Content from WTTW/Chicago

Power pop is arguably one of Americas greatest gifts, The All-American Rejects are champions of the genre. Group members Tyson Ritter, Nick Wheeler, Mike Kennerty, and Chris Gaylor made their mark in 2002 with a memorable self-titled debut, which houses the buoyant hit Swing Swing. The All-American Rejects rev high with big, loud guitars and anthemic choruses. Catch the rocking All-American Rejects wave with Dirty Little Secret, Swing Swing, and The Last Song on Soundstage. The All-American Rejects is like a feel-good summer trip on a sunny highway windows down, great pop blaring, and not a care in the world.

Quintessential alternative rockers, Sonic Youth, celebrate free-form experimentalism while reinforcing their performance-art driven tradition in this Soundstage performance, recorded on May 7, 2003 at WTTW Grainger Studio in Chicago. The band, which settles just outside the realm of definition, delivers a part rock, part free-form noise, part avant-garde punk performance which features a new song "Sympathy for the Strawberry."

Throughout the 1900's, before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1946, black baseball talent blossomed in the Negro Leagues. Baseball buffs still sing the praises of Josh Gibson who could be counted on to hit 70 homeruns in a season, and Satchel Paige who pitched over 100 no-hitters in his career. Only the Ball Was White pays tribute to the many topflight players from the Negro Leagues. Narrated by actor Paul Winfield, the program documents a bygone bittersweet era in baseball and the men who were denied stardom by the color line. Ballplayers throughout the country were interviewed for this program, all of them quick to tell tales of the life, the competition, and the camaraderie. These include: Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Buck Leonard, Jimmy Crutchfield, David Malarcher, Effa Manley, and Quincy Trouppe.

A look at the screen triumphs and private lives of the screen's number-one singing team.

One of the most loved bands in rock history, as well as one of the most commercially successful-with 50 hit songs in the U.S. alone, 18 gold records, a Grammy, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame-Chicago have maintained the unflagging devotion of millions of devoted fans throughout their 37-year career. ...This DVD documents a live show that was broadcast on PBS in June of 2003 where they play many of their hits from throughout their long career, including `25 or Six to Four,` `You`re the Inspiration,` `Saturday in the Park,` and `Beginnings,` among many others.

Taped for a two-part PBS Soundstage, Petty employs the Chicago locale as an entry into the blues and R&B that are at the foundation of rock & roll, and to a lesser extent, his music. This results in a fascinating and exciting show, where the extensive covers are just as interesting as -- and arguably more interesting than -- the few hits he gets around to playing.

Grammy Award-winning folk singer John Prine performs his early classics such as "Angel from Montgomery" and "Hello in There" in this 1980 concert filmed for the PBS series "Soundstage," featuring special guest Billy Lee Riley. Interviews with Prine as he tours his Maywood, Ill., hometown and his acoustic versions of "Paradise" and "How Lucky" punctuate live stage performances of songs from his "Bruised Orange" and "Pink Cadillac" albums.

Memories and home movies of numerous Chicagoans bring the 1940s and '50s alive, from early Chicago television to the patriotic spirit of the war years when everyone pulled together.

The history of Chicago's African-American community told like never before -- through the voices of its leading citizens, scholars, artists, politicians, and business leaders.

Known fondly as the "Queen of the Blues," Koko Taylor began singing in Chicago blues clubs in the 1950s. Her gritty, powerful voice attracted the attention of Willie Dixon, another famous Chicago blues icon and record producer. Her recording of Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" topped the R&B charts in 1966. This special, recorded in 1991 for WTTW, documents her history, and cements her legacy as a Bonafide Chicago Blues legend.

It all began when the Beatles landed in America, on February 7, 1964. Their arrival heralded the beginning of the "British Invasion," and rock and roll would never be the same. American teenagers listened to their transistor radios or 45 rpm records, and it seemed as though every young, white high-school-age male wanted to start a band. Soon, new rock and roll groups were coming together, playing in garages, basements and living rooms all around Chicago.

House music is a genre that connects, uplifts, and unites people. It resonates globally and is prevalent on the world’s biggest music stages. Born in Chicago, this sound developed during the turbulent 1970s when a group of predominantly gay Black artists, who faced constant harassment, pioneered a new type of dance music at underground venues. House music became the anthem of safe spaces, free from the racism and homophobia of the outside world, ultimately igniting a cultural and musical revolution.

Inventive performer and poignant songwriter John Hiatt captures the attention of fans and critics alike. In this Soundstage performance, which features Dar Williams and Robinella and the CCstringband, Hiatt performs "My Baby Blue" from his most recent album Beneath This Gruff Exterior. He also showcases timeless pieces like "The Thing Called Love" and "Memphis in the Meantime."

Soundstage Original Series 1974-1985 The man who drove his "Taxi" to the top of the music charts entertains.

A documentary about the careers of child stars of the '40s in Hollywood, featuring movie clips with Shirley Temple, Margaret O'Brien, and numerous others along with interviews.

Hidden Turkey is a one-hour television special produced, hosted, and narrated by CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg. It showcases the special destinations and unique experiences not found in traditional guidebooks, brochures or on the internet. Most important, this is inspirational and accessible television. It allows the audience to immerse themselves in Turkey's evolving story and enduring culture, and to embark on a number of life-changing journeys. Among the locations visited: Istanbul, Cappadocia, Antakya, Antalya, and Laodicea.

"Tarantella" was an early Super 8 short film directed by Christopher Nolan with his childhood friend Roko Belic. It was made in 1989 while Nolan was studying at University College London. The film aired on "Image Union," a PBS programme in Chicago. It is about the suffering of a young man while he has nightmare about spiders and demons.

"There was a time, from the late 1940s through the 1960s, when the now-upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood served as the beating heart of Chicago’s huge Puerto Rican community, and the base of operations for a band of Puerto Rican revolutionaries known as the Young Lords. Led by a young man named José 'Cha Cha' Jiménez, the activist group – which evolved from a social club to a street gang to a political force – banded together with the Black Panthers as the Rainbow Coalition to wage war against what they called Mayor Richard J. Daley’s “urban removal of the poor” and the area’s eventual gentrification" (WTTW).

The colorful stories of Irish-American immigrants and their descendants who lived the history and exemplify the repeated cycle of the outsider becoming the ultimate Chicago citizen-insider.

Geoffrey Baer is back to traverse the length and breadth of Chicago’s world-famous “front yard” to explore everything from beloved birds to submerged secrets along Chicago’s lakefront. A fascinating journey from the history of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable to modern-day hikes on Northerly Island, fishing for lake trout, and snorkeling on a prehistoric reef, Touring the Lakefront with Geoffrey Baer Geoffrey takes viewers on a journey to discover how our lakefront was envisioned, built, and defended, and how it has evolved over the centuries.

Nature Cat can’t wait to get outside for a day of backyard nature excursions and bravery! But there’s one problem; he’s still a house cat with no real instincts for nature. That doesn’t stop this passionate and curious feline, who loves learning and experiencing all he can about nature.

Kidsongs is an American children's media franchise which includes Kidsongs Music Video Stories on DVD and video, The Kidsongs TV Show, CDs of favorite children’s songs and covers of oldies and pop hits from the 50s, 60s and 70s, song books, sheet music, toys and an ecommerce website. Kidsongs was created by producer/writer Carol Rosenstein and director Bruce Gowers of Together Again Video Productions, both of whom are music video and television production veterans. The duo had produced and directed over 100 music videos for Warner Brothers Records and took their idea of music videos for children to the record label. Warner Brothers funded the first video, “A Day at Old MacDonald’s Farm”. Shortly thereafter, a three way partnership between TAVP, WBR and View-Master Video was formed with TAVP being responsible for production and WBR and View-Master responsible for distribution to video and music stores, and toy stores respectively.

WTTW’s legendary and groundbreaking music series filmed in the intimate Grainger Studio presents spectacular performances that make you feel like you’re in the front row.

WordWorld is an Emmy Award-winning children's television series partially funded by the United States Department of Education as part of the Ready to Learn literacy initiative targeted to 3- to 7-year olds. The show airs in 10 languages and 90 countries, including in the United States. The television series, created by Don Moody and Jacqueline Moody, stars Dog and his WordFriends. In each episode, Dog and/or one of his friends embarks on a series of adventures where the only way to save the day is to build or un-build words. The show's novelty is that when a word is built correctly, it morphs into the thing it represents, which gives instant meaning to the word. WordWorld has been translated into popular mobile applications, Internet-based games, magnetic plush and other toys. WordWorld currently airs in 90 countries and 10 languages. It premiered September 3, 2007 on PBS Kids and is currently in its third season, with 84 11-minute episodes. WordWorld currently broadcasts on PBS Kids it is produced for WTTW Chicago.

Lamb Chop's Play-Along is an American children's television series that was shown on PBS in the United States from 1992 until 1997, as well as on YTV in Canada. It was created and hosted by puppeteer Shari Lewis, and featured her puppet character Lamb Chop.

In just 60 years Chicago grew from a remote, swampy frontier town into one of the most explosively alive cities in the world. Captains of industry built empires through innovation, ingenuity, determination, and sheer ruthlessness, while the labor of millions of working men and women -- most of them immigrants from Ireland and Northern Europe -- helped reinvent the way America did business.

Sneak Previews was an American film review show, running for over two decades on Public Broadcasting Service. It was created by WTTW, a PBS affiliate in Chicago, Illinois. It premiered on September 4, 1975 as a monthly local-only show called Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, and was renamed in 1977 when it became a biweekly show airing nationally on PBS. By 1979, it was a weekly series airing on over 180 stations, and was the highest rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting. It was finally cancelled in 1996.