Raven Productions is an American television production company based in
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...
.
Organized in California in 1987, the company initially became known for its outdoor adventure programming for networks as
Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
,
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
,
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
, PrimeSportschannel,
Travel Channel
Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...
and
Outdoor Life
''Outdoor Life'' is an outdoors magazine about camping, fishing, hunting, and survival. For years, it was a sister magazine of '' Field & Stream''. Together with '' Sports Afield'', they are considered the Big Three of American outdoor publish ...
. Its signature outdoor adventure series, ''Great Sports Vacations'', aired on the Travel Channel and Fox Sports Net.
In the late 1990s, through a joint venture with the
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...
estate, the company embarked on production of a series of PBS pledge specials featuring vintage performances of the late Judy Garland, including "Judy, Frank & Dean" featuring Judy with
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
and
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...
.
[Palm Springs Life, September, 2006] Under agreement with the late
Sid Luft, former husband of Judy Garland, the company also produced and released to PBS affiliates "Judy Garland Duets" featuring vintage performances of Judy with
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...
,
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, ...
,
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
,
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...
,
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...
and others.
In September 2001, Raven's ''
Earth Trek'', an environmentally conscious travel series, began airing on PBS stations nationally.
In 2004, Raven's weekly series ''Hello Paradise'' premiered on
KVCR-TV, a Southern California PBS station. The series features celebrities, attractions, events, hotels and restaurants in Palm Springs and the desert communities.
In 2007, the company produced ''Donovan Live in LA'' which was shot at the
Kodak Theatre
The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
in Hollywood and featured the singer / songwriter,
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...
. The program was released to PBS stations with proceeds benefiting director
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...
's Foundation for Consciousness Based Education and World Peace.
In 2008, the company produced its sixth PBS pledge special, ''Trini Lopez presents Latin Music Legends'', recorded
live
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
* ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film
*'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...
-to-
tape at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, starring
Trini Lopez and featuring
Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top List of best-selling music artists, reco ...
,
Thee Midnighters,
Tierra,
El Chicano and the
Greg Rolie Band.
Its sister company, PSTV Partners, is the holder of FCC broadcast license for K09XW channel 9 in
Palm Desert and, through a partnership with the
San Bernardino Community College District, is rebroadcasting KVCR-DT.
References
External links
Raven Productions– Official Website
{{Authority control
Television production companies of the United States
Companies based in Palm Springs, California
1987 establishments in California