47^th Star Blog

Radio Series will celebrate New Mexico History during Centennial of Statehood

SANTA FE – The New Mexico Centennial Steering Committee is pleased to announce the release of Centennial Journeys, a series of two-minute programs aimed at educating – and entertaining – the public about interesting and often overlooked pieces of New Mexico history. The audio series will commemorate New Mexico’s 100th anniversary of Statehood, which will be celebrated in communities statewide during 2012.

Weekly five-day segments of Centennial Journeys will be uploaded for broadcast by participating radio stations beginning on January 2, 2012. The series covers a broad range of topics and highlights many of the colorful characters, places and stories that have shaped New Mexico’s unique character as a state.

Examples of stories covered include the famous figures of General Stephan Watts Kearny, Elfego Baca, Governor Charles Bent, Albert Fall and Pat Garrett to the lesser-known characters such as George McJunkin, Sally Rooke, Catherine Drexel, Stephen Elkins and Charles Boyer. The series also includes such events as President Taft signing the enabling legislation for the state, the Pueblo Revolt, Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, N.M., the Taos Revolt of 1847, and the Long Walk of the Navajos. There are also profiles of New Mexico communities like Folsom, Lake Valley, Claunch, Blackdom and Shakespeare, and events such as Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus and Reyes Tijerina’s raid on the Tierra Amarilla, among others.

Centennial Journeys is a production of the New Mexico Centennial Steering Committee with assistance from the Office of the State Historian and New Mexico Arts, a Division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. They are produced at KUNM-FM Radio studios in Albuquerque, NM.  Samples of the programs can be previewed at: http://www.prx.org/series/32355-centennial-journeys.

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