"Ten Things I Wish I Knew Before She Died"

360 North is broadcasting a special event on Friday, May 5. Together with the Foundation for End of Life Care, we bring you Dr. Lani Leary. Dr. Leary visited Alaska this past week and provided a heartwarming and entertaining presentation full of practical advice about preparing for the end of our lives.

Leary is a specialist in end-of-life care and bereavement with over 24 years experience in private practice. She offers insight, guidance and suggestions on how to empower yourselves and others to make a positive difference about life and death.

"Ten Things I Wish I Knew Before She Died"
with Dr. Lani Leary

Friday, May 2 - 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm
Sunday, May 4 - 8:00 am

More Survey Results

Part of the grant funding that helped start 360 North was earmarked for audience research. Last fall we put out a request for proposals to Alaska companies looking for those who might like to take a shot at media research for 360 North.

Late in 2007 we hired Hays Research Group. Anne Hays has been wonderfully accommodating and crafted a plan to conduct three phone surveys and three focus groups on our limited budget. Two of the focus groups have been facilitated. One of those took place in Bethel and one, earlier this month, in Sitka. The third will soon be conducted in Anchorage.

The first statewide phone survey took place in January, right after we started 360 North. We reported some of those results when they were tabulated. The second phone survey was fielded two weeks ago. The most notable change from January to April was a marked increase in name recognition for both Gavel to Gavel Alaska and 360 North.

•360 North name recognition went from 17 percent to 22 percent during those three months. (+5%)

•Gavel to Gavel Alaska name recognition rose from 48 percent to 60 percent. (+11%)

Gavel to Gavel programming was the predominate block of programming on 360 North from Jan. 15 until April 13 because of the legislative session coverage.

Nuclear Awareness Conference

In accordance with the Hiroshima Peace Museum, The Marshall Island Government, Veteran’s for Peace, Skagway City Council, Haines High School, Alpha Phi Omega (Alpha Zeta Theta Chapter) and the UAS Chancellors office, the University of Alaska Southeast held the Nuclear Awareness Conference on April 18, 19 and 20.

The UAS Campus Technology department at UAS provided television coverage of the three day event. Many of the presentations have been made available for broadcast on 360 North.

University of Alaska southeast
Nuclear Awareness Conference

Wednesday, April 23
Thursday, April 24
8:00 pm

It's Spring

For the past few years, the UAS Spring Forum has provided an opportunity for Juneau and the UAS campus community to come together to learn about important issues, engage interesting questions, and challenge assumptions. This year is no different: a full slate of interesting panelists present ideas and participate in discussions.

The Forum turns to Juneau as a case study to ask an important question facing many Alaska communities. What will it take to achieve environmentally acceptable and sustainable electricity power generation? The forum involves presentations, demonstrations, and round-table discussions that explore the problems of achieving energy sustainability.

Topics include:

• Local and global perspectives on sustainability
• Peak oil
• Hydroelectric Power vs. Fossil Fuel Burning
• Prospects for renewable energy in Southeast Alaska
• Impacts of climate change on runoff and hydro-electric potential in Juneau
• Bio-diesel Production
• University of Alaska Southeast efforts toward becoming sustainable
  

Spring Forum

Monday, April 21
starting at 8 p.m.
continuing
Tuesday, April 22
all day

Anyone and Everyone

Anyone and Everyone: An Alaskan Perspective

Statewide Television Special

KTOO-TV, Juneau is proud to announce the statewide broadcast of the national documentary Anyone and Everyone. The film tells the stories of families from across the United States who are all connected by having a son or daughter who is gay. This poignant and often heart wrenching documentary by first-time filmmaker Susan Polis Schutz reveals families struggles and desires to accept their child’s sexual orientation.

Anyone and Everyone features families from a diverse range of religious and cultural backgrounds. These parents share intimate accounts of their experiences when their children revealed to them that they were gay. While some showed unconditional support, many struggled with their child’s sexual orientation. In Alaska, this national program is presented with a local outreach project in conjunction with PFLAG-Juneau and made possible by funding from Iron Zeal Films.

KTOO produced a companion program, Anyone and Everyone: An Alaska Perspective. The program is a discussion of the issues and problems that families face in dealing with the reality that a child may be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in Alaska. Juneau mayor Bruce Botelho hosts Casady Herding, The Reverend Mark Boesser, Willie Anderson and Karen Donovan who bring a unique Alaska perspective, share personal stories and Alaska resources.

Broadcast Schedule

Thursday, April 17

KAKM-TV, Anchorage – 8:00 to 9:30 pm
AlaskaOne and 360 North – 9:00 to 10:30 pm

Saturday, April 19

ARCS and 360 North – 7:00 to 8:30 pm

TONIGHT

The new 360 North news hour starts tonight.

BBC World News - 7:00 pm

Alaska Weather - 7:30 pm

Monday - Friday

Alaska Weather

Alaska Weather is coming to 360 North!

For many, many years our sister station KAKM-Anchorage has produced the nightly Alaska Weather program in collaboration with the National Weather Service.

The program is produced in KAKM's Anchorage studio and broadcast over KAKM, AlaskaOne and ARCS at 5:30 pm. Beginning April 14, Alaska Weather will be broadcast on 360 North weeknights at 7:30 pm immediately following the BBC World News.

Join National Weather Service meteorologist and host Jim Peronto for a half-hour of weather news from around the state.

BBC World News - 7:00 pm
Alaska Weather - 7:30 pm
Weeknights on 360 North

Our Turn

Last week, the Juneau Empire ran an article about 360 North and Gavel to Gavel Alaska. A portion of the article focused on how KTOO's legislative coverage and other 360 North programming was integrated in the schedule.

Bill Legere, KTOO general manager, wrote a My Turn response which appeared on the Empire editorial page last Friday. The text from that piece is included below.

* * *

The Empire story titled “Network cuts back Capitol broadcasting” (4/2) raised some important questions about Gavel to Gavel Alaska and 360 North.

KTOO has produced C-Span-style television coverage of the Legislature since 1994. From humble beginnings when we broadcast the Legislature only from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, the service has grown and expanded so now we provide as much as 13 or 14 hours a day of legislative coverage, seven days a week. With major financial support from the community of Juneau and an ongoing investment in new technology on KTOO’s part, we reach nearly every Alaskan on cable, satellite and broadcast television, and a worldwide audience on the web.

In addition KTOO streams the audio from virtually every meeting in the capitol. The audio is archived so that the public can listen anytime. This web service is drawing a very large audience – 21,678 unique users since the Legislature convened in January.

We’re also investigating a number of new initiatives to improve our current service. In the past year, we’ve added DirecTV and Dish viewers to the service, and started offering 360 North on free over-the-air TV channels in Anchorage and Juneau. We’re looking at ways to expand our coverage of state boards and commissions, and how we can add coverage of important events in communities other than Juneau. On the technology front, we’re looking into providing faster and better webcasting service, multiple online video channels, video on demand and two-way video between Juneau and other Alaska communities.

As one of these new initiatives, we launched “360 North” last December as a pilot project to provide a wider range of Alaskan programming to statewide viewers. Gavel to Gavel Alaska is the centerpiece of 360 North, and our goal is to complement Gavel to Gavel by surrounding it with public policy, public affairs, history, science and cultural programming. Until last December, the Gavel to Gavel channel went dark in most communities as soon as the legislature adjourned. We are working hard to build a year-round channel that draws in new viewers, many of whom will stay around to watch Gavel to Gavel.

We have not reduced our coverage of the Legislature. Our policy is to run as late at night as we need to present live and first run recorded legislative coverage, and repeats when the schedule allows. We are preempting regular programming almost every day to present full legislative coverage. We have chosen to do fewer repeats of legislative coverage to allow us time to present other programs of high interest to Alaskans, like coverage of the Permanent Fund trustees, the World Affairs Council, science lectures, Native programming and other shows of interest to Alaskan audiences.

360 North’s Gavel to Gavel programming is aimed at a statewide audience. The programming is designed not only to serve people who live in Juneau and work at the capitol, but for the general public across Alaska. Our goal is to make 360 North and Gavel to Gavel Alaska household words, and to present a year round schedule that’s easy to find on the TV dial and draws a large statewide audience.

Gavel to Gavel was a bold experiment in 1994, and we will continue to experiment with projects to reach more viewers and to become more important to Alaskans. We’ve heard from many who love the new Alaskan programming, and from some who would like to see more of the legislative meetings repeated. In an effort to learn what Alaskans really want from this new channel, we’re launching an online survey at www.ktoo.org/gavel, and within the next two weeks an Anchorage research firm will conduct independent research through a statewide poll and a series of focus group meetings. With that information we’ll adjust our schedules to try to accommodate all Alaskan interests.

KTOO plays an important role in connecting Juneau to the rest of Alaska, and we take that role seriously. Our mission calls for us to use innovative technology to connect our community and to promote civic participation. We look forward to working with Alaskans to make the service even better in the years ahead.

Juneau Empire Listings

The Select TV Sunday section of the Juneau Empire newspaper now includes the listings for 360 North. Starting yesterday, the Empire will run the listings weekly in the Broadcast Station line-up with the other local television offerings.

We Want to Know What You Think...

So we're taking a poll.

We’re looking for your opinion about Gavel to Gavel Alaska on 360 North! If you’re a viewer, we invite you to take a brief online survey so that we can learn more about how we’re doing and how you use the service.

We’ll ask you to answer 12 questions, and it should only take a few minutes of your time. Your answers are confidential, and the survey results will help us plan for the future. To take the survey online

CLICK HERE.

In Memory of Tom Stewart

On Saturday, April 5, the people of Juneau will hold a Celebration of Life event to remember Judge Tom Stewart. Stewart was the secretary of the Alaska Constitutional Convention, a lawyer, member of the Territorial House, and a state senator. For years he was the director of the Alaska Court system and a superior court judge. A decorated soldier during World War II, Stewart dedicated almost his entire life to his family, Alaska and Juneau.

To help honor and remember this Alaska Statehood Pioneer, 360 North will provide statewide television coverage of the Celebration of Life program.

A Celebration of Life
Thomas B. Stewart

broadcasts
April 5, 1:00 pm (live) if legislative coverage permits
April 5, 8:00 pm (same day delayed)
April 6, 8:00 am (repeat)

From 8:00 pm on April 4, until the morning of April 6, 360 North will be broadcasting a number of public television programs in which Tom Stewart participated. This will help us all remember and celebrate the extensive and varied contribution he made to Alaska throughout his life.