If you are among the thousands of San Diegans for whom Ken Kramer’s About San Diego is must-see TV on Thursday nights, this springtime promises fresh delights. The show has a developed a passionate following going back to its commercial radio origins in the 1980s when Ken spun local history and human-interest stories during morning and afternoon drive time shows on KSDO alongside broadcast legends like Ernie Myers and sportscaster Ron Reina.
About San Diego’s television life began as a volunteer effort in 1980 when Ken organized a group of community history enthusiasts using borrowed equipment to cobble together some half hour KPBS broadcasts featuring odd and little-known facts about our county.
After a dozen years as a news reporter and About San Diego storyteller at NBC7, the program came back to KPBS for good in 2010 and has since become one of the station’s most popular offerings.
After his retirement from regular production of the KPBS Television series Ken Kramer’s About San Diego a few years ago, Ken was urged by station management to put together some occasional new episodes. So, fast forward to now! beginning in April and continuing each month through the summer, Ken and his producer Suzanne Bartole will offer previously unseen stories about the people and history of the area we call home. KPBS Passport members will get a sneak preview of each new episode on the First of the Month, with a television broadcast debut to follow on the second Thursday of each month in the show’s usual 8:00 PM time slot.
The first new episode will be seen by KPBS-TV viewers in San Diego and Imperial Counties on Thursday April 11 and features rare film footage of historic efforts by San Diego entrepreneurs who dreamed of building an automobile that could fly. We are introduced to Carmen Castaneda, one of the few remaining Rosie The Riveter women who worked in San Diego’s defense industry during World War 2, Historian Seth Mallios makes his show debut with a story behind a barely noticed military memorial on the San Diego State University campus, and a 70-year perspective on the Aztecs amazing run to basketball’s Final Four.
www.kpbs.org
