on the cable provider. Digital technology will put us on yet another channel number. Digital technology will also enable us to deliver programs over more than one 'channel' at the same time," she noted.

"These technological advances make continuing to identify ourselves as 'Channel 36' less and less relevant. Facing such a challenge, we saw a unique opportunity," said Mrs. Farmer. "'Rhode Island PBS' more accurately defines just who we are in the community and what we represent to our viewers."

Along with the new name, the station unveiled its new corporate logo, designed at no charge by the East Providence agency Stauch Vetromile and Mitchell. The logo includes a bird in flight over the words 'Rhode Island PBS' and the PBS symbol. It is fitting that the announcement comes in the year WSBE celebrates 36 years on the air.

"We are proud of our history, and look forward to a soaring future," added Mrs. Farmer. "To paraphrase Jonathan Livingston Seagull, they see farthest who fly highest. Our new symbol captures the essence of our forward and upward vision for ourselves and for our viewers," she said.

Rhode Island PBS remains steadfast in its mission to be the state's most accessible learning resource, and its viewers' trusted source for commercial-free family programming. As a public television station, Rhode Island PBS programming is free to viewers within its broadcast area. Approximately 25% of the area's population cannot afford or cannot receive cable television.

"We're proud to present high-quality locally-produced programs and documentaries that might not otherwise find a market in the commercial sector," said Kathryn Larsen, programming director at Rhode Island PBS. "That's what makes public television - and Rhode Island PBS, in particular - unique."

To illustrate the point, Rhode Island PBS will premier or encore a flock of programs with strong local themes throughout May.

On Thursday, May 1st, the Rhode Island Marathon begins at 7:30 p.m. with its local public affairs program, A Lively Experiment.

Rhode Island PBS is owned and operated by the State of Rhode Island, and is a viewer-supported member of the Public Broadcasting Service. As Rhode Island's most accessible learning resource, Rhode Island PBS is dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning and broadcasts programming that educates, informs, enriches, inspires, and entertains viewers of all ages in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and eastern Connecticut. For more information about the programs and services at Rhode Island PBS, visit www.RIpbs.org.

'Winter Day' Brings A Refreshing Chill To Summer

Special One-Hour Program Filmed Entirely by
Rhode Island PBS Viewers Premiers on the 'Big Screen' August 13th

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (July 29, 2003) -Escape the dog days of summer with a refreshing glimpse of the winter wonderlands of Southern New England.

Winter Day, a one-hour video scrapbook filmed entirely by aspiring videographers from across the Rhode Island PBS viewing area, premiers on the 'big screen' at Cable Car Cinema & Café, 204 South Main Street in Providence, for one night only, Wednesday, August 13 at 6:30 p.m. Admission to the premier event is $5 per person; proceeds benefit the Rhode Island PBS Program Fund.

Reservations for the premier event are by telephone only, by calling Rhode Island PBS at 401-222-3636, extension 0. Seating is limited; advanced payment guarantees seating. Checks, payable to Rhode Island PBS, should be mailed to Rhode Island PBS, 50 Park Lane, Providence, RI 02907. Unpaid reservations will be honored until 6:15 p.m. Open seating will be available on a first-come, first- served basis after 6:15 p.m.

After success of last year's creative project, Summer Day, Rhode Island PBS initiated this second installment of "The Seasons of Rhode Island PBS." The community-outreach project gives local amateur videographers the chance to capture on tape their favorite seasonal pastime and to share their work with viewers in the region.

Rhode Island PBS provided the videotape to the participants and did not place any restrictions on age or experience. Winter Day's twenty volunteer filmmakers attended one pre-taping training workshop to discuss the project goals and to ask any questions. Filmmakers chose their own winter-themed subjects, everything from their treasured local hideaways to the unique professions that help to shape southern New England.

In the true spirit of a Winter Day, volunteers completed all of their filming on one February day. Videographers then discussed their choice of subject in a brief interview, to put the images into the context the storyteller had in mind when the video was shot. The compiled footage was then edited together by Rhode Island PBS under the work of the show's producer, Maria Saracen. Videographers selected a broad spectrum of subjects including:

Following its 'big screen' debut on August 13th, the documentary will air on Rhode Island PBS (check local listings) on August 21st at 9 p.m., with encore broadcasts on August 25th at 2 p.m., and on August 27th at 10 p.m.

Rhode Island PBS is owned and operated by the State of Rhode Island, and is a viewer-supported member of the Public Broadcasting Service. As Rhode Island's most accessible learning resource, Rhode Island PBS is dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning, and broadcasts family-oriented programs that educate, inform, enrich, inspire, and entertain viewers of all ages in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and eastern Connecticut. For more information about the programs and services at Rhode Island PBS, visit www.RIpbs.org.