Edison's Miracle of Light on American Experience

Edison's Miracle of Light on American Experience

  

In September 1878, when Thomas Edison announced his intention to harness Niagara Falls and produce a safe, electric light system, gas stocks plummeted on Wall Street. It was said that soon, only the rich could afford candles.

While "the Wizard of Menlo Park" and his staff would, in time, develop all the components needed for an electrical system -- bulbs, sockets, switches, wires, junction boxes, power meters, voltage regulators -- Edison himself became caught in a web of personal, patent, and corporate battles. In the end, Thomas Edison revolutionized the world, yet lost control of the industry that he founded.

Produced by Rocky Collins. Peter Coyote narrates.

Rhode Island PBS premieres Edison's Miracle of Light January 29 at 8 p.m.

Beyond the Flames - Rhode Island Spotlight with Jim Hummel

Beyond the Flames

Chances are you’ve seen, or been to, the annual Flames of Hope torch lighting and road races over the Columbus Day Weekend. This month Jim Hummel takes a look at the vast array of work the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource foundation is doing the rest of the year and introduces you to some of the lives the foundation has touched.

This week's video may be seen on the following channels and times:

Rhode Island PBS
Thu 01/08 at 12:22 p.m.
Sat 01/10 at 9:51 p.m.
Mon 01/12 at 3:22 a.m.

Learn
Tue 01/13 at 9:53 p.m.
Wed 01/14 at 4:53 a.m.


The entire Rhode Island Spotlight series can be found here.

WSBE Learn: Great Performances at The Met in January

WSBE Learn: Great Performances at the Met 

WSBE Learn is your destination for opera every Saturday night. Great Performances at the Met presents a variety of what you love in opera, and yours is always the best front-row seat in the house! Check our listings on Learn for new and encore performances every month. 

Make note to reserve your place for the following performances. Five Saturdays in January means you can enjoy a bonus show this month! Enjoy. 

January 3 - Don Giovanni - Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads his first Met performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni in a new production directed by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage in his Met debut.

January 10 - Satyagraha - "Almost all the techniques of protest--now the common currency of contemporary political life--were invented and perfected by Gandhi during his South Africa years," Philip Glass has said. See stills from the revival of Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch's 2008 innovative production of Satyagraha, Glass' opera covering Gandhi's early life in South Africa.

January 17 - Rodelinda - Renée Fleming reprises one of her most popular interpretations: the title role in Handel's Rodelinda, under the baton of Baroque specialist Harry Bicket in the revival of Stephen Wadsworth's acclaimed production. 

January 24 - Faust - Three of the opera world's leading stars-Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and René Pape-sing the principal roles in a new production of Gounod's Faust, directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff in his Met debut. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of the opera.

January 31 - Le Nozze di Figaro - Met music director James Levine conducts a spirited new production of Mozart's masterpiece, directed by Richard Eyre, who sets the action of this classic domestic comedy in an 18th-century manor house in Seville during the 1930s. Dashing bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov leads the cast in the title role of the clever servant, opposite Marlis Petersen as his bride, Susanna, Peter Mattei as the philandering count they work for, Amanda Majeski as the long-suffering countess, and Isabel Leonard as the libidinous pageboy, Cherubino.

Scene from Le Nozze di Figaro

East Coast Antiques premieres January 9 - Have you seen the tease?

Just about one week to go before East Coast Antiques, the fun, funny, and fact-filled series begins on Rhode Island PBS.

Grab the popcorn (or tea and scones) and tune in Friday, January 9 at 8:30 p.m. - the perfect lead in to the 9 p.m. Season 5 premiere of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece!

Have you seen this tease yet?



More about the show in our previous post here.