"Retro Report on PBS" is a new magazine-style program running this fall on PBS stations. It's looking to the past for new perspectives on the news.
The episode set for Monday, Oct. 21, at 9 p.m. (check your local listings to confirm) looks at a suicide prevention program called "caring letters." Service members and veterans suffering from depression and at risk of suicide receive regular emails and text messages that remind them that there are people concerned with their well-being.
What seems like an obvious and simple idea has also proven to be startlingly effective. First developed in the 1960s with letters sent via mail, the technique has been modernized and tested again with up-to-date messaging technology.
We've got a clip from the story below.
"Retro Report on PBS" is airing on Monday and Tuesday nights and covers a wide variety of topics. It also features end-of-show commentary from New Yorker magazine humorist Andy Borowitz. The show premiered at the beginning of the month, and earlier episodes should be streaming at the PBS website or on its app.
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![](http://images04.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_large/public/2024-11/1time%20cher%20uss%20missouri%201200.jpg?itok=qi9yyMAM "Cher's more formal look in her 1989 music video, "If I Could Turn Back Time," filmed aboard the battleship USS Missouri. (Criteron Studios)")
