[78-L] Did I sleep through this?

[David Lennick]

http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20080207_onrecord.html

Was this ever mentioned here? Did it ever air? Can a woman over 35?

PBS GREENLIGHTS
“ON RECORD: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES” HOSTED BY SIR GEORGE MARTIN

New Television Series from Wildheart Entertainment Launches
Multi-Pronged Project to Include Companion Web Site on pbs.org, CDs, DVDs,
Books and More

(February 7, 2008; Washington, DC) PBS in conjunction with Wildheart 
Entertainment announced today the greenlighting of a major new television 
series, ON RECORD: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES, an eight-hour series that 
traces the history of recorded music and its impact on popular culture. 
Featuring hundreds of artists from all genres of music, ON RECORD: THE 
SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES is slated to air nationally as a primetime series in 
the Fall of 2010 on PBS; Sir George Martin, legendary producer of the Beatles, 
will host. Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey will narrate.

The television series and an extensive educational outreach initiative, 
including the companion Web site on pbs.org, will be the centerpiece of an 
ambitious multi-pronged project expected to include a companion CD box-set and 
branded CD series, 12-hour DVD/home video series, accompanying books, a 
multi-genre worldwide radio show and broadcasting through internet portals 
globally.

“ON RECORD: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES is a project intrinsically dear to my 
heart and one that I have been developing with Wildheart Entertainment for over 
five years,” said Sir George Martin, legendary Beatles producer, recipient of 
the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and producer of more than 50 number-one 
hit records. “I am just thrilled that PBS has joined us as our primetime 
broadcaster. ON RECORD affords me the opportunity to work again with so many of 
the artists I have worked with throughout my life and to tell a story that has 
never been told in such a comprehensive way. Music is the only common thread 
and universal language that binds us together, regardless of race, nationality, 
age or income. And recorded music is how we experience it and what makes it 
accessible.”

“I’m delighted to be a part of this remarkable, definitive series for PBS,” 
said Spacey. “ON RECORD illustrates how in a little more than a century 
recording technology has moved from wax cylinders to digital downloads. These 
extraordinary changes have come to define not only music, but who we are as 
individuals and as a society.”

ON RECORD has been in development by Wildheart executives Maxim Langstaff and 
Michele Langstaff with Sir George Martin for more than five years. Both have 
been working with Sir George for more than a decade in conjunction with the 
successful “Making of Sergeant Pepper” multi-media events, and both will serve 
as creators and executive producers of ON RECORD. Also serving as executive 
producer for the series is Phil Quartararo, former president of EMI Music 
Marketing, founding president and CEO, Virgin Records, and president of Warner 
Music. Emmy Award-winning Alan Benson (BBC, Walt Disney) is the series director.

“ON RECORD tells the story of how the most universal mass medium of the 20th 
century marked the emergence of pop culture worldwide,” said project visionary 
Maxim Langstaff, “how the competition between the urban middle class and the 
rural working class came to define popular music and in so doing, made possible 
the breakthrough of minority cultures into mainstream consciousness.”

ON RECORD will feature artists from all genres of music including pop, jazz, 
classical, R&B, folk, rock and country. Told as a narrative tapestry weaving 
the words of today’s living legends with memorable musical moments, landmark 
cultural events and inspiring inventions/innovations, ON RECORD will consist of 
new interviews with top music icons and legends, historic archival performances 
and never-before-seen footage exclusive to ON RECORD. Hundreds of artists will 
be featured, including the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, 
Aretha Franklin, Benny Goodman, Quincy Jones, Elton John, B.B. King, Alison 
Krauss, Paul McCartney, Les Paul, Paul Simon, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, the 
Carter Family, Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, Enrico Caruso, Luciano Pavarotti, 
Muddy Waters, Stevie Wonder, Peter, Paul & Mary, Woody Guthrie, John Denver, 
Loretta Lynn, Buddy Holly, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Jay-Z, the Rolling Stones, 
Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald and scores of others. Their comments — 
punctuated with their music — illuminate and reinforce the impact of the 
world’s most pervasive mass entertainment medium.

“So many of us carry in our heads a musical soundtrack that gives our lives 
meaning and vibrancy,” said John F. Wilson, Sr. Vice President & Chief TV 
Programming Executive, PBS. “Music is such an important art form for 
understanding our shared culture and history; this was a natural for PBS to 
greenlight. We feel confident this project, supported with extensive 
educational outreach, will be one of those monumental and long-lasting series 
that PBS is so well known for.”

ON RECORD tells the story of how recorded music and its distribution and 
consumption have transformed American life. The technology spawned radio, 
movies, television and the Internet and gave birth to popular culture. In 
little more than a century, recording technology moved from the first tin-foil 
and wax cylinders to flat discs; from 78 to 33 and 45 rpm speeds; from the 
acoustic horn to 128-track recording; from magnetic tape to digital downloads. 
The series’ educational outreach will provide teachers with a curriculum guide 
and source materials to help students discover or reconnect with their history 
and culture through the universal language of music.

Recorded in HD and 5.1 surround sound, ON RECORD: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES 
is produced by Wildheart Entertainment, L.P. Wildheart Entertainment manages 
and produces artists, creative content and media products in film, music, 
television, publishing and the Internet, and was created in response to the 
changing landscape of entertainment and communications today.

PBS is a media enterprise that serves 355 public noncommercial television 
stations and reaches nearly 73 million people each week through on-air and 
online content. Bringing diverse viewpoints to television and the Internet, PBS 
provides high-quality documentary and dramatic entertainment, and consistently 
dominates the most prestigious award competitions. PBS is a leading provider of 
digital learning content for pre-K-12 educators, and offers a broad array of 
other educational services. More information about PBS is available at 
www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org Web sites on the Internet.