PBS List of Local Station Programs on "The Vietnam War"

 

AETN – Conway, Arkansas


AETN’s efforts will feature: a screening/panel discussion with Arkansas’s senior senator who serves on the US Veterans Affairs committee and the director of The Library of Congress Veterans History Project; a Vietnam veterans Appreciation Day celebration at the state’s largest baseball stadium; eight+ screenings at the state’s largest cities, including the Little Rock Air Force Base and Ft. Chaffee; a story share capturing Vietnam veteran oral histories; a film on Arkansas’s only Medal of Honor winner; finding and sharing Arkansas’s 240+ Vietnam veterans photos for the VVMF’s “Wall of Faces” Project; and highlighting the emotional work of Arkansas’s “Quilts of Valor” program. See a trailer for “Quilts of Valor” here: https://youtu.be/QSluKhpKeEI


Alaska Public Media – Anchorage, Alaska


Alaska Public Media (AKPM) is leveraging partnerships and their NPR station to engage their audiences.  Award-winning radio program Talk of Alaska, a production of AKPM’s NPR affiliate station KSKA 91.1FM, will feature two hour-long call-in shows looking at the past and present story of the Vietnam War. KSKA will also broadcast a curated selection of oral histories gathered by the Alaska Veterans Museum to further the community discussion about the Vietnam War. This content, with historical images added, will live on AKPM’s web and social media platforms for greater reach. AKPM is also pairing locally produced content, created in partnership with the Alaska Humanities Forum, from "Legacy of War." Screenings are planned as part of AKPM’s ongoing community dialogue series Community in Unity, where AKPM acts as a convener to bring experts and decision-makers together with the community for facilitated discussions that offer resources and solutions. Through new partnerships in rural parts of the station’s service area, AKPM will bring this immersive media experience to multiple audiences outside of Anchorage.


Arizona Public Media – Tucson, AZ


AZPM will implement a coordinated and simultaneous effort of local programming, screening events, and “Community Voices” workshops to raise awareness of and interest in The Vietnam War and create opportunities for facilitated discussions and local media coverage. “Community Voices” workshops will create an environment that will help foster conversations about what happened during and after the Vietnam War and what lessons are to be learned.

AZPM will also provide “Record Your Story” sessions (at Community Voices workshops) and post excerpts on azpm.org. AZPM plans to produce Arizona and the Vietnam War (w.t.), a one-hour documentary and comprehensive, multi-platform community engagement effort that will examine and facilitate discussion of how the Vietnam War and its aftermath shaped Southern Arizona. The proposed original documentary will air in September 2017 in conjunction with the national broadcast of The Vietnam War. AZPM also plans to create personal and informative “mini-docs” on the Vietnam War for broadcast on AZPM’s weekly magazine series, Arizona Illustrated.


CPT12 – Denver, Colorado


CPT12 will work with at least one art therapy partner, Freedom Service Dogs and Veterans Peace of Mind to tape conversations between veterans and at-risk young people as they interact with the art and the animals.  CPT12 will also host an on-campus screening at CU Denver. This event will be a free and open to the public screening and panel discussion preceding the premiere of episode 1 of The Vietnam War with special appearances of veterans with their helper dogs, veterans, opportunity youth, and representatives of partner organizations.


DPTV – Detroit, MI


Working with contacts at the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency, DPTV convened a focus group with leaders from various Vietnam Veteran groups in Southeast Michigan in January. Coming out of that meeting, DPTV plans on shooting some individual veteran stories as well as highlighting some ongoing issues for Vietnam Veterans in Michigan and including available resources that many Vietnam veterans have never tapped into. This summer, DPTV will join the rest of Detroit in highlighting the 1967 civic uprising in the city – that began after a police raid on an after-hours party honoring two Vietnam veterans who had just returned home from their service. Exact plans are TBD.



East Tennessee PBS – Knoxville, TN


In conjunction with the station’s in-house documentary production, East Tennessee PBS is currently enjoying a strong collaboration in support of its local initiative with the University of Tennessee and the East Tennessee History Center. The partnership with the University of Tennessee and their "Land Grant Films" is providing student-produced films about the Vietnam experience that the station will combine with its in-house production.

The partnership with the East Tennessee History Center, the region's primary archival and historic research institution, provides the station a home for upcoming community engagement events and screenings of locally produced interviews and national Vietnam War content. Through this partnership and the History Center's standing in the community, East Tennessee PBS will be able issue a call of materials during three engagement events, bolstering its role as caretakers and preservationists of local Vietnam War history.

Another community partnership that has assisted in the telling of the Vietnamese community's narrative has been with Divine Mercy Catholic Church. This church is the spiritual home to many residents of Vietnamese decent. East Tennessee PBS began its relationship with this institution through the priest, Father Hoan, and his help has allowed the station to navigate through cultural and language barriers. Furthermore, the younger members of the church to act as active translators through the interview process.


GPB – Atlanta, Georgia


GPB’s community engagement initiative around The Vietnam War includes seven public screenings around the state, each with a different community partner and conversation focus. It is GPB’s intention to promote civic dialogue through the numerous screening events, providing a platform for veterans and military personnel and families to share stories, cross-cultural awareness and empathy, and intergenerational understanding and respect.  The screening events will take place in a variety of venues, including outdoor parks, public municipal buildings, museums, and university setting. They will be open to the public, and promoted by both GPB and community partners.


Houston Public Media – Houston, TX


Houston Public Media’s will host “Town Hall: The Vietnam War” and will feature veterans, Vietnamese immigrants, experts on America at the time of the war, as well as veteran and refugee organizations. The live broadcast will be interactive, with a studio audience, phone-ins and live tweets; it will be heavily promoted beforehand and KUHT will encourage digital interaction so viewers can send comments and questions before and during the broadcast.  The program will be integrated into Houston Public Media’s existing Vietnam page along with other programs and community initiatives that are developing: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/vietnam/

  

Ideastation (WCVE) – Richmond, VA


Ideastation is leveraging The Vietnam War as an opportunity to educate constituents about the war and its effect on the community, as well as a way to build new relationships with the local veteran and Vietnamese communities. The station plans for 5-6 radio feature stories about: Women in Vietnam; Life after the War for POWs; Anti-War Protests and Organizing in Richmond; the Music of the Time; Vietnam refugees; and Documenting the Vietnam War.

A documentary about a local VA hospital is also in the works, featuring interviews with Vietnam veterans from the polytrauma unit. Ideastation hopes that this film will help inspire best-practices in treating veterans nationwide.

Ideastation is exploring the idea of having screenings and speakers at three local colleges including an African American college and a community college. A panel discussion program is proposed to give viewers a chance to hear local perspectives and reactions to the film and share their experiences.  The station also plans for a video booth at the Virginia War Memorial on Memorial Day to capture local stories.

The station will also create 10+ interstitials that connect their audience with experiences of those in the community affected by the war – some of which will be used beyond broadcast. The

Digital Team will create and promote the film on public radio and TV, as well as creating a landing page that houses all content and local resources, PBS LearningMedia resources, book recommendations from local experts and PBS resources on the topic.

 

Ideastream – Cleveland, OH


Ideastream hosted several high-profile community engagement events with Lynn Novick in early June promoting the September 2017 premiere of The Vietnam War. Events included a screening and panel discussion as part of the Arts and Humanities Alive! (AHA!) Festival at Cleveland State University, a private luncheon with influencers and community leaders, and a station screening and discussion at the Ideastream studios.


KAET – Phoenix, AZ


KAET will have a screening event with panel discussion led by AZ experts. Additionally, Arizona PBS will work with faculty and students at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism to produce segments exploring issues affecting local Vietnam War veterans. A Veteran’s Summit will allow service members, veterans and family members to connect to opportunities, training and resources. Finally, grade 7-12 teachers will participate in a Vietnam War era simulation as a stakeholder (veteran, American/Vietnamese civilian, protestor, public official, drafted service).

 

KCPT– Kansas City, MO


KCPT’s veteran microsite contains national content from The Vietnam War as well as past veteran focused projects. KCPT will add stories of service and local features related to the Vietnam War. The station’s first feature will share one woman’s story of escaping Vietnam during the fall of Saigon and settling in Kansas City. The site will also feature “user-generated” content from community submissions, a mobile video story booth and student created content. In March the station launched a student video competition, called “Vietnam Voices” in which Middle school through college students can submit edited video interviews with a veteran, refugee, protestor or someone with a first person story to tell about the war.

 

In addition, KCPT has begun planning a community-wide “Big Read” of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried in partnership with all of the library systems in the Kansas City area. The Big Read will kick off with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s visit on Sept. 8. Following that, library branches will host a line-up of events focused on the Vietnam era, the TV series and the book.

 

KCTS – Seattle, WA


KCTS will show a one-hour preview followed by a panel discussion with Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and other guests in July. Another screening will take place in Yakima, where KCTS is planning to have a panel discussion comprised of a local historian, veteran, Vietnamese community representative, and will be moderated by Enrique Cerna.

The digital content team will also create a comprehensive interactive experience. The platform will include a digital war memorial tribute allowing end users to create, post and explore messages of remembrance and gratitude of veterans of all wars. Additionally, the platform will support the promotion of The Vietnam War by presenting complementary local stories produced and multimedia-enhanced versions of their Letters From Vietnam series; along with providing information about the documentary and events.

KCTS will create a robust array of local content and stories of service. They will be released during the spring and summer of 2017 to create a long-lead content pipeline for promoting broadcast air dates, events, and participation in their community conversations.  Initial local story ideas include PTSD and resources for Seattle-area veterans; the lasting effects of Agent Orange; the draft and Washington residents moving to Canada for draft evasion; the Civil Rights movement in Seattle; and a Vietnam War Memorial located in a small town outside of Yakima, Washington. Additional stories of service will be developed throughout the campaign.
  

 

KERA – Dallas, TX


KERA hosted a special screening and discussion of The Vietnam War with filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick in the spring. KERA’s Krys Boyd led the discussion. Program attendees were asked to submit questions for Ken and Lynn during event check-in. KERA then hosted a major donors’ luncheon with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. One hundred major donors attended the VIP reception prior to the screening event and 1307 people from across North Texas attended the screening. A total of 400 guests were from education, community engagement and major gifts department contacts. Education contacts from Region 11 Educational Service Center were asked to submit a brief essay explaining why they’d like to attend The Vietnam War screening.

 

 

KIXE – Redding, CA


KIXE is working with multiple community partners in a series of events around the upcoming series. Their involvement includes producing 10 stories of service, two screening and discussion events and partnering with a “Remember the Fallen” event highlighting Mien and Laos soldiers. KIXE has secured firm partnerships from the area’s largest philanthropic organization, The McConnell Foundation in addition to both fiscal and in-kind collaborations with The Shasta Community College Foundation and California State University, Chico.

 

KLRN – San Antonio, TX


KLRN will host multiple community screenings in partnership with: Texas A&M San Antonio, the USO, and United States Army North at Fort Sam Houston. They will host a series of screenings at KLRN and their partners will help to promote and generate attendance.

KLRN is working to organize dates/times for History Harvests at partnering venues to invite the community-at-large to share their Vietnam War era photos, letters, mementos, and stories with KLRN and each other.


KLRU – Austin, TX


Austin Revealed is a digital first production with a complimentary half hour broadcast. The web segments are crafted for the online audience and intended to be conversation starters. By focusing on Facebook, a paid marketing strategy enables KLRU to extend the content to a target audience of vets, minority groups, and boomers and encourage discussion around personal history. Because oral history captured in shorter segments also works well in the classroom, KLRU will create lesson plans for middle and high school grades that will allow students to experience history and compare the themes of the Vietnam era with events happening today.  Finally, a strategy for one large public event and a toolkit to encourage pop-up screenings will bring together Central Texans to hear the stories of others and allow them to share their own.


KLVX – Las Vegas, NV

KLVX is hosting a two-day-long festival in partnership with Armed Forces & Military Appreciation Inc. called the Nellis/Creech Military and Veterans Appreciation Day. Activities include a Welcome Home ceremony with special recognition for Vietnam Era Veterans and survivors, to take place during the opening of the event. In addition, in partnership with Harley Davidson, Vegas PBS will present a preview screening of The Vietnam War, followed by a facilitated panel discussion. KLVX will also be working with the local JROTC and Rolling Thunder.


KMOS – Warrensburg, MO


In collaboration with Twitch TV, KMOS plans to reach different and possibly more reticent segments of society who will be able to relate their experiences and stories of Vietnam through a different medium.

KMOS, the Director of McClure Archives & Museum and Dr. Nance-Star, filmed and participated in a focus group consisting of a range of different teachers with differing specialisms from History through to Social Studies in general to learn more about their knowledge and requirements for students in respect of travelling exhibits.

In collaboration with the McClure Archives at UCM, KMOS filmed and interviewed 15 different Vietnam veterans. The research was undertaken by the Ethnology Department and filmed by KMOS. KMOS reviewed the raw footage in order to make further interstitials of the veteran’s stories. The recordings will be stored on campus at the Archives & Museum and shared with the Library of Congress.  KMOS will further utilize the interviews in partnership with the ‘Wall that Heals’ event June 29th – July 2nd by having stand alone, touch screen stations of the Veteran’s recordings for the public to view and listen to as they wish and as part of the overall commemorative exhibition.

 

KPTS – Wichita, KS


KPTS Channel 8 is proud to partner with the Wichita Public Library to host a screening of The Vietnam War from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2017 at the WPL’s main branch. KPTS reached out to Kansas veteran John Musgrave who is featured in the documentary, and he graciously agreed to attend and speak at this screening event. Prior to the screening, Musgrave will do interviews with local media. Also, prior to the screening, from 6 to 6:20 p.m., he will be interviewed by Pilar Pedraza, KPTS - Channel 8’s host of Kansas Week, about his service during the war and what it was like to be interviewed for the documentary. Following the 1-hour screening, Musgrave will be available for questions.


KQED – San Francisco, CA


KQED will continue to reach local communities through social media and content platforms, in-person conversations and culminating the experience by hosting a KQED Newsroom town hall conversation on the USS Hornet after the series has aired to bring together as many sides of the story.

KQED plans to meet with both Vietnamese and American veterans and their families to discuss and learn about their experiences by having one-on-one interviews and taking portraits of the participants. Through these conversations, KQED will build a gallery of social media assets to share on its main Facebook page, and which will further promote the film. These media pieces will also be a major part of a film screening to be held in San Jose, which has a particularly large Vietnamese community.


KSPS – Spokane, WA


The Spokane region is the second most popular destination for military retirees to live, after Hawaii, and has a large community of Vietnamese expatriates that established their home in Spokane after the fall of Saigon. Eastern Washington University will act as the academic anchor for three educational forums. KSPS will record and package the forums for their website, where a greater audience will be able to take part in the presentations. Reading lists and study questions will be available and the county library district will have recommended books on hand.

KSPS was chosen to host VVMF’s The Wall That Heals, growing their programming to a seven-month comprehensive conversation that allows the whole community to participate. KSPS will tell the Inland Northwest story of the Vietnam War to a generation that has virtually no knowledge of the conflict and hopefully provide some closure, comfort and understanding for the participants.

 

KTTZ – Lubbock, TX


KTTZ is planning a robust campaign to promote The Vietnam War, connect with the veteran population, and share perspectives from the war with the community. In addition to three screening and discussion events in the Lubbock area, KTTZ has a strong education plan that involves creating classroom appropriate resources that align to state standards.

KTTZ will also be offering certified professional development opportunities for teachers that will count toward educators’ required training. KTTZ will also be working with the Vietnam Center and Archive to collect and preserve veterans’ material. This will involve helping create digital exhibits of the Archive’s material and creating media with veterans, archive staff, and historians that can be shared around the country to help collect and preserve artifacts and material.

 

KTWU – Topeka, KS


KTWU plans for 2 screening events prior to film premiere, with the first event taking place at, and in partnership with, the Mulvane Art Museum. The other screening will possibly take place in Emporia, KS, the founding city of Veteran’s Day. In addition, the station will present a 60-minute live show, incorporated as part of KTWU’s “I’ve Got Issues” (IGI) community affairs series; and produce a filler campaign that will give veterans a way to talk about their experiences fighting in Vietnam, their experiences after they returned from war, and how they believe the Vietnam War impacted present-day military involvement and support for US service-members. The fillers will air on KTWU and will be included within the station’s Vietnam War FB event page.


KUED – Salt Lake City, UT


This past April, KUED collaborated with a local “Arts in Service to the Military Festival” and the local NPR station, to screen Healing the Warrior’s Heart – a film about now American Indians assist returning soldiers suffering from PTSD by healing rituals in sweat lodges. Building on this engagement, KUED is planning three screenings for The Vietnam War later this summer. Screenings will be held in different areas of Utah including two larger cities, Ogden and Salt Lake City (or West Jordan), and one in rural Gunnison. KUED will also be presenting clips from the film at the DOCUTAH International Documentary Film festival on September 6th.

Another promotional project is a traveling visual arts exhibition featuring artwork by Vietnam vets. KUED has selected three artists, Daniel Maynard (illustrator), Carl Purcell (watercolorist), and John Steele (photographer) who each have a different take on their service in Vietnam and how they manage their experiences and moving forward through their artwork. This exhibition will be supplemented with educational materials that will be available online for librarians and for teachers to use in their classrooms if they like.


KVIE – Sacramento, CA


KVIE is engaging its viewers and connecting with community partners through solicitation of first-person narratives, multiple screenings, sponsorships, and local production. 
Through online engagement and television broadcast, KVIE has already successfully connected with several people who submitted stories and were able and willing to come in to the studio for professional interviews and artifact collection.  These narratives will be supplied to WNET as localized content for their companion documentary and available to view online at kvie.org beginning in August.

KVIE’s Studio Sacramento featuring Craig McNamara, son of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, was produced this last March and aired March 31, 2017.  Titled, Through War and Peace, Craig shared his family’s experience before and after the Vietnam War. 

Three screenings are planned over the next several months with one tentatively scheduled for July 20, 2017.  The remaining two will likely be held closer to August and into September.  The station has also reached out to almost a dozen community organizations and looks forward to fostering relationships with them to further the reach of this film.   To get the word out, KVIE posted on its main Facebook page and utilized Twitter to get the message out. 

 

Louisiana Public Broadcasting – Baton Rouge, LA


LPB will hold a screening of clips or segments from The Vietnam War series and a panel discussion at the Vietnam Veteran of America National Convention in New Orleans, August 8 – August 12, 2017. In addition, two screenings will take place in Alexandria, Louisiana at the VA hospital, which has an active Vietnam veterans group and is in close proximity to Fort Polk. LPB will reach out to these organizations to identify panelists and audience members.  A final screening will take place at LPB studios in Baton Rouge as part of its ongoing series “Louisiana Public Square.” The program will focus on issues facing veterans of the Vietnam War and refugee communities 50 years later. LPB are working with the State Department of Veterans Affairs, veteran’s groups and historians to identify a diverse group of panelists and audience members for the screening.
LPB is also exploring other avenues of sponsorship to add activities for the screenings to include oral history interview booths and scanning and cataloguing of wartime photographs.

 

Maine Public


Maine Public plans to hold three screenings in different parts of Maine, allowing Maine Public to engage and include as much of Maine as possible. For outreach, Maine Public asked several local veteran-related groups if they 1) can help spread the word of the screenings and the program, 2) if they would like to participate either on the screening panel or have a presence in the screening lobbies, 3) if they know of someone who would be interested in recording a Courageous Conversation, 4) if they know of a quality veteran facilitator for the screenings, and 5) who else would they suggest should reach out to. Maine Public has engaged with representatives of the producers of the documentary and are scheduling them both to call in to appear on the Maine Calling radio program.


Milwaukee PBS – Milwaukee, WI


Milwaukee PBS will partner with two local organizations for the purpose of extending the local reach of The Vietnam War. The Hmong American Peace Academy (HAPA), a Milwaukee based Charter School, and the Hmong American Friendship Association will assist Milwaukee PBS in this effort. The primary focus will be to foster dialogue and understanding between the greater Milwaukee area and the Hmong community that relocated to the city after the Vietnam War. Virtually every member of the Hmong community in Milwaukee has a personal history of the war, to share, and in most cases, suffered personal or family loss as a result of the conflict. The primary focus will be multiple screenings held at the Peace Academy as well as a Friendship dinner that will be hosted at the Peace Academy and open to the public. Panel discussions involving the Hmong sponsors, as well as local residents and Vietnam War veterans will be a highlight of the dinner. Milwaukee PBS will also work with HAPA in the sponsorship of a youth writing contest for students of HAPA.


MPB – Mississippi


Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s project surrounding The Vietnam War is comprised of three parts: a screening and panel discussions, an original television production, and a statewide video story collection initiative. On September 1, MPB will hold a preview screening and panel discussion at the Ocean Springs Civic Center on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, on the same property as the Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The station will also collect video story submissions starting July 1. Beginning September 30, MPB will select the best 10 videos, post them to its digital platforms and hold a screening event.
The station will host two additional screening and panel discussions: one at the Tupelo Link Centre in October and one at the Vicksburg National Military Park on November 4.

An original television program, which is currently in production, will air in November as a companion piece to The Vietnam War. It will be an interview-driven documentary about Mississippians’ experiences with the Vietnam War.

 

MPT – Maryland


MPT will explore the impact of the war on families of those who served, those who protested the war, the native Vietnamese community, and post-Vietnam conflict generations. The station’s overall plan includes hosting multiple screening events, online and in-person, with panel discussions incorporating veterans, protesters, native Vietnamese, families, etc.

MPT will also conduct story collection; expanding the station’s “Thank You Gallery” that both collects and displays thank you letters, children’s art, and veterans sharing their own stories; creating a collection of videos of individuals from all sides of the conflict sharing their experience.

MPT’s Traveling Exhibit of stories and artifacts will be on display at libraries and public places; Re-airing of Maryland Vietnam War Stories around the documentary series; and developing a robust campaign to incorporate all of the aforementioned pieces in addition to building steam around The Vietnam War in Maryland.

 



Nebraska Educational Television (NET) – Lincoln, NE


On May 1, 2016, NET hosted and documented a Vietnam Veterans Honor Flight from Omaha to Washington D.C. This flight carried 653 veterans, which was the largest group of Vietnam veterans from one state to visit the Vietnam War memorial. Throughout this year, NET is also hosting at least 10 screenings statewide with some communities hosting more than one location.

NET Community Engagement is working with UNO Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Vietnam Veteran Dr. Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado to arrange for a diverse panel and moderators including women and veterans of color, to travel to the screening locations. NET Community Engagement is continuing the collaboration between Nebraska Veteran’s Writers project and Louder than a Bomb slam poetry artists. NET Community Engagement and Educational Outreach are developing a proposal to develop a Nebraska, Buddy Bootcamp created by Valley PBS.

 

NHPTV – New Hampshire


NHPTV is creating a multi-platform initiative designed to engage diverse audiences through screenings, panel discussions and online story collection, inspired by The Vietnam War. Screenings and discussions will be held at libraries and community theatres around the state as well as online OVEE screenings that will extend engagement beyond broadcast.

NHPTV will partner with the NH State Library where materials and information will be distributed to NH public libraries. Libraries will be encouraged to display books related to the Vietnam War era, host local screenings, and facilitate submission of local stories to the national story wall. Other partnerships include the local humanities council and local veterans groups.

NHPTV’ “Virtual Wall of Remembrance” invites participants to share their story by posting images, words, or videos to the station’s Facebook page. Local stories will be made available for national use. NHPTV will also use the film as an opportunity for interactive learning and curriculum enhancement for teachers, and will be featured in a summer back-to-school event for educators and home-schoolers.


Nine Network – St Louis, MO


Nine Network will continue their relationship with the Missouri History Museum to collect stories as part of their relaunch of Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, which will reopen in 2018 as a state-of-the-art museum facility honoring military service, veterans, and their families. The Missouri History Museum has expressed the dire need to preserve the stories of veterans and those associated with the Vietnam era.

Nine Network’s method for story collection will be primarily via a web link, and will begin June 26 through Veterans Day 2017. One of the many benefits to collecting stories is that they are immediately available to the station’s production team, so Nine Network plans to easily share excerpts from stories collected via social media to engage and educate a new, younger audience as well as connect with its existing audience via broadcast interstitials derived from the stories submitted.  The station will also produce “thank you” interstitials featuring submitted stories leading up to Veterans Day, keeping the drumbeat going around The Vietnam War broadcasts.

In addition to story collection, Nine Network will host a series of screenings and discussion events with civic, faith and Vietnamese community groups. The station will also host a series of intergenerational screening events and will also host a public screening for approximately 1,000 people with an audience Q&A following the film, moderated by longtime Ken Burns’s collaborator, Gerald Early, with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.


NMPBS – Albuquerque, NM


NMPBS has developed New Mexico and the Vietnam War: Portrait of a Generation, a digital series that focuses on New Mexico’s diverse Vietnam War veterans, families, and refugees that played a major role in the Vietnam War. The series’ first person accounts range from duty, honor, courage, sacrifice, loss and understanding.

New Mexico PBS is also working with the New Mexico History Museum to provide content for their “Counterculture of the Southwest” exhibition. NMPBS is interviewing Vietnam era veterans for a digital series, and have conducted 6 on-camera interviews with a diverse group of veterans. Four of the interviews were edited into short videos and will appear in the museum’s exhibition.

Three events are also underway, including a special evening with The Vietnam War editor Paul Barnes to be held at Santa Fe’s historic Lensic Theater. NMPBS is making plans with the New Mexico Vietnamese community and with Project Echo for their other two events. NMPBS has also partnered with Straight Scoop for Vets, which provides grassroots mental health support for rural veterans; The National Veterans Wellness and Healing Center, which provides PTSD support for veterans of all wars; and the NM Department of Veterans’ Services.


NPT – Nashville, TN


Nashville Public Television will host screenings and conversations to focus on three separate topics: Perspectives of Vietnam veterans contrasted with Vietnamese perspectives; the pros and cons of the anti-war movement; and the changing role of the media exemplified by the Vietnam War.

NPT is partnering with the Vietnam Veterans of America and the Vietnamese Veterans Community of Middle TN to host their first screening at the NPT studio. The second screening, at the First Amendment Center, will host a panel of media experts to discuss the role of media in the Vietnam War. The Tennessee State Museum will host a screening for its patrons and the community at large with a focus on the implications of the anti-war movement.

NPT will produce 3 local interstitials--one on each of the 3 topics--drawing on local experts, and the voices of the community at large. The interstitials will be broadcast, available on their website, and included in social media.

 

OPB – Portland, OR


OPB hosted a “listening session” in the Portland area which provided an opportunity for veterans, refugees and their families to tell their stories and to give OPB ideas to shape local coverage around the broadcast of The Vietnam War.

OPB is partnering with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the Oregon Dept. of Veterans of Affairs, the Oregon Historical Society, and Mount Hood Community College. OPB is hosting a screening and discussion event with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on July 24 and the station is also hosting screening events around the state in October and November in coordination with local veterans groups.

In plans for story collection, OPB will gather and curate first-person experiences related to the Vietnam War and share them through broadcast, digital, and social media. Additionally, OPB is launching a StoryCorps-style podcast to share stories in connection with this effort. In this podcast, they will share stories, present relevant interviews, and provide resources to those seeking support for specific needs.

OPB is also producing a local, one-hour television documentary on Oregon’s experience during the Vietnam War. The station will begin screening the documentary in late September, and the program will be broadcast statewide on OPB on October 2nd. The station also has tentative plans to add a live panel discussion to the broadcast of this local documentary.



Panhandle PBS – Amarillo, TX


Panhandle PBS will host four screenings of The Vietnam War, in conjunction with panel discussions, art and historical exhibitions, music events, book studies and more – all highlighting diverse perspectives. The station is also working with a wide variety of organizations to connect the station with opportunities for story collection. Partner organizations include Our Lady of Vietnam Church, Freedom Museum USA, and Amarillo Public Library. Story collection will be incorporated in their local issues series Live Air, and shared through special programming, interstitials, radio features, social media, and on their website.

In addition, stories collected will be used as for source material for new curriculum to be shared regionally and via PBS LearningMedia.  Panhandle PBS will be part of a regional conference for educators and the general public to explore the many perspectives of teaching and learning about the Vietnam War. The conference will target 40 area school districts and institutions of higher learning to feature the film and forthcoming national education resources.

Panhandle PBS, alongside the City of Amarillo, will host VVMF’s The Wall that Heals. Other projects of special interest include art exhibitions to be organized by the Amarillo Museum of Art including photography, ceramics and performance art around Vietnamese identity – then and now; and a concert with area musical acts to feature music of the era.

 

PBA – Atlanta, GA


Public Broadcasting Atlanta (PBA) will air The Vietnam War as part of their Veterans Day weekend programming. The documentary will air alongside PBA’s own 30-minute local production that documents impactful stories from Atlanta veterans of Vietnam. Unique voices from Atlanta include Joe May, an African American who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates to their minor league baseball team – only to then be drafted to Vietnam. Another local voice is Rachel Torrance, a women who spent a year in Vietnam entertaining the troops as a “Donut Dolly.” The name Donut Dolly is a remnant from a time when young women passed out donuts, coffee and small gifts to those in combat – often while under fire themselves out in the field.

PBA is planning a series of community events to facilitate grassroots discussions at five venues. The venues will include chapters of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), schools, and military bases. In order to reach multiple generations and veterans of different racial backgrounds, PBA will spread out the events around Atlanta.  Each event will incorporate a panel of local veterans and civilians, and be facilitated by Pete Mecca; a trained facilitator, author, and Vietnam veteran.

Outreach efforts will include radio broadcasts, social media posts, member invitations, and more. PBA will provide resources online to facilitate further community dialogue, as well as connecting veterans to services in Atlanta, and outline ways to get involved with projects benefitting Veterans both deployed and at home.

 

PBS SoCal – Los Angeles, CA


In May PBS SoCal held a Vietnamese-American community screening at University of California, Irvine (UCI) with Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Duong Van Mai Elliott in partnership with VietStories, the UCI Libraries’ Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive (OC&SEAA) Center, and Vietnamese-American community influencers and stakeholders in Orange County, CA. Additionally, PBS SoCal secured the LA Times as a partner for their July event, featuring a screening and panel discussion with Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and others.

PBS SoCal is furthering community engagement with screenings and conversations. The first community event is a day of listening and storytelling, which will approach outreach around the film from an individual storytelling perspective by focusing on intergenerational small group and one-on-one discussions.

The second event will be built around exploring the music of the Vietnam War and its lasting impact. PBS SoCal will hear from individuals who can speak to the time period from various perspectives - each sharing a song from the era that is meaningful to them and/or accompanies their story. These songs and stories would be interwoven with relevant clips from the film.

PBS SoCal will also be airing local programming: The documentary film Take Me Home Huey documents contemporary artist Steve Maloney’s transformation of a Vietnam-era Medevac Huey Helicopter from a wounded war bird, shot down in combat in 1969, into a colorful sculpture with a mission to help veterans recover from Post-Traumatic Stress.

 

Pioneer Public Television – Appleton, MN


Pioneer Public Television is organizing a series of screening and discussion events about the meaning and legacy of the Vietnam War in rural Minnesota and eastern South Dakota. Pioneer has enlisted the support of their volunteers, several County Veterans Services Offices, the Minnesota Humanities Center, the South Dakota Humanities Commission, and Southwest MN State University to reach out to veterans and other groups to attend discussion and screening events. These partners will also be asked to serve as small group discussion leaders.

Outreach will involve visits to tribal reservations, Walnut Grove’s Hmong community, and reaching out to Vietnamese nationals in the region. In addition to Vietnam era vets, Pioneer will also recruit veterans of the Gulf and Afghanistan wars to attend events.

Students enrolled in a media class at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall will be interviewing a local Vietnam War vet who is very proud of his service and who has created a small museum about his service in the war. They also will interview a Vietnam War protester who was a student at SMSU during the war and who later went on to successfully run for elected office.

Pioneer’s work to engage the Native American population in their viewing area is proceeding through what they consider a trust building phase. They have begun this by inviting tribal representatives to their studios to conduct a staff and management diversity training session where they have learned about Dakota spirituality and culture. Pioneer also have interviewed and featured a local tribal leader on their Compass public affairs program talking about Dakota perspectives on the sacred nature of water. Their plan is to attend powwows on the reservation this summer with the intention to meet with Native Vietnam era vets who are often honored at these tribal events.







Prairie Public – Fargo, ND


Prairie Public will partner with State Historical Society of North Dakota to hold events where the public is invited to bring photographs, correspondence, documents, and artifacts to digitize for the state’s digital archive Digital Horizons. At these events, video interviews will be conducted with individuals that represent the diversity of experiences in these years. Using the interviews, stills and video from these events, Prairie Public will produce a series of short features to be broadcast as interstitials and used on social media as promotion for The Vietnam War series.

Public screening events will include panel discussions and an open question and answer period. Prairie Public will be inviting the Consensus Council to host public screening discussion events to act as a facilitator, and ensure a balanced and representative public dialogue on the impact the Vietnam War had on the region, and how it still impacts local communities.

To extend engagement post-broadcast, Prairie Public will also produce a one-hour documentary called Prairie Memories: The Vietnam Years that will be premiered in screenings, as well as broadcast and streamed. Both the documentary and digital archive will give a voice to individuals in the prairie region who have first-hand knowledge of broader events, as well as local events that might otherwise be lost to historians. The station’s broadcast territory includes all of North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, and five different Native American reservations. These tribes have a strong history of military service, and Prairie Public will work to recruit Native Americans as interview subjects, and plan to hold at least one of their artifact collection events on a reservation.

 

RMPBS – Denver, CO


Rocky Mountain PBS is hosting a screening, panel discussion and audience Q&A with The Vietnam War filmmakers themselves, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick in attendance. RMPBS will livestream the panel discussion and audience Q&A to their two regional screening locations in Southern and Western CO. They’ve also launched a story collection initiative entitled “Voices of Vietnam from Colorado.” This consists of brief on-air vignettes (goal is to have 15) featuring an assortment of Coloradans sharing their experiences. These pieces will also be utilized online and on RMPBS’ social media channels. To coincide with our professionally produced pieces, RMPBS is inviting Coloradans to submit their own stories through an online user generated tool. These stories (videos, images, text) are moderated and then displayed as a gallery at rmpbs.org/Vietnam. RMPBS has also enacted a content-sharing partnership with Denver Public Libraries to showcase their research and resources through blog posts on rmpbs.org.

 

 

Sistema (WMTJ) – Puerto Rico


Sistema plans to create a local, 30 minute documentary to include three interviews with Puerto Rican Vietnam veterans, alongside data about Puerto Rico’s involvement in the Vietnam War. A diverse group of panelists will react to these stories and analyze the impact of the Vietnam War in Puerto Rico.

The station will also be hosting a town hall, with participants including students, professors from the Metropolitan University of Puerto Rico, government and veterans’ representatives, and community organizations. They will have a panel discussion and Q&A opportunity. In addition, Sistema will be hosting coffee talks between university students and veterans.


SOPTV – Medford, OR


SOPTV has produced four Local Focus programs in 2015-2016 to complement the following documentaries: Debt of Honor, Project 22, Battlefield of the Mind, and While Time Stands Still. SOPTV will now create a new Local Focus program, entitled Local Focus: The Vietnam War as a lead-in to The Vietnam War. This local production aims to enlighten residents by presenting a conversation that is attentive to the needs of Southern Oregon’s military population, while also beginning a conversation with those who do not understand or agree with military actions. As a precursor to developing this local program, SOPTV will be interviewing Ken Burns and Lynn Novick at Oregon Public Broadcasting in July.

SOPTV will also host a screening event and panel discussion at their studio. Tentative panel members include two individuals who were protestors during the Vietnam War, including one who lost a friend in the Kent State protests. SOPTV also hopes to recruit former Vietnam military personnel from their My Stories of Service series, which heard stories of service from local veterans. As part of their My Stories of Service series, SOPTV created a new, 7-part installment which features exclusively Vietnam War veterans.

 

South Dakota Public Broadcasting – Vermillion, SD


SDPB has scheduled and confirmed eight screenings of The Vietnam War throughout the state, including one coinciding with a visit from VVMF’s The Wall that Heals. As part of these screenings, SDPB has ordered a large, laminated map of Vietnam to be displayed and signed by Vietnam veterans. Partners for these screenings include state, local, county, and tribal veterans groups; as well as Vermillion Public Library, the SD History Center, and Crazy Horse Memorial.
 
SDPB Radio has begun broadcasting interviews with local and national Vietnam veterans and authors. More interviews with subjects affiliated with the Vietnam War are being scheduled for broadcast in conjunction with screenings throughout the summer. All radio interviews include standard promos announcing the fall premiere of The Vietnam War.

SDPB and their digital team have begun conducting interviews with Vietnam War veterans, authors, protestors, artists, and others. SDPB’s series Dakota Life, will dedicate four segments featuring profiles of South Dakotans affected by Vietnam War, including Soi Tran (South Vietnamese Vietnam veteran); Vietnam War artist/veteran James Pollack; Native elder/Vietnam Veteran Frances Whitebird; and anti-war activists.

SDPB is also coordinating with their state’s 56 County Veterans Services Offices (CVSO’s) and 6 Tribal Veterans Services Offices (TVSO’s) to provide screening and discussion kits.


ThinkTV – Dayton, OH


ThinkTV will produce video shorts for placement on air and online to recognize 10-12 local Vietnam War participants covering as many areas as possible. One area of interest is the aim to engage women on the issues of fashion, sex, smoking, equal rights and the work place during the Vietnam era. Other video participants include Infantry and Air Force veterans, a Patriot Guard member, a female veteran, a medic, a veteran's family, and General Mechenbier who will talk about his POW days. To contrast these perspectives, ThinkTV will interview an anti-war activist, a Dayton Vietnamese refugee, and a University of Dayton professor who will give an overview of the war and society here in the states during the war.

ThinkTV will produce ten ‘On This Day’ video factoids about Dayton mirroring the time during the Vietnam War. This will help educate young individuals and allow them to gain a perspective of what changes took place in this country in the 1960’s and 1970’s, including racial issues.

Dayton is the home of an Air Force base and VA center, making veterans a focus of ThinkTV’s community. ThinkTV will hold a screening at a military location, encouraging family involvement with a celebration honoring service members through a tribute to Vietnam veterans.

Additionally, ThinkTV continue working with Mai Nguyen, Director of Wright State University’s Asian and Native American Center.  Together, they created two half-hour documentaries on the Vietnamese refugees who escaped Vietnam to settle in Dayton. The first documentary tells the stories of their heroic escapes and their acclimation to America, with the second looking at their children, most born here in the states, and their lives today. ThinkTV also plans to connect members of the Vietnamese community with veterans for healing conversations.
 

 

TPT – Twin Cities, MN


TPT’s year-long initiative, Minnesota Remembers Vietnam, includes a digital story wall where individuals can continue the conversation through the sharing of personal memories through videos, portraits, narratives, snapshots and interviews of Minnesotans who fought in Vietnam and those whose lives it changed at home.

Twin Cities has also partnered with The Telling Project, a national arts organization that employs theater to deepen understanding of veterans’ experiences. They will create Telling: Minnesota’s Vietnam, a play in which a small group of MN Vietnam veterans will share their stories. TPT will produce an original documentary that follows the process of creating, rehearsing and performing the play, as well as the reactions of participating veterans, their families, and audience members.

Additionally, TPT will produce The Secret War, an original hour-long documentary that will share the history of the CIA’s Secret War in Laos, as well as the refugee camp experience and resettlement.

TPT will host at least 5 public events designed to engage Minnesotans in learning about and discussing the Vietnam War’s legacy. TPT has partnered with the Minnesota Humanities Center, which has provided intensive training to a group of veterans and non-veterans around facilitating important conversations about war, to lead discussion at the events. With the goal of recognizing the service of Minnesota’s Vietnam veterans, TPT will produce at least 10 short videos for active sharing on-air and/or online.

Finally, TPT is hosting an evening of storytelling featuring noted Minnesota author, storyteller, and veteran, Tim O’Brien, and The Vietnam War director and producer, Lynn Novick. This event will bring together Vietnam War veterans and those whose lives it affected at home.

 

UNC-TV – North Carolina


UNC-TV’s work surrounding The Vietnam War is embedded within a larger strategic focus on serving veterans and providing civic engagement. Throughout the year, UNC-TV has engaged with Vietnam veterans in a series of Veterans Coffee events, in which they connect veterans with available state and federal resources. UNC-TV has also used these events as a venue to record veterans’ personal stories and to create a digital Stories of Service archive, which will be shared with other stations.

UNC-TV has worked with members of the state’s Vietnamese community, as well as scholars at the National Humanities Center and the University of North Carolina in order to fully convey the complex nature of the Vietnam War and its impact on their region. The station will build lesson plans around selected stories, both for classroom use and distribution on PBS LearningMedia.

Screening events scheduled around the state of NC include: Jacksonville/Camp Lejeuen, Wilmington/NC Battleship, Lexington/Richard Childress Racing, Southern Pines/Sandhills Community College, Chapel Hill, Asheville/UNC-Asheville, Cary American Legion, Raleigh/NC History Museum, and Fayetteville/Fort Bragg.  In addition, UNC-TV is partnering with the VA, VetCenters, and DHHS to produce a counseling program to encourage families and veterans to seek and identify help around the state. 

Future events and partnerships beyond the Fall include a Culinary Diplomacy event that will bring a diverse group of North Carolinians together to talk through the series' themes while sharing a Vietnamese / South Asian meal and a partnership with the National Humanities Counsel to provide educational materials to professors and teachers using recorded veterans first hand stories of service.    
 

 

ValleyPBS – Fresno, CA


ValleyPBS will be hosting several screening and discussion events, as well as, working with local schools on distributing educational materials to students and teachers about the Vietnam War.  In addition, ValleyPBS is developing Buddy Bootcamp, a new event that will launch at selected stations across the country as a way to engage youngsters and allow Vietnam era veterans, now grandparents, to explain to their families what military life meant to them.

ValleyPBS and Clovis Veterans Memorial District jointly hosted the PBS Veterans Action Summit in June. The summit included representatives from a wide range of veterans’ associations, PBS stations working on veteran outreach, local members of the Hmong community and other special guests. Additionally, ValleyPBS is working with the Hmong40 group to produce content on the Hmong journey from their devastated homelands to America. All programs will be shared through WNET’s new Veterans’ Content Sharing project.

ValleyPBS will further extend the impact of The Vietnam War with a locally produced production focusing on Operation Babylift – the name given to the mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other countries at the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975. Over 2,500 infants and children had been evacuated to the US. The station will profile the stories of Central California families who adopted children from South Vietnam and learn about the lives of these children who grew up in our service area and meet the families that they themselves have made.


VermontPBS – Colchester, VT


Vermont PBS’s project will invite Vietnam veterans to share their story for the digital Vermont PBS Video Wall. For this initiative, VermontPBS will collect and amplify what Vermonters share about their personal experiences, the challenges they faced, and how events of the Vietnam era shaped their lives. VermontPBS will collect stories at various events, one of which will be held at the Vermont Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Sharon. Additionally, Vermonters from all walks of life will be able to share experiences and stories directly through an online video portal.

Another strong focus of the project will highlight Vermont’s modern cooperatives that sprung from the counterculture of communes during the 60’s and 70’s. Vermont PBS will also invite the small Vietnamese community that came to America in three waves following the war and made Vermont their new home.  Vermont will hear the challenges and opportunities that their new community presented to them.

VermontPBS will host a minimum of six free screenings and discussions across the state.  Engagement activities will also pay special attention to the controversial issues of the use and long-term impact of Agent Orange, and the ongoing effects of mitigating the thousands of unexploded ordnance left behind in Vietnam.  Vermont has been a leader on this issues since the late 1980’s, especially with the efforts of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and his staff.

 

WCMU – Mt. Pleasant, MI


WCMU will produce “Letters Home” interstitials, which will feature Vietnam veterans reading the letters they mailed home from Vietnam. The letters will be read at the Michigan Vietnam Memorial in Mt. Pleasant. The interstitials will air on television, wcmu.org, and on WCMU-FM. Additionally, the letters will be scanned and placed on a portable “wall” to be taken to Screening Events throughout the fall and winter. At the end of outreach the “wall” will be donated to a local museum.

WCMU also has several screening events planned, with panels and speakers being incorporated. Central Michigan University’s screening event will focus on activism, featuring CMU alum who were anti-war activists in the 60s and 70s. This event will be streamed live and reside on the station’s website. At their screening events, WCMU will institute listening booths in order to gather stories for broadcast and online. WCMU Radio will also produce a series of reports that expand beyond veterans to address other key issues of the era.   

 

WCNY – Syracuse, NY


WCNY’s community engagement efforts include meeting local Veterans to collect personal stories, and sharing the work of local veterans’ organizations – not only in relation to the Vietnam era, but in terms of current veterans, and how the Vietnam War impacted their region’s care for all veteran and military personnel. WCNY will produce a 30 minute special to share local stories connected to national themes and drive tune-in for The Vietnam War. Web elements will include screening listings, weekly e-guide messaging, a web landing page, written work by veterans, and more.

WCNY also plans to gather with the Syracuse Vietnamese community to learn about their unique experiences and how they have adjusted to life, how they view present-day Vietnam, and how they are fighting to preserve their culture and language. Partners include the Vietnamese Community Center and Our Lady of Pompei Parish, as well as a translator, who will help WCNY to collect Vietnamese perspectives.


WCTE – Upper Cumberland, TN


WCTE-TV’s project will reach out to local residents who were involved in the Vietnam War and invite them to share their stories through interviews conducted at WCTE-TV by local historians. Interviewees will include a diverse group of individuals who served in the military, were members of the Peace Corps, anti-war activists, or others who provided services to those in or affected by the war.  Two screenings of The Vietnam War will be provided for community engagement.  Following each of the two screenings, four interviewees will participate in panel discussions. TTU Professor Dr. William Brinker will provide context for discussion and a moderator will ask questions of the panelists. The panel discussions will provide participants a forum to share experiences and different points of view on the subject and initiate discussion with attendees after the event.

WEDU – Tampa, FL


WEDU has a collection of activities planned in support of the upcoming premiere of The Vietnam War. Highlights include a series of open community calls for tapings of Veteran stories, which will be incorporated into interstitials, a dedicated webpage, and incorporated into a local, original documentary.

The station will host a minimum of 3 community screening events with a collection of guest speakers and panel discussions. Each event will include a gallery of photos and memorabilia from local Veterans.

WEDU will continue the engagement post-broadcast by developing an educational package for local libraries. WEDU will provide a package of resources to libraries that currently host WEDU Library Reading Corners. The packages will include assorted assets such as video clips, educational one-sheets and take-home resources related to the documentary. Video clips will be available on iPads donated to local libraries by WEDU.


WETA – Washington, DC


To Vietnamese fleeing persecution or poverty after the end of the Vietnam War, Northern Virginia; Montgomery County, Maryland; and the District of Columbia felt like salvation, a place for refugees to call home. Over the last 50 years, Vietnamese have transformed this area both culturally and economically. To engage the Vietnamese community around the film The Vietnam War, WETA has established a Vietnamese Community Advisory Council to work with the station to reach out to a new audience that typically is not a target audience. Through conversations, all will discuss the impact of the war on greater Washington D.C. area.

WETA will create an original production and develop a mechanism for story collection to ask viewers how the film affected them. Additionally, WETA will host a series of pre-screenings and watch parties. One screening will be in partnership with the NAACP.


WFSU – Tallahassee, FL


WFSU will collect stories and to offer unique perspectives from this controversial time in the nation. WFSU will also produce a multi-media production weaving collected stories with clips from The Vietnam War.

The station plans for a two-hour event to consist of a combination of live music from local bands performing music of that era. In addition, there will be selected readings, clips from the Vietnam War series, and local interstitials. The evening will conclude with an audience discussion moderated by WFSU’s Tom Flanigan and FSU veteran Billy Frances. The program will be broadcast on WFSU TV and radio as well as online.

WFSU is working with the Osher Lifelong Learning Program to create a six-week class on the Vietnam War for citizens 50 and older. The class will utilize content such as clips, screening copies, and curriculum guides from the series.  

Additionally, WFSU will create a special website to host interstitials, local history from the time period, clips from The Vietnam War, as well as a portal for individuals to upload their own stories and memories. The website will also feature a playlist of music from the era.

 

WGBH – Boston, MA


WGBH plans for two screening and discussion events including a pre-broadcast event in early September featuring Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, and a post-broadcast event hosted at WGBH in advance of Veterans Day this coming November.

The November screening event will be free and open to the public. It will have suggested donation at the door and provide all event proceeds/donations to area Vietnam Veterans organizations. WGBH is also working with non-profit Mass Mouth (massmouth.org) to locate 8 story tellers who will present stories centered on the theme of the Vietnam War. Storytellers will be able to focus on the Vietnam War experience and interpret the topic and would share stories based on their personal preference.

WGBH plans for an intermission period at this event for guests to mix and mingle, and will offer booth spaces to local Vietnam Veteran Association and non-profit partners they will be able to distribute literature and share resources with Vietnam Veterans.



WGBY – Springfield, MA


WGBY’s project features three major activities, with the first being a public screening of a portion of The Vietnam War series and panel discussion at the historic Academy of Music in Northampton, MA. Following the broadcast premiere of The Vietnam War, WGBH will host screenings with participants including the Vietnamese immigrant community, veterans, and anti-war activists. Invited speakers include Hampshire College alumni David Shulkin, US Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and Ken Burns.

On or around Veteran’s Day, WGBH will screen locally produced programming segments about “Ward 8,” a clinical program operated by the local VA to treat combat-related PTSD. This program brings together Vietnam veterans and veterans of recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many Vietnam veterans have had full-lives and successful careers, but never fully dealt with their PTSD.

All content created during this period will be made available online as part of local Vietnam War spotlight, and as part of the station’s ongoing Veterans Coming Home project. Additionally, WGBH plans to host a Vietnam War digital storytelling workshop to gather stories from veterans, peace activists, and Vietnamese immigrants. The participants will write their own scripts, record voiceover, use their own collection of photos and videos or capture footage that they will edit together during the hands-on workshop.

  

WGCU – Fort Myers, FL


WGCU Public Media seeks to engage diverse audiences in the discussion of the Vietnam War.  To that end, WGCU is committed to holding at least six screenings and discussions throughout Southwest Florida. From Port Charlotte to Marco Island, WGCU is working with Veterans’ groups, War Museums, places of worship, senior retirement centers and colleges.

WGCU has also received a commitment from both major daily newspapers in their region to extend the reach and discussion of The Vietnam War.  WGCU’s newspaper partners have committed to interviewing Vietnam vets, providing reporters to be involved in panel discussions and lectures, and assisting in promoting the screenings and the film. To extend the reach and discussion, the newspapers have agreed to dedicate their January 2018 Storytelling project and event to a discussion of issues surrounding the Vietnam War.


WGVU – Grand Rapids, MI


WGVU Public Media will host LZ Michigan 2017 - a “Landing Zone” to Remember, Honor, and Celebrate our community’s veterans and their families. LZ Michigan will consist of several community events and activities beginning in August and running through Spring 2018. Events include the arrival of VVMF’s The Wall That Heals as well as the kickoff for the International ArtPrize contest. WGVU plans to conduct school field trips to the museum to learn about President Ford’s impact on Vietnam and then travel to visit The Wall That Heals.

These events will lead up to an all-day event with music, military displays, PBS Kids and Education areas, dialogues, classes for veterans and their family members, and an evening ceremony. After the all day celebration, and as part of ArtPrize 9, WGVU is sponsoring the inaugural ArtPrize Veterans Category with winner selected by both a public vote as well as a jury vote. Dialogue will continue throughout the community with World Café type activities. During the Winter 2018 semester WGVU is partnering with Grand Valley State University to facilitate a full credit undergraduate course about the Vietnam era and all that happened during the time to impact society.

WGVU will use a new model, called World Café; designed to facilitate in-depth dialogue, bringing together people from a variety of places and experiences to talk about questions that matter in their lives.  The World Café is structured around the concept of hospitable, safe space where everyone is encouraged to contribute and share their ideas and their wonderings through a simple, flexible and effective format of table. 
  

 

WHRO – Norfolk, VA


A big part of WHRO’s veteran’s work has been the station’s Wall of Faces project, used to locate the photographs of all the Virginian Vietnam Veterans whose names are on The Wall. These stories are a powerful channel to keep memories alive of those who made sacrifices during the war. The stories have become an anchor for much of WHRO’s initial work surrounding the Stories from the Wall project.

As these stories offer a glimpse of soldiers’ lives, this presented an opportunity bring them to life through live readings and audiograms of the personal remembrances left by friends, family, and military comrades. Vietnam veterans, Advisory Board members, veterans, community members, and a military spouse quickly volunteered and each shared what an honor it was to be a part of this project. These stories will be used in interactive online content, on social media, and as a live presentation of Stories from the Wall before the first screening.

WHRO also hosted a retreat at a Buddhist Education Center to engage veterans with the Vietnamese community. The retreat sought to connect cultures who were deeply linked through war, who would otherwise have little opportunity to appreciate and understand each other on a personal level.

WHRO and the Vietnam Graffiti Project will present stories through graffiti left on a troopship’s bunk canvases. The executive director of the Graffiti project will provide a brief presentation on the history of the canvases.

In addition, WHRO is working with The Telling Project, which employs theater to deepen understandings of the military and veterans’ experiences. One participant will be a South Vietnamese Veteran, reading a script developed from his own experience.

 

WHYY– Philadelphia, PA


WHYY will host three different engagement events to align with the concept that there is no single truth in war. The first planned event will engage and connect with stakeholders from the Vietnamese Community in Philadelphia to host a preview screening and discussion at the station. Philadelphia is home to one of the largest Vietnamese populations on the east coast, and the station plans to connect with several community groups for this initiative.

In October, WHYY is partnering with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia for two events with Lynn Novick. The first is a private event at the VAMC for veterans and their families, the second is a larger community screening event at the WHYY studios with Lynn Novick and several Vietnam veterans including a marine, a soldier and nurse to speak about the film and show segments of the film.


WITF – Harrisburg, PA


WITF kicked off promotion of their local project in March with the launch of vietnam.witf.org.  The site serves as a growing online collection of personal stories from Vietnam veterans, anti-war activists, family members, conscientious objectors, Vietnamese-Americans, and other members of the South Central PA community. Select stories will be chosen to be featured in an upcoming series of (12) :90 “Vietnam War Stories” and a full 60min WITF TV and radio documentary.

WITF partnered with the 2017 Northeastern High School Honor Bus. Students and volunteers hosted 80 veterans from WWII, the Korean, and Vietnam wars.  Meant as a "day of gratitude" the guests were honored with breakfast and commemorative t-shirts before they proceeded to Washington, D.C. accompanied by a large motorcycle escort.

WITF captured video, photos and interviews throughout the day, as veterans toured the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Arlington Cemetery and other war memorials. The interviews and images will be used for stories promoting The Vietnam War project on TV, radio and the web. WITF gave a presentation explaining The Vietnam War documentary and the associated WITF Stories project.  All Vietnam vets were given information sheets which encouraged them to share their stories online.

WITF will do a live Smart Talk Road Trip remote radio broadcast - the public is invited to participate in the broadcast and talk about the Vietnam War, including the upcoming Documentary as well as WITF’s own Vietnam War Stories project.

 

WJCT – Jacksonville FL


To strengthen budding relationships with the Vietnam veteran and Vietnamese communities, WJCT will coordinate two community conversations with high school students. These conversations will facilitate small cross-generational group discussions about the Vietnam War and its aftermath.

WJCT will also host screenings and discussions to encourage wider community conversations, and encourage action to support veteran issues. WJCT will invite experts from various fields (civil rights, music, history, military, Vietnam, etc.) to serve on panels during the screenings.

During outreach events, WJCT will collect audio and video content for use as interstitials, on-air segments, and online content. The station is working with community partners to facilitate the recording of oral stories for the Veterans History Project. Stories will be posted on Florida’s Stories of Service website and used during screenings and discussions. Jacksonville was also a host for VVMF’s The Wall That Heals, which helped the station begin efforts to develop outreach surrounding veterans.

 

WMHT– Troy, NY


WMHT is striving to invite multiple viewpoints by asking participants to participate in their “One Word: Vietnam – In a Word” initiative. The station will ask community members to share one unique word that classifies the Vietnam era for them. These words will be collected online and at public events, where individuals will write their word and share their story. WMHT is creating a companion documentary with a few distinct experiences, called The Wounds We Feel at Home.

WMHT will be hosting an intergenerational community gathering and meal to discuss Vietnam and share personal stories, which will be filmed or recorded. Individuals of all backgrounds will be invited to participate. In addition, WMHT has multiple screening events planned, including one being planned with the family of Denton Crocker, who was killed in Vietnam for the fall.



WPSU – University Park, PA


The Vietnam War is the catalyst for WPSU Penn State to explore the impact of the war on Pennsylvanians, by creating a cross-platform media and community engagement project called A Time to Heal. WPSU will go out into the community to interview Vietnam veterans for their local production.

WPSU has launched a user-generated content submission page (http://atimetoheal.wpsu.org), and have begun to receive and post community members’ stories of their experiences during the Vietnam era. They will also add a link to The Vietnam War to connect the community with the educational content distributed by the national project.

Additionally, WPSU has several screenings planned, including at least two community events per year over the next three years. At these events, the station will screen segments from The Vietnam War and WPSU programming to honor the patriotism of those that served their country by both fighting in the war and demonstrating for its end. WPSU is also hosting a replica of The Wall, in which they will invite local students to visit and learn about the Vietnam War.


 


WPT – Madison, WI


WPT will build on its new partnership with UW-Madison’s First Wave program to conduct an engagement effort among youth audiences to discuss protest and war, and draw parallels between the Vietnam War and current issues. The First Wave program is a four-year full tuition scholarship for students who excel in hip-hop, dance, song, spoken word, and/or other art forms. One event will be held for tribal communities in conjunction with the Oneida Nation near Green Bay, and the event will encourage strong participation from several tribes.

Five screenings will be held and accompanied by discussion panels coordinated and moderated by people involved in past WPT veterans’ projects. Events will be organized thematically according to topic-specific previews provided.

WPT will be encouraging participants at screening events to share their stories. WPT will also support continued conversations post-broadcast in communities throughout Wisconsin. The station’s Reel to Real program provides tools and support for local screening and discussion events featuring PBS films such as The Vietnam War. Reel to Real helps locate local experts and community leaders, bridging the gap between viewing the series, and creating community dialogue and action. Reel to Real will tap into its coalition of libraries, local historical societies, museums, UW System campuses and veterans groups to share their stories through community forums and documentary screenings.

 

WQED – Pittsburgh, PA


WQED will work with established local organizations for their initiatives, drawing on the organizations’ insight and expertise and sharing stories that reflect the diversity of veterans’ experiences and contributions. 

WQED is conducting a POW PROJECT, in which they will reach out to high schools for a project that would recall the Prisoner of War (POW) bracelets worn by many individuals during the Vietnam War area. WQED will recreate bracelets worn during the Vietnam era that contained the names of POWs; and distribute them to students during a history lesson or class. Upon receiving the bracelets, the students would be tasked with researching the individual whose name is on the bracelet. Once researched, students would share their stories by uploading the content to the project’s dedicated website and have those stories presented during one of WQED’s The Vietnam War screenings.

WQED is planning screenings and panel discussions, including extending an invitation to Everett Alvarez, who has ties to the Pittsburgh area.

 

WQPT: Quad Cities PBS – Moline, IL


WQPT has been selected to host VVMF’s The Wall That Heals in Moline, Illinois. WQPT will provide an opening and closing reception for the exhibit with local dignitaries, Vietnam veterans, and historic, cultural, and educational representatives. WQPT will also hold a press conference to promote the exhibit, show preview screenings of The Vietnam War, host a Vietnam War era exhibit created by the Museum Studies graduate degree program at WIU-QC, provide space for a mobile Vet Center, and more.

WQPT will screen On Two Fronts: Latinos & Vietnam during The Wall That Heals exhibit. This film examines the Latino experience during a war that placed its heaviest burden on working class youth. Framing the documentary are memoirs of two siblings, Everett and Delia Alvarez, who stood on opposite sides of the Vietnam War, one as a POW and the other protesting at home.


WSRE – Pensacola, FL


March 30 was Florida’s Homecoming Day for Vietnam veterans. WSRE partnered with Pensacola State College to celebrate “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” by honoring those service members who are participating in the college’s Vietnam War Memory Project.
A group of Vietnam veterans shared their experiences with students, faculty and staff, and were recognized at an appreciation luncheon held at the WSRE Jean and Paul Amos Studio. The college also hosted a The Things They Carried book panel in Ashmore Auditorium.

WSRE is encouraging viewers, both veterans and family members alike, to share their Vietnam stories on their interactive website. Screening venues for The Vietnam War include the National Naval Aviation Museum and the Air Force Armament Museum.

Jeff Weeks, host of WSRE’s Conversations with Jeff Weeks, will host a town hall meeting that will also be broadcast to discuss veteran’s issues such as PTSD, Suicide and homelessness. Guests for this town hall meeting will include Congressman Jeff Miller, who resides in Pensacola, represents Florida's First Congressional District and serves as chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

The Vietnam War Memory Project is a Pensacola State large project that engages faculty, staff and administrators along with community members in supporting students learning based on the Vietnam War. WSRE is partnering with the college in these activities which engage college students in learning experiences and utilizes PBS LearningMedia in the research process.

 

WTTW – Chicago, IL


WTTW will host two large-scale screening events, the first with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Following excerpts from the film, WTTW will host a discussion with a diverse panel on how the Vietnam War affected their lives and on issues relevant today. Attendees will be encouraged to bring items for USO care packages for active duty service members.

Another large-scale screening will be hosted for donors and a general audience screening, featuring excerpts from the film and a Q & A with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick in September. WTTW will also host a student screening event to engage youth in a facilitated discussion and Q&A with Ken Burns.

WTTW plans to host 2 open mic events for people to connect through sharing their stories. They plan to reach out to those who have a story to tell about Vietnam, its after-effects, the role of citizenship, and active service both then and now. WTTW will also plan to co-host 2-3 small, intimate conversations around the individual and community impact of service. WTTW will connect with viewers to share their personal Vietnam experiences. The accounts will be packaged as a television special and available online.
 

WTVI – Charlotte, NC


WTVI will conduct a series of three screenings with local community partners.  Portions of the screening and dialogue will be videotaped and used as proof of performance and/or interstitial content and incorporated on the website, where individuals can also add their own personal accounts.

WTVI will conduct a back-to-school workshop for U.S. History, Social Studies and American Literature educators designed introduce them to the film series content and other resources available for use within the classroom.
  
WTVI also plans to produce a 30-60minute documentary that will air as a companion to The Vietnam War.  By documenting several stories of those that served during the Vietnam War, including, members of the Vietnamese community, military family members, protesters, draft dodgers, among others, viewers will witness the recollections and experiences of all who were involved in those wars, as well as the realities and aftermath of the war.

In addition to a screening event, and through a partnership with the Welcome Home Veterans Military Museum, WTVI will co-sponsor a Music Jam themed “Healing with Music”. After the screening, local veteran and professional performers will perform the music during and around the Vietnam War, followed by a panel discussion, reflecting on a time of challenge and change.


WUCF – Orlando, FL


WUCF is working to gather oral histories from Vietnam veterans, and Vietnamese Americans, as well as gather artifacts and photos from their community to be used in a museum exhibit, which will launch in September to coincide with the premiere of The Vietnam War.

In April, WUCF hosted filmmakers Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, as well as Colonel Hal Kushner for a successful day of engagement with the Central Florida audience.  In addition, WUCF is also hosted a Veterans town hall that will be recorded for air at a later date, as well as a number of major donor and member events throughout the day. The day will end with a public screening, filmmaker discussion and audience Q&A. 

WUCF is the lead station on VVMF’s Wall of Faces for Florida.  When this project launched in November, Florida had nearly 500 missing photos.  As of April 1, Florida now has about 300 missing photos.  Florida stations are now joining in on efforts, and hope to find the remaining photos by the end of 2017.

 

WVIA – Pittston, PA


WVIA Public Media is creating programming and collecting the personal stories of people from northeastern and central Pennsylvania who lived through the conflict in Vietnam. WVIA’s “War Stories: Vietnam” is a multi-platform effort that will air on our television station, radio station along with our website and social media channels.

‘War Stories: Vietnam’ online component will feature veterans and others sharing their memories from Vietnam through three to four-minute pieces. They will premiere on WVIA.org weekly for the six weeks leading up to the premiere of The Vietnam War.

Audio from selected interviews for “War Stories: Vietnam” will air on WVIA-FM’s Artscene, hosted by Erika Funke. The interviews will focus on artwork that has been inspired by the Vietnam War from local artists. WVIA-FM is also producing “Music of the Vietnam Era” which highlights the music of the 1960s featured in Ken Burns' 'The Vietnam War' documentary and will tell the stories behind the songs.

WVIA television will host two screenings of the one-hour reel of The Vietnam War for veterans in the WVIA HD studio theater. An hour-long panel discussion on the Vietnam War will follow each screening. Those screenings will be filmed for television and will air on the two Fridays following the documentary event’s premiere.

WVIA’s marketing department will share each of these initiatives across all platforms, including television, radio, website, and social media. WVIA is partnering with local veterans’ organizations and media outlets to help spread the word of the national documentary's premiere as well as WVIA’s 'War Stories: Vietnam' initiatives.

 

WVPT – Harrisonburg, VA


WVPT plans to capture and share the stories of the Vietnam generation while also tackling the current issue of Veterans’ homelessness and unemployment.  The station will be partnering with the City of Charlottesville, UVA Health System services for vets, The Haven which provides job & psychological counseling services for homeless vets, VA Law School legal help for vets, Senior Center JABA and their services for senior veterans for a Veteran's Job/Education/Health Fair that will become an annual event.

At the Fair, WVPT will set up a station to capture Veteran's stories. WVPT, PVCC and Lighthouse will seek additional stories from the community prior to the event.  Stories will be released online and combined into a local 30 to 60 minute documentary to air prior to The Vietnam War and throughout the weeks preceding Veterans Day.

WVPT will also be working with the UVA Department of Drama to present reading from “Pieces of My Heart” followed by a panel discussion with veteran Vietnam War nurses hosted by the UVA School of Nursing. 

In addition, WVPT and American Legion #74 are doing a reading of the names of those on the Washington, DC Vietnam Wall memorial at Charlottesville’s Vietnam Memorial which is the first memorial in the US.  This group of vets will parade to a downtown C’ville art gallery for a gallery opening of a photography exhibit of Vietnam vets who are listed on the Washington DC Vietnam Wall Memorial.

In August, WVPT is partnering with the Lockin’ Music Festival to promote the film series and screen the 30 PBS Preview Special on the Forest State to tie in with John Fogerty’s performances.



WXXI – Rochester, NY


WXXI plans to offer Music of the Era on its live Open Tunings Show, as well as educational interviews related to the show. The station is planning several screening and discussions, which will feature guest panelists drawn from diverse audiences such as veterans, peace activists, Vietnamese immigrants, and Vietnam War educators and experts.

WXXI will have a screening and discussion with theatrical artists or authors that have done work related to Vietnam War. The station is also working on a gallery space to showcase Vietnamese arts and culture, historical poster collection, and photos of Vietnam, then and now. Additionally, the Theatre is planning a week of performances by local artists related to the topic.


WXXI provides opportunities for courageous conversations on their call-in radio talk show, Connections with Evan Dawson. WXXI will plan to host Ken Burns via call-in on Connections in advance of their screening & Courageous Conversation events in order to drive interest in the events and in the viewing The Vietnam War series.

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