REWIND-PBS Fort Wayne's Weekly Local Documentary Series

REWIND: PBS Fort Wayne's 50th Anniversary Documentary Series

One hallmark of PBS Fort Wayne’s history has been the creation of a television archive of local history and culture with the documentaries we’ve produced through the years.

To celebrate this body of work, we're airing a new series — REWIND — weekly on Thursdays at 9:00pm. Each Thursday evening, plus an encore airing most Sunday evenings at 7:00pm (schedules may change during pledge periods or holidays), just before MASTERPIECE, you’ll be able to enjoy one of PBS Fort Wayne’s past documentaries, from our most recent to some not seen on our air for years.

Alongside recent favorites such as Truck Town, a History of International Harvester in Fort Wayne, Electric Legacy: The Story of General Electric in Fort Wayne, The Forgotten and A Home For The Arts, you’ll be able to watch documentaries such as E.L Cord: His Transportation Empire, Fort Wayne Firsts, Komet Tales, Ann Colone Remembers, WOWO Legends, Memorial City: The Lindenwood Chronicles and many more.

We hope you’ll enjoy this weekly look back at the history and the people that have made our area such a special place. Check out our broadcast schedule below, or look through our on-line schedule at pbsfortwayne.org/schedule or consult the times and dates that will be listed in the monthly Primetime program listings to see which documentaries will be featured each week.

Upcoming Documentaries in our REWIND series

Thurs August 28 & Sun august 31

Lifetime Sports Academy Where Everybody Wins

Sports, for many, are considered mere pastimes or a luxury in today’s society and thought to be out of reach or simply impractical as a lifestyle choice or investment of one’s time. During Lifetime Sports Academy Where Everybody Wins, you’ll experience how sports that can be enjoyed for a lifetime —swimming, golf and tennis — have been able to make a positive impact in the lives of children who otherwise might not have had the chance to learn them. In this documentary, first-person accounts from the parents, kids and coaches involved with this program offer you perspectives that reach well beyond the boundaries of physical education and branch out to create the foundation for a healthy lifestyle for these kids and their families.

Bookmark This Page and come back as we schedule more classic documentaries into the REWIND lineup!

Now Streaming

Fort Wayne Community Schools - History of Learning

Throughout its 150-year history, the story of Fort Wayne Community Schools is one of meeting the needs of a community today, while setting its sights on the future, and helping to create a better future for the community and its people. That tradition and history is the focus of Fort Wayne Community Schools—A History of Learning.

Utilizing archival photographs, film footage and interviews with people who’ve experienced the impact of this school system firsthand, viewers will also get a unique look at our community and our past, through the perspective of Fort Wayne’s public schools. Impressions of life through social change, war, economic crises and more are reflected both in the images, many of which have never been seen before on TV.

Now Streaming

Stream it Now

The Forgotten: A History of State developmental Institutions in Fort Wayne

In 1879, Indiana decided to create an institution for children with mental disabilities. In 1890, a brand-new facility dedicated to this cause was opened. It was located just northeast of the city of Fort Wayne, on what would later become East State Boulevard. Advances in medical and behavioral treatments, as well as overcrowding partly due to an aging population, led to a new modern complex being built by Saint Joe and Stellhorn roads in northeast Fort Wayne.
Using interviews, newspaper accounts, and archival photos and videos from these facilities, this historical documentary tells the story of these forgotten places and those that inhabited them.

Stream It Now

Now Streaming with Passport

A Conversation with Bob Sievers

In the early 1930s, a young man eager to break into the emerging medium of radio with his big voice and boundless enthusiasm began working as an announcer at WOWO radio.
Over seven decades later, Bob Sievers is still remembered as one of Fort Wayne’s most beloved citizens with one of the most recognized voices in the region. In this classic PBS Fort Wayne presentation, you’ll join Bob as he reminisces with Jane Avery Doswell about his long career in broadcasting from the “world famous WOWO Fire Escape.” Bob gives an insider’s perspective on how the business of radio and advertising has changed over the years, as well as the Fort Wayne area and America itself.

Fascinating, touching, and always interesting...sit down and enjoy A Conversation With Bob Sievers.

Now Streaming with Passport

Aviation Pioneers and War Heroes: The Greater Fort Wayne Aviation Museum

Visitors to Fort Wayne International Airport once found a hidden treasure trove of history nestled away by the boarding gates on the upper level of the main terminal. This documentary tells the story of this museum...and the stories of some of this area’s most famous men and women. In this program, produced for the Fort Wayne Allen County Airport Authority and directed by PBS Fort Wayne’s Ray Steup, Fort Wayne’s aviation history is brought to life. Viewers get an intimate tour of this historic treasure as well as the opportunity to learn about Fort Wayne’s storied aviation past.

Along the way, you’ll get to see some of the precious memorabilia archived there and also learn the true stories of famed aviators such as Art Smith, Paul Baer and the late, legendary Margaret Ringenberg, who is seen in this special program giving her last interview before she passed away in 2008.

Now Streaming with Passport

Burma: A Culture Without a Country

This documentary, produced in collaboration with the Summit City’s former afternoon daily newspaper, The Wayne News-Sentinel, tells the story modern Burma (Myanmar) through the local perspective of Fort Wayne’s Burmese ex-patriot community, the largest of its kind in the United States.

Stream With Passport

Now Streaming with Passort

Treasures From Fort Wayne’s Past

This classic PBS Fort Wayne documentary shares the stories of some of the priceless items curated and on display at the old Fort Wayne History Museum, now known as the History Center, located in the old City Hall building located at the corner Berry and Barr Streets in downtown Fort Wayne.

Now Streaming with Passport

Fort Wayne Arts: A Grand Tradition

Take a look back at Fort Wayne’s arts scene from the perspective of 1994 during this documentary special. It provides a historical and nostalgic context to how Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana has become a hub for the arts, artists and patrons of the arts alike.

Now Streaming with Passport

Fort Wayne Firsts

In this documentary, you’ll learn the history behind some of America’s greatest achievements in engineering, technology and manufacturing — achievements created, designed and made real by people right here in Fort Wayne, reflecting decades of hard work, innovation and experimentation.

Now Streaming with Passport

Now Streaming

Honor Flight: Northeast Indiana

In this documentary, ride along with local veterans and their chaperones as they experience an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. visiting the memorials and being honored for their service to our country.

Now Streaming

Now Streaming with Passport

50 Years In The Neighborhood: The Story of PBS Fort Wayne

In this all-new documentary, we turn the camera on ourselves. During this presentation, you’ll be able to go back with PBS Fort Wayne to our beginning using archival images and footage combined with interviews of past and present staff. This special will give you an insider’s perspective on our history and what our mission of service to our community is all about.

Now Streaming with Passport

Our REWIND Documentary Series is sponsored in part by: