WQED Brings Multitude of Events to Arts Festival

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 30, 2013

CONTACT: George Hazimanolis
412-622-1366 ghazimanolis@wqed.org


Maria Pisano
412-622-1459 mpisano@wqed.org

WQED TO DRAW MAJOR CROWD TO THE THREE RIVERS ARTS FESTIVAL

PITTSBURGH – WQED Pittsburgh will have a major presence at this year’s Three Rivers Arts
Festival.  iQ Kids Radio will bring a multitude of events to the festival and Classical WQED-FM
89.3 will broadcast live from the festival on June 10 and will also provide highlights from the
Festival during its ten-day run.

On June 10 at 1 and 5 p.m. the Dollar Bank Stage will be the site of performances by the winners from WQED-FM’s Musical Kids classical music competition: Rebecca Chen, Joey Comella, Suvir Merchandani, Nathan Pallotta, Fiona Stauffer, and Lily Wang.  Also that day, the internationally recognized Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will perform on the Dollar Bank Stage at 7 p.m.

iQ Kids Radio, a new web-based radio station that streams every Saturday at iqkidsradio.org, will host numerous events on June 15 and 16 at the Family Stage in the Giant Eagle Creativity Zone.  On both June 15 and 16 at 4 p.m. award-winning children’s artist Kira Willey will perform her acoustic themed songs so that kids can sing along.  After each performance, Kira will sign autographs, with iQ Kids Members getting top priority to meet her.

iQ Kids Radio will also host two themed dance parties over the weekend.  The first is the Sand and Surf Dance Party on June 15 and 16 at noon, which will feature music that will make anyone want to come down and boogey (board).  The second dance party, the Jungle Animals themed dance, is on June 15 at 3 p.m. and is guaranteed to have everyone in attendance monkeying around.  At 1:30 p.m. on June 15, the Pittsburgh Puppet Works will perform “Recipe for a Clue” a play based finalists’ stories from PBS Kids Go! Writer’s Contest.  Finally, local singers and songwriters will put on an acoustic performance for kids on Sunday called AcoustiKids.

Below is the complete schedule of WQED activities:

Monday, June 10 (Classical Music Day)

1:00-1:30 p.m. and 5:00-5:30 p.m — Winners from the Musical Kids classical music competition will perform on the Dollar Bank Stage.

7:00-8:30 p.m. — WQED-FM 89.3 will broadcast the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Live from the Dollar Bank Stage.

Saturday, June 15

12-1 p.m. — The waves are high for this iQ Kids Radio Dance party at the Family Stage!

1:30-2:30 p.m.—Come to the Family Stage to see the Pittsburgh Puppet Works put on “Recipe for a Clue,” based on stories created by finalists of the PBS Kids Go! Writer’s Contest.

3-4 p.m. — Join us for a roarin’ good time at the iQ Kids Radio Jungle Animals themed dance party at the Family Stage!

4-5 p.m.—Kira Willey will perform acoustic, feel-great music on the Family Stage presented by iQ Kids Radio.

5-6 p.m. — iQ Kids Club members will have an opportunity to meet Kira Willey and get her autograph.  Also, feel free to bring a blanket and some food for a picnic after the show.

Sunday, June 16

12-1 p.m. — The waves are high for this iQ Kids Radio Dance party at the Family Stage!

1-2 p.m. and 4-5 p.m.—Kira Willey will perform acoustic, feel-great music on the Family Stage presented by iQ Kids Radio.

5-6 p.m. — iQ Kids Club members will have an opportunity to meet Kira Willey and get her autograph.  Also, feel free to bring a blanket and some food for a picnic after the show.

2-4 p.m. — Come enjoy music by the best new singer-songwriters in Pittsburgh during
AcoustiKids at the Family Stage.

WQED Pittsburgh has a proud history of honors, including 134 National and Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Awards, an Academy Award, and many, many others, including two Emmy® Awards for Station Excellence. WQED was founded in 1954 as the nation’s first community-supported broadcaster. The people of WQED create, produce and distribute quality programs, products and services to engage, inform, educate and entertain the public within their community and around the world. It is the parent company of WQED-TV (PBS); WQED: The Neighborhood Channel; WQED: The Create Channel; WQED Showcase; Classical WQED-FM 89.3/Pittsburgh; Classical WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; the Pittsburgh Concert Channel at WQED-HD2 (89.3-2FM) and online at www.wqed.org/fm; local and national television and radio productions; WQED Interactive (www.wqed.org) and iQ: smartmedia, WQED’s Educational initiative (www.wqed.org/edu).

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Online Radio Service for Children Launches

WQED and SLB RADIO PRODUCTIONS, INC. LAUNCH COMMERCIAL-FREE KIDS RADIO
Free online radio service for children and families launches


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 1st, 2013

CONTACTS:
 WQED
 George Hazimanolis
 412-622-1366
 ghaziman@wqed.org

SLB
 Larry Berger
 412-586-6300 x1
 larry@slbradio.org

JLP
 Christina Kepplinger Johansen
 412-488-9270
 president@jlpgh.org

WQED and SLB RADIO PRODUCTIONS, INC. LAUNCH COMMERCIAL-FREE KIDS RADIO
 Free online radio service for children and families launches

PITTSBURGH—Something’s in the air… iQ Kids Radio can now be heard every Saturday at www.iqkidsradio.org with engaging programming for children and families. Launched in January and developed as a collaboration between WQED and SLB Radio Productions, Inc. (SLB), iQ Kids Radio is designed to meet the need for an all-education, trusted radio service for children and families, iQ Kids Radio is a family-friendly commercial-free streaming radio service that provides a safe, entertaining, and fun way to learn, listen, laugh and much more. The service is free during the pilot phase of the project. It can be heard from Midnight Friday to Midnight EST every Saturday.

Grounded in more than 75 years of combined experience in delivering high-quality public radio and television to our region and beyond, this new, innovative service leverages the assets of WQED, PBS, SLB, and the popular Saturday Light Brigade radio show to serve families with children 10 and under.

Seed funding for iQ Kids Radio is provided by The Junior League of Pittsburgh, Inc., a founding partner. Additional support is provided by The Grable Foundation and the James McCandless Charitable Trust.

Listening is easy by simply clicking visiting www.iQkidsradio.org or by using the free TuneIn Radio App available for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. The TuneIn app can be accessed and, if necessary, installed at tinyurl.com/iqkidsradio-tunein.

You can also connect through social media on Twitter @iqkidsradio or
www.facebook.com/iQKidsRadio.

Want to be on iQ Kids Radio?
Call 855-323-KIDS (5437) and leave us a message about how to make a yummy recipe, where you are traveling this spring, a wish for the new year, or sing us your favorite song. You may also email us at wehearyou@iqkidsradio.org with your feedback!

Additional information

iQ Kids Radio currently operates as a Saturday-only streaming service with original programming running for 24 hours from midnight Friday night to midnight Saturday night. The current programming lineup includes the following (all times are Eastern):

Sweet Dreams – Midnight to 6am
 Classical music for kids and adults soothe the soul for a dreamy night.

The Saturday Light Brigade – 6am to Noon
The region’s national award-winning radio program for kids, adults and everyone in between.

Music & Family Fun – Noon – 4pm
 From worldly grooves to swinging sing-a-longs, afternoons rock on iQ Kids Radio.

Let’s Learn – 4pm to 8pm
 A program full of songs and stories of science, math, and the wondrous world around us.

DJ Daddy Dance Party – 8pm to 9pm
 For parents and babysitters – a packed hour of dance until you’re on the floor party until it’s bedtime music.

Bedtime Stories – 9pm to 10pm
 The calming effect of a great story as the kids wind down for the night.

Night Night – 10pm to Midnight
 A combination of soft lullabies and classic stories.

Children, families and caregivers can sign up now at www.iQkidsradio.org to receive information about iQ Kids Radio or submit ideas and music. The site also includes a section where kids and parents can submit programming suggestions.

The need for iQ Kids Radio

Multimedia and technology are changing daily. Youth ages 8-18 use media—
 television, music players, computers, and video games—for nearly eleven hours each day, and kids under age eight spend eight hours with multimedia each day. We know that media shapes children’s cultural beliefs and norms in powerful ways. While there are numerous media offerings “for children” across various media platforms, very few adopt high-quality educational standards.

The concept of iQ Kids Radio

iQ Kids Radio blends age-appropriate content from multiple disciplines---language, science, music appreciation, geography, and more—into a 24/7 streaming audio format currently providing original content as a Saturday-only service. As the service develops, iQ Kids Radio will also explore offering individual programs for on-demand listening, podcast and national distribution. Such programs may focus on storytelling, language lessons, music from diverse genres and music listening tips, children's literature, food chemistry, and other subjects that strengthen academic achievement, sharpen core life skills, and engage children and adults together. Programming also will include youth-created music, storytelling and news/commentary based on listener submissions and SLB’s work with more than 8,000 children annually.

The Junior League of Pittsburgh (JLP), a founding partner, selected iQ Kids Radio as its three-year signature project. Through this award, the JLP will provide administrative and volunteer support to launch iQ Kids Radio as well as financial support totaling $45,000. JLP members will focus on two areas of iQ Kids Radio: business strategy and event planning. Additionally, JLP members will design and implement signature events that will be critical to the project’s growth. At the conclusion of its three-year partnership, iQ Kids Radio will be poised to be self-sufficient and prepared to expand its capacity as an innovative resource, created in Pittsburgh, to support families and children around the country.

For more information about iQ Kids Radio, please visit www.iQkidsradio.org.
Photographs are available for download from WQED’s pressroom at www.wqed.org/pressroom.

WQED Multimedia www.wqed.org
 The people of WQED Multimedia produce, create and distribute quality content and services to engage, inform, educate, and entertain the public within their community and around the world. WQED was the nation’s first community-supported television station and went on the air on April 1, 1954.

The WQED Education Department has an illustrious history of service and innovation to local and national students, families, educators, and care providers. Today, WQED’s Education Department helps provide effective lifelong learning to the entire region. WQED’s new six-year strategy, iQ: smartmedia, launched in September of 2010 and has been aggressively aiming for its goal – to transform the way media is used for education – ever since.

With a lineup that attracts children from toddlers to teens, WQED is an essential part of every childhood. WQED commits 12 hours of every weekday schedule to high quality children's programming parents can count on. In addition, WQED offers connections to PBS KIDS, PBS Teachers and PBS Parents through its website, wqed.org. WQED has enriched the lives of children with their own productions as well as the educationally robust and entertaining lineup of PBS KIDS’s programming on subjects as diverse as global thinking, reading, and science. WQED was also the home of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, produced by Family Communications, Inc. (now the fred Rogers Company) for more than 40 years. More information is available at www.wqed.org/education.

SLB Radio Productions, Inc
 A nonprofit with twelve employees, SLB began pursuing its mission in 1978 with The Saturday Light Brigade, a Saturday morning public radio program that blends acoustic music, live performances by youth and adults, participatory puzzles, on-air telephone calls, and interviews with other community-based nonprofits serving youth and families. Programming grew substantially between 1990 and 2000, as SLB built a strong and loyal audience, winning 10 local, state and national awards. In 2004, with support from the broadcast industry, foundations, corporations and individual donors, SLB opened a $250,000 broadcast studio and training complex in the expanded Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. SLB has since emerged as a hub of community and educational activity. Its work today focuses on (1) continued production of The Saturday Light Brigade radio program and its extension as a vehicle to promote youth voice and (2) school and in-studio workshops in which experienced radio broadcasters and sound engineers work with children to explore self-expression as well as the tools used to collect and process audio into a creative work. More information about SLB is available at www.slbradio.org and www.neighborhoodvoices.org.

Junior League of Pittsburgh, Inc.
The Junior League of Pittsburgh educates and trains its members to provide effective volunteer service, to research challenging community needs, and to initiate pilot projects or expand services to meet those needs. Nearly 400 League women volunteer 10,000 hours annually in the Pittsburgh community. The organization provides administrative, financial, and volunteer support for projects and facilitates the permanent sponsorship of programs by other community organizations. Over the past ten years, the League has contributed over $500,000 in community donations and grants.

The League has a 90-plus-year history of high profile community projects. These include the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Transplant Recipients International Organization (TRIO), Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, The Caring Place, and others. Today, the League remains an innovator with a focus on creating opportunities that enhance children’s well-being and inspire their curiosity.

In 2012, the League selected iQ Kids Radio as a signature project. As a founding partner, the League will contribute $45,000 in seed funding and 7,500 hours of administrative and volunteer support over the next three years. The League’s trained volunteers will design and help implement new outreach, promotional, and business strategies aimed at sustaining iQ Kids Radio. The League first supported WQED at its inception on air in 1954 by creating children’s television programming for ten years.
 Additional Junior League of Pittsburgh information is available at www.jlpgh.org.

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

WQED and SLB Announce Funding for iQ Kids Radio

WQED and SLB ANNOUNCE FUNDING FOR iQ KIDS RADIO

The Junior League of Pittsburgh, Inc. has selected iQ Kids Radio
 as its next three-year signature project.

PITTSBURGH - - iQ Kids Radio www.iQkidsradio.org is an innovative new model of engagement for children and families that meets the need for an all-education, trusted radio channel that caregivers can rely on. Developed as a collaboration between WQED and SLB Radio Productions (SLB) and set for launch in early 2013, iQ Kids Radio will be a noncommercial streaming radio that provides a safe, entertaining, and fun way to learn, listen, laugh and much more.

Seed funding for iQ Kids Radio is provided by The Junior League of Pittsburgh, Inc., a founding partner.

Grounded in more than 75 years of combined experience in delivering high-quality public radio to our region and beyond, this new, innovative model leverages the assets of WQED, PBS, SLB, and the popular Saturday Light Brigade radio show to develop a streaming media platform for families with children ages birth to 12 as well as programming for teens and parents.

Children, families and caregivers can sign up now at www.iQkidsradio.org to receive information about the channel in advance of its 2013 premiere. The site includes a section where parents can submit suggestions about the type of content that may appeal to their children and includes more information about iQ Kids Radio.

The need for iQ Kids Radio

Multimedia and technology are changing daily. Youth ages 8-18 use media- television, music players, computers, and video games - for nearly eleven hours each day, and kids under age eight spend eight hours with multimedia each day. We know that media shapes children’s cultural beliefs and norms in powerful ways. While there are numerous media offerings “for children” across various media platforms, very few adopt high-quality educational standards.

The concept of iQ Kids Radio

iQ Kids Radio will blend age-appropriate content from multiple disciplines-language, science, music appreciation, geography, and more - into a 24/7 streaming audio format as well as offer individual programs for on-demand listening, podcast and national distribution. For example, shows may feature storytelling, language lessons, music from diverse genres and music listening tips, children's literature, food chemistry, and other subjects that strengthen academic achievement, sharpen core life skills, and engage children and adults together. Programming also will include youth-created music, storytelling, and news/commentary based on listener submissions and SLB’s work with more than 8,000 children annually.

The Junior League of Pittsburgh (JLP), a founding partner, has selected iQ Kids Radio as its three-year signature project. Through this award, the JLP will provide administrative and volunteer support to launch iQ Kids Radio as well as financial support totaling $45,000. JLP members will focus on two areas of iQ Kids Radio: business and opportunity planning and event planning. Additionally, JLP members will design and implement signature events that will be critical to the project’s growth. At the conclusion of its three-year partnership, iQ Kids Radio will be poised to be self-sufficient and prepared to expand its capacity as an innovative resource, created in Pittsburgh, to support families and children around the country.

For more information about iQ Kids Radio, please visit www.iQkidsradio.org.
Photographs are available for download from WQED’s pressroom at www.wqed.org/pressroom.

WQED Multimedia www.wqed.org

The people of WQED Multimedia produce, create and distribute quality content and services to engage, inform, educate, and entertain the public within their community and around the world. WQED was the nation’s first community-supported television station and went on the air on April 1, 1954.

The WQED Education Department has an illustrious history of service and innovation to local and national students, families, educators, and care providers. Today, WQED’s Education Department helps provide effective lifelong learning to the entire region. WQED’s new six-year strategy, iQ: smartmedia, launched in September of 2010 and has been aggressively aiming for its goal – to transform the way media is used for education – ever since.

With a lineup that attracts children from toddlers to teens, WQED is an essential part of every childhood. WQED commits 12 hours of every weekday schedule to high quality children's programming parents can count on. In addition, WQED offers connections to PBS KIDS, PBS Teachers and PBS Parents through its website, wqed.org. WQED has enriched the lives of children with their own productions as well as the educationally robust and entertaining lineup of PBS KIDS’s programming on subjects as diverse as global thinking, reading, and science. WQED was also the home of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, produced by Family Communications, Inc. (now the fred Rogers Company) for more than 40 years. More information is available at www.wqed.org/education.



SLB Radio Productions, Inc.

A non-profit with twelve employees, SLB began pursuing its mission in 1978 with The Saturday Light Brigade, a Saturday morning public radio program that blends acoustic music, live performances by youth and adults, participatory puzzles, on-air telephone calls, and interviews with other community-based nonprofits serving youth and families. Programming grew substantially between 1990 and 2000, as SLB built a strong and loyal audience, winning 10 local, state and national awards. In 2004, with support from the broadcast industry, foundations, corporations and individual donors, SLB opened a $250,000 broadcast studio and training complex in the expanded Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. SLB has since emerged as a hub of community and educational activity. Its work today focuses on (1) continued production of The Saturday Light Brigade radio program and its extension as a vehicle to promote youth voice and (2) school and in-studio workshops in which experienced radio broadcasters and sound engineers work with children to explore self-expression as well as the tools used to collect and process audio into a creative work. More information about SLB is available at www.slbradio.org and www.neighborhoodvoices.org.



Junior League of Pittsburgh, Inc.

The Junior League of Pittsburgh’s 400 women volunteers collectively contribute 10,000 volunteer hours annually in the Pittsburgh community. Over the past ten years, the League has donated in excess of $500,000 as either community donations or grants. The League educates and trains its members to provide effective volunteer service, to research challenging community needs, and to initiate pilot projects or expand services to meet those needs. It provides administrative, financial, and volunteer support for projects and facilitates the permanent sponsorship of programs by other community organizations. In October 2012 the Junior League of Pittsburgh will celebrate 90 years of service to the Pittsburgh community. Additional Junior League of Pittsburgh information is available at www.jlpgh.org.

###

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh