WQPT, Illinois PBS, Debuting New Documentaries This Week
WQPT will air a number of documentaries by area filmmakers during July. “One of the best parts of my job is working with filmmakers and finding documentaries that tell our area’s stories,” said Lora Adams, Director of Marketing and Local Content for the station.
New to the lineup will be a film by Stephen Folker titled “Tragedy on Highway 74,” which tells the story of a Cedar County, Iowa business owner who was deputized to help track down robbers and lost his life. The film is scheduled for July 7 at 8:00 pm and will be followed by two short subject films by WQPT videographer Chris Ryder and producer Lora Adams. One tells the story of an elephant named Norma Jean who is buried in Oquawka, Iowa after she was electrocuted in a storm. The second tells the story of Raymond Fairbank who was an Air Force weatherman on the crew that helped Chuck Yaeger break the sound barrier.
Lora Adams, left, and Dawn Schmitt at WQPT’s front desk.
WQPT will also carry a second viewing of “The Fort: 177 years of Crime and Punishment at the Iowa State Penitentiary” by Dan Manatt on July 7 at 9:00 pm. Mr. Manett’s documentary “Whiskey Cookers: The Amazing Story of the Bootleggers of Templeton, Iowa” will air July 17 at 11:00 pm. July 14 at 8:00 pm will be the Mid America Emmy nominated “Stout Hearted: George Stout and the Guardians of Art” created by Ken Kelley and Marie Wilkes.
“WQPT is committed to partnering with filmmakers who want to tell those famous or little known stories about our area’s history,” said Adams. “I am always thrilled when we air a film it has the opportunity to be submitted for Mid America Emmy consideration. As a result of WQPT airing these films they have gone on to be nominated and to win Emmy’s and bringing them to a wider audience. You can’t ask for more than that,” she said.
WQPT is a public media service of Western Illinois University.
