Josh Edge, Alaska Public Media

What are things made of? It’s a simple question with an astonishing answer. Fewer than 100 naturally occurring elements form the ingredients of everything in our world — from solid rocks to ethereal gases, from scorching acids to the living cells in our body. KAKM: Wednesday, 4/4 at 8:00pm

Discover the Pulitzer Prize-winning author behind Gone With the Wind, one of the world’s best-selling novels that features two of the world’s great lovers — Scarlett and Rhett — and was adapted into one of the most popular films of all time. No ordinary writer — or woman — Margaret Mitchell was a charismatic force who challenged the stifling Southern social order and struggled with the changing role of women and the liberation of African Americans. She suffered from depression and illness and experienced profound identity shifts during her life, until an accident led to her death in 1949. KAKM: Monday, 4/2 at 8:00pm

What’s in a name? Well, a lot, at least when it comes to piecing together family history. For former slaves, choosing a last name was one of their first acts of freedom. For Jewish immigrants, it was a way to fit in in their new country. Whatever the reason for a name change, it can make the process of learning about one’s ancestors difficult, if not impossible. In this episode, Gates unearths missing links in the family histories of media legend Barbara Walters and educational superstar Geoffrey Canada. Walters did not know her father’s real last name. Canada did not know the name of his grandfather. Both had been unable to access their history … until now. KAKM: Sunday, 4/1 at 7:00pm

The San Francisco Symphony is celebrating its centennial season. From the ashes of the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 rose the passionate desire of a community to embrace music and build an orchestra to restore its spirit. KAKM: Friday, 3/30 at 9:30pm

Over half a century, Rupert Murdoch’s business audacity and political shrewdness built one of the world’s most powerful media empires. Now his dynasty is under threat — not from outside competition, but from shocking accounts of bribery, blackmail and invasion of privacy. The scandal has prompted criminal investigations on both sides of the Atlantic. It has also cracked open the insular world of the Murdoch family, its news executives and the political elite who court their favor. Today, the 80-year-old owner of the Wall Street Journal and FOX News Channel is in the fight of his life. In a joint production with the CBC, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman tells the story of the battle over the future of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch’s reputation and his family’s fortunes. KAKM: Tuesday, 3/27 at 9:30pm

INSIDE FENWAY PARK: AN ICON AT 100 celebrates the centennial of the oldest ballpark in America. Using a Red Sox/Yankees game as a thread, the film tells the story of Fenway’s long history as a venue for sports and as a public space. A decade ago, it looked as though Fenway would be largely destroyed and replaced with a new ballpark. Luckily, wiser heads prevailed and one of Boston’s most popular attractions, and a landmark for baseball fans everywhere, survived. KAKM: Monday, 3/26 at 9:00pm

This 10-part series, with renowned cultural critic and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., journeys deep into the ancestry of a group of remarkable individuals and provides new understanding of personal identity and American history. Featuring Kevin Bacon, Cory Booker, Angela Buchdal, Geoffrey Canada, Margaret Cho, Harry Connick Jr., Robert Downey Jr., Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Samuel L. Jackson, John Legend, John Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Yasir Qadhi, Condoleezza Rice, Michelle Rodriguez, Kyra Sedgwick, Wanda Sykes, Ruth Simmons, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters and Rick Warren. KAKM: Parts 1 and 2 on Sunday, 3/25 at 7:00pm and 8:00pm

Trace the indelible mark that amazing women musicians, from Bessie Smith to Janis Joplin to Lady Gaga, have made on America’s soundtrack. Inspired by the “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power” exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, WOMEN WHO ROCK reveals new insights into what it means to be female in the male-dominated world of rock and roll, while exploring how those dynamics between the sexes have changed with time. KAKM: Friday, 3/23 at 9:30pm