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ETV Remembers the 20th Anniversary of Hurricane Hugo
with Slate of Special Programming on Television and Radio

For Immediate Release
August 17, 2009

Columbia, SC… "And the water keep coming up and my little girl screaming, 'Mommy, I don't want to die'… I didn't know what to tell her. I just tell her, I said, 'Well honey, we'll all just die together.'"

Those haunting and desperate words were spoken by Jeanette McKenzie, recounting her horrific experiences as Hurricane Hugo bore down on McClellanville, South Carolina twenty years ago this September. McKenzie told the story of her family's near-death experiences in the aftermath of what was, at the time, the most damaging hurricane to hit the U.S. in recorded history.

It is one of many stories that will be told in a special edition of "The Big Picture," which will also be the first in a series of television and radio programs that commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hugo, and its devastating impact on South Carolina.

ETV PROGRAMMING

"The Big Picture: Hurricane Hugo – 20 Years Later" will air on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. with an encore broadcast on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 12 noon. Following Hugo's path from Charleston up through Rock Hill, "The Big Picture" also travels back and forth in time, mixing archival interviews such as McKenzie's, with present-day residents telling their tales of survival, and how their lives have been forever changed. The program also includes interviews with McClellanville Mayor Rutledge B. Leland III, who says if he had to do it over, he would ride the storm out again; and Iris Campbell, wife of the late Governor Carroll Campbell who provides a unique perspective on this crisis from her view at the Governor's Mansion.

Also on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 3 p.m., ETV Classics presents "Hurricane Hugo: Storm of the Century." This documentary vividly captures the buildup to Hugo and the extensive recovery following the storm along the coast and in the interior of South Carolina.

Following at 4 p.m. is the companion program "Storm of the Century: Then and Now." Originally produced in 1994, the program shows how much progress had been made in the rebuilding efforts only five years after the devastation.

THE SOUTH CAROLINA CHANNEL

ETV's The South Carolina Channel (SCC) will offer a mini-marathon of Hurricane Hugo programs on Sunday, Sept. 20, including:

• At 6 p.m. - The Governor's Aerial Tour: First Tour After Hugo with Governor Campbell - Exactly what does the immediate aftermath of a Category 4 hurricane look like? Join then-Governor Carroll Campbell on his 90-minute helicopter flight as he surveys the damage along South Carolina's coast, traveling from the Isle of Palms to Myrtle Beach. The flight took place the morning after Hurricane Hugo made landfall, and when the program originally aired, it marked the first chance for many coastal residents to see if their homes were still standing.

• At 7:30 p.m. - NatureScene: Bull's Island After Hurricane Hugo – Six months prior to Hugo, Rudy Mancke and Jim Welch visited Bull's Island for an episode of NatureScene. In this episode, shot six months after Hugo, Mancke and Welch follow the same route and discover just how resilient nature can be. – Encore on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 4:30 p.m. on SCC.

• At 8 p.m. - Hurricane Hugo: Storm of the Century (see description above)

• At 9 p.m. - Charleston Symphony: Charleston Lives – The Charleston Symphony performs a special two-hour outdoor concert to uplift its citizens.

RADIO

Walter Edgar's Journal, which airs Fridays at noon on all ETV Radio stations, will devote two episodes to coverage of this anniversary, which not only takes a look back at Hugo, but also towards the next major storm that might hit the Palmetto State:

• On Sept. 18, host Dr. Walter Edgar sits down with editors John Burbage and Jason Lesley, for a sneak peek of their new book, "Hugo: A Landmark in Time." The book will be released on Sept. 21 from the Evening Post Publishing Co., and will feature never-before published photos of the carnage and destruction that Hugo left in its wake.

• On September 25, Edgar sits down with Mayor Joe Riley of Charleston, who not only recounts the landfall of Hugo 20 years ago, but also talks about preparing for the next hurricane to hit the Lowcountry, especially in the midst of dense coastal development. Then Charles Platt, the new head of the SC Emergency Preparedness Division and Dr. Susan Cutter, director of USC’s Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute, will discuss the current level of preparedness statewide for the next big natural disaster.

Podcasts of Walter Edgar's Journal are available at www.scetv.org/index.php/walter_edgars_journal.

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH

On Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m., ETV presents a LIVE broadcast of "Project Discovery: 20 Years After Hurricane Hugo." The program will be fed directly into classrooms across South Carolina and on ETV. Hosts Bette Jamison and Rudy Mancke will examine the science surrounding hurricanes, including what causes them and how we are able to track them. Students are encouraged to submit their questions via e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) before or during the hour-long live broadcast. Jamison and Mancke will answer as many of them as possible on the air.

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television transmitters, 8 radio frequencies and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

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For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.

Satellite photo of Hurricane Hugo. Courtesy: NOAA.