The Untold Story Behind Southern California’s Aerospace Industry; BLUE SKY METROPOLIS Premieres July 14 on KCET

In the vein of writing about how regional history needs to be explained and documented in part through "film," and how a number of PBS stations produce such programming ("Columbia's Promise documentary on WMPT as another example of the importance of public television"), KCET-TV/Public Media Group of Southern California has produced such a series on the history of the aerospace industry in Southern California.

Broadcast of the four-part series starts this Sunday.

From the press release:

BLUE SKY METROPOLIS is the untold story of how aerospace was central to the growth of California and its emergence as an economic power. The documentary miniseries focuses on the people behind the aerospace movement and will feature many of the current major players in the aerospace industry in California, which is the hub of modern day aerospace engineering.  

The aerospace century will unfold through the lives and words of the men and women who created it: John Northrop, Glenn Martin, Donald Douglas, Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Walt Disney and Wernher Von Braun.

The Aerospace Century begins in 1910 with the Los Angeles International Air Meet - only the second public showcase of powered flight in the world. The series chronicles the epic mobilization during World War II - when two million workers assembled 300,000 aircraft. It traces the Cold War emergence of the “military-industrial complex” as a nation grappled with the threat of nuclear annihilation. Stories play out via radio recordings, newsreels, industrial films, and oral history excerpts.  

More than 60 people were interviewed for the series including writers, historians, corporate executives, members of the armed forces, astronauts, scientists, engineers and even the current Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti. The series visits iconic locations representing the industry’s past, present and future - from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Griffith Observatory to Virgin Orbit, SpaceX and Relativity, a recent start-up founded by twenty-somethings who build rockets with 3-D printers.

Episodes of BLUE SKY METROPOLIS will be telecast as follows on KCET (subject to change*):

“WINGS: Aviation Takes Flight in Early Los Angeles” – Sun., July 14 at 8 p.m.

Aviation takes flight in early Los Angeles, becoming an industry of dreamers, risk takers and entrepreneurs. The region is America’s “arsenal of democracy” during World War II, as two million workers build 300,000 aircraft. Critics see an unhealthy alliance developing between the federal government and aircraft manufacturers.

“THE BIG CHILL: The Cold War Fuels Business and Anxiety” – Sun., July 21 at 8 p.m.

The Cold War and Pentagon dollars fuels the explosive growth of modern Los Angeles and creates the military-industrial-complex. Entire suburbs are built in record time to house defense industry workers, but covenants restrict non-white races from living there. Fear of nuclear annihilation spawns a new genre for Hollywood as ‘science fiction’ movies become a box office goldmine.

“A SPACE ODYSSEY: Southern California Spearheads Mankind’s Greatest Achievement” – Sun., July 28 at 8 p.m.

The triumphant and tragic Space Race unfolds in first-hand accounts of those who pioneered the technology and built the hardware that made possible mankind’s greatest achievement. Meanwhile, the military-industrial-complex expands unchecked.

“BACK TO THE FUTURE: A New Space Age Dawns in Southern California” – Sun., Aug. 4 at 8 p.m.

The end of the Cold War brings massive layoffs but tech billionaires choose Southern California to launch their space companies. Though committed to the “democratization” of space, SpaceX and Virgin Orbit include the Pentagon as a major customer.

Viewable outside of Southern California.  Following over-the-air broadcast, each episode will stream on the free KCET app (available on Roku and Apple TV), the PBS Video app (available on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, the App Store and Google Play), as well as on the PBS SoCal YouTube channel, and on the KCET-TV and PBS SoCal websites.