TV crew takes to ‘backroads’ to tell Kentucky stories

Article featured in January 2009 issue of All Around Kentucky
By Lindsey Coblentz

Kentucky Farm Bureau’s video staff is gearing up for the digital age with its sixth season of “Bluegrass and Backroads,” which is being shot in high definition.

“We’re prepared for 2009,” said Bob Shrader, Kentucky Farm Bureau’s video production coordinator, referring to the federal Feb. 17 deadline for TV stations to broadcast only in digital format.

Each episode of “Bluegrass and Backroads” showcases three different Kentucky subjects, with one focusing on agriculture.

The interviews and photography are done by Shrader and Kentucky Farm Bureau video specialist and co-producer Matt Hilton. Mike Feldhaus, the organization’s director of broadcast services, is the host.

Shrader and Hilton make it a point to seek out unique stories that show the diversity that is Kentucky, and they said the chance to visit unusual sites and meet creative people is one of the perks of the job.

“We get to see things nobody sees on a regular basis,” Hilton said.

“You get an opportunity to go into so many different businesses and visit, learn and experience so many different parts of Kentucky,” Shrader said.

Trooper Island on Dale Hollow Lake is an out-of-the-way place they visited in preparation for the new season. Trooper Island is operated by Kentucky State Police for 10- to 12-year-old boys and girls who may not otherwise have the opportunity to have the experience of a summer camp.

On the schedule this year are features on the Louisville Zoo; the National Quilt Museum in Paducah; Bardstown’s “Stephen Foster the Musical;” the Belle of Louisville steamboat; the North American Racing Academy in Lexington, the only college degree program in the country for aspiring jockeys; and the Carroll County Tobacco Festival.

The 2009 season also will highlight Kentucky’s agriculture tradition and future with segments on J D Dairy, where milk is bottled on the farm; the Avalon Farm in Winchester where Joe and Sheila McCord harvest freshwater shrimp; and Jackson’s Orchard in Bowling Green.

Segments on the lives and farming operations of the Scottsville couple named the 2008 Kentucky Farm Bureau’s Outstanding Young Farm Family Award and two other finalists are planned as well.

Bart and Sara Jones received the first place award in December and will represent Kentucky Farm Bureau in the national competition in Texas in early January. Second place was awarded to Jeremy and Joanna Hinton, who operate an orchard and farm market near Hodgenville. The other finalists were Shane and Stephanie Wiseman of Winchester, who raise beef and crops.

The 30-minute “Bluegrass and Backroads,” which is broadcast on network affiliates and cable channels throughout Kentucky and nationwide by RFD-TV to satellite TV customers, has garnered awards of its own while building an extensive audience. Shrader, Hilton and Feldhaus were recognized for best regular program and best video feature story at the 2008 American Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Conference.

“To produce a show with just two people producing, writing, shooting and editing that wins such awards means something,” Shrader said.

Response for the show has been positive. “We get e-mails all across the country, from people from California to Florida,” Shrader said. “I think the most interesting part of it is getting a call from someone in California, and they’re a transplanted Kentuckian.”

Hilton and Shrader are always looking for new, unusual features for the show. “It’s hard to find the small, interesting story,” Hilton said. “Those are the kind of stories we want.” (Comments about the show and suggestions for future feature considerations can be e-mailed to bluegrassandbackroads@kyfb.com.)

With studio production for 2009 wrapping up, Shrader and Hilton look forward to the audience’s response to the new high definition format. “It’s going to be good,” said Hilton. “Tune in.”

Satellite subscribers can watch “Bluegrass and Backroads” on Wednesday at 2 p.m. and midnight (E.S.T.) on RFD-TV, which is carried on Channel 231 on the Dish Network and DirectTV’s Channel 379.

In Louisville, the show can be seen on Insight Cable Channel 2 at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday. WBKI-TV in Louisville and Lexington airs the show at 10 a.m. on Sunday. In Northern Kentucky, the broadcast time is 9:30 a.m. on Saturday on Insight Cable’s Channel 6. Fleming County Cable, which serves Fleming and Lewis counties, carries the Kentucky Farm Bureau show Tuesday and Friday at 7 p.m. on Channel 6. WYMT-TV in Hazard airs the series at noon on Saturday.

In the Central Time Zone, “Bluegrass and Backroads” is available on: Bowling Green’s WBKO/Fox-TV at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday; the Western Kentucky TV market served by WEHT-TV in Evansville, Ind., on Saturday at 5 p.m.; WKAG-TV in Hopkinsville at 11:30 a.m. Sunday; and in Paducah on WPSD-TV at 5 a.m. Saturday and CW cable channels 9 and 6 at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Check local listings for cable coverage and schedule changes.

Previous seasons of “Bluegrass and Backroads” can be viewed online and can be accessed through www.kyfb.com. The shows airing in 2009 will go online at the same Web address a week after they are broadcast.