About John Menier

John Menier specializes in visual and performing arts documentaries that focus on the creative process and its participants. Noteworthy productions include:

Trampling Out the Vintage, an historical/biographical documentary about John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath.

San Diego Opera Spotlight and San Diego OperaTalk!, two long-running series co-produced with San Diego Opera.

Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera and John Adams: A Precise Process, both co-produced with La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest.

Necessary Theatre, a thirteen-part series of interviews with noted Chicano/Chicana theatre artists.

What Creativity Means, a five-part series which brings together middle school students and world music artists.

Orchestra Nova: Celebrations, a documentary exploring the creative evolution of San Diego’s premiere chamber music ensemble.

Two Emmy-winning collaborations with Malashock Dance, The Soul of Saturday Night and Love & Murder.

La Jolla Symphony & Chorus: Philip Glass/Cello Concerto, also awarded a regional Emmy.

Additionally, John’s work has garnered numerous Telly and Aurora awards for excellence in broadcasting. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma, has worked as a freelance media professional in Los Angeles and several Midwestern markets, and has taught college courses in film and video production.

Recent and Ongoing Productions

La Jolla Music Society

Orchestra Nova: Celebrations

San Diego Opera Artists’ Roundtable

San Diego Opera Spotlight

San Diego OperaTalk!


Contact John Menier: jmenier@ucsd.edu

Los Laureles Canyon: Learn More About the Producers

Host and Executive Producer, Shannon Bradley
Shannon Bradley is responsible for developing, producing, and selecting the Public Affairs programs for UCSD-TV.
Shannon has also produced several acclaimed documentaries on land use and urban planning, including Building Consensus: Quarry Falls (2009), The Making of Place: Solana Beach (2007), San Diego Canyonlands (2006), Designing for the Future (2003), and the […]

Host and Executive Producer, Shannon Bradley

Shannon Bradley is responsible for developing, producing, and selecting the Public Affairs programs for UCSD-TV.

Shannon has also produced several acclaimed documentaries on land use and urban planning, including Building Consensus: Quarry Falls (2009), The Making of Place: Solana Beach (2007), San Diego Canyonlands (2006), Designing for the Future (2003), and the six-part series, Path to Paradise (1998-2000).

Shannon is also the host and executive producer of State of Minds, a quarterly magazine program featuring stories from throughout the UC system for UCTV, the nationwide satellite channel for the University of California.

Before joining UCSD in 1993, Shannon covered national politics in Washington for nine years, the last five for PBS’ The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. She also wrote for the Washington City Paper; Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper; and WUSA, the CBS television affiliate. She has a B.A. in Communication and Sociology from UCSD and a Masters degree in Journalism and Public Affairs from The American University in Washington, DC. Shannon also taught the News Media Workshop, an upper division journalism class for the Department of Communication at UCSD from 1993-1999 and is now co-teaching the Eleanor Roosevelt College Freshman Honors Seminar with ERC Provost Alan Houston.


Producer and Host, Laura Castañeda

Laura Castañeda is the owner of Press Pass International and an Emmy Award-winning journalist and professional writer with more than 20 years experience in television, radio, and print media. Laura also chairs the Radio and Television Department at San Diego City College and has served as host, moderator, and consultant to various media projects. In 2006, Laura teamed up with Shannon Bradley at UCSD-TV to produce The Devil’s Breath, a documentary about border crossers who were trapped in San Diego’s back country during the October 2007 wildfires.

In 2004, Laura launched Stories de la Frontera, a bilingual, bicultural, human-interest magazine program that currently airs on PBS affiliates in several U.S. cities.

Prior to her solo career, Laura reported for Cox Channel 4’s San Diego Insider, KGTV, the ABC affiliate in San Diego; and KGUN-TV, the ABC station in Tucson, Arizona. She began her television news career in 1987 as a production assistant at WLS-TV in Chicago, her hometown.

Laura is an alumnus of the University of Illinois-Urbana with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in Sociology.

Musicians and Students Learn and Jam Together in Documentary About UC San Diego Jazz Camp

(Press Release) For most people, memories of summer camp revolve around lawn sports, swimming and mosquito bites. But for a diverse group of musically inclined students– ranging in age from 14 to 70+ – summer camp means days packed with workshops on jazz and nights filled with performances by renowned jazz musicians. Welcome to UC […]

(Press Release) For most people, memories of summer camp revolve around lawn sports, swimming and mosquito bites. But for a diverse group of musically inclined students– ranging in age from 14 to 70+ – summer camp means days packed with workshops on jazz and nights filled with performances by renowned jazz musicians. Welcome to UC San Diego Jazz Camp, now the subject of a documentary premiering September 25 at 8pm on UCSD-TV.

This original UCSD-TV documentary explores the innovative and immersive combination of group courses, master classes, ensemble workshops, private lessons, jam sessions, and faculty concerts that make UC San Diego Jazz Camp such an unforgettable experience for students and faculty alike. Directed by UCSD-TV’s award-winning producer John Menier, the half-hour program chronicles the camp’s June 2009 session — its seventh annual edition and the first one to be held in UCSD’s pristine new music building. In addition to the broadcast premier, the program will be available for viewing and podcast downloading at http://www.ucsd.tv.

UC San Diego Jazz Camp, a five-day summer program operated by UC San Diego Extension, offers intermediate to advanced level musicians ages 14 to adult a unique journey into the diverse world of jazz, breaking down the boundaries between “inside” and “outside” and encouraging students to experience jazz as a broad spectrum of options for musical expression. The students work closely and creatively with an extraordinary faculty of leading jazz improvisers and educators, including alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, pianists Mike Wofford and Geoffrey Keezer, drummers Willie Jones III and Gerry Hemingway, and UCSD Music professors Anthony Davis, Mark Dresser, and David Borgo. More information is available at http://jazzcamp.ucsd.edu/.

Jazz Camp Director Dan Atkinson commented, “The UC San Diego Jazz Camp has become one of the leading summer jazz workshops in the country, giving the camp’s students a rare opportunity to study with some of the world’s leading jazz artists. We are very pleased to be able to share some of the excitement of the camp experience through this documentary program on UCSD-TV.”

Watch the Entire Program:

Interview with Dr. John Blossom from Disaster Prepareness

Dr. John Blossom, a board certified family physician with many years of experience working in Community Health Centers (CHCs), is a Professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine at UCSF Fresno and teaches regularly in CHCs in the Central Valley. Dr. Blossom is a member of several workforce collaboratives both in the state of California […]

Dr. John Blossom, a board certified family physician with many years of experience working in Community Health Centers (CHCs), is a Professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine at UCSF Fresno and teaches regularly in CHCs in the Central Valley. Dr. Blossom is a member of several workforce collaboratives both in the state of California and nationally, including the HRSA Bureau of Health Professions and Bureau of Primary Care taskforce on workforce in CHCs. In addition to directing the California Area Health Education Center (AHEC), he founded the California Preparedness Education Network (Cal-PEN) and has directed the disaster preparedness training activities in under-served areas since 2003.

UCTV: What prompted you to incorporate disaster preparedness education into your professional life?

Dr. John Blossom: A visionary federal employee in the HHS, Terri Spear, created the content for a grant to provide disaster education to health professionals. I, of course, was more or less familiar with some of the risks we face and, like everyone else, still had vivid 9-11 memories…

Read the Entire Interview

Watch online videos from Disaster Preparedness for Health Professionals

Disaster Preparedness: Behind-The-Scenes Photos

Check out these behind-the-scenes photos from Disaster Preparedness for Health Professionals.

Check out these behind-the-scenes photos from Disaster Preparedness for Health Professionals.

UCTV Producer Jennifer Ford (left) and Dr. John Blossom check out the monitors and prep for the day’s shoot. Photo by Peter Kreklow

Producer Jennifer Ford (left) interviews Dennis Amundson, CAPT. Photo by Peter Kreklow

A view from behind the camera. Photo by Peter Kreklow

The UCTV crew shooting on location, Calit2 studio, UC San Diego. Photo by Andy Hall

(From left) Patty Skoglund, RN, Dr. John Blossom, and Producer Jennifer Ford doing some pre-interview prep. Photo by Peter Kreklow