Texas Country Reporter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Texas Country Reporter is a long-running weekly syndicated television program hosted and produced by Bob Phillips. It airs in all 22 Texas media markets, generally on weekends, and reruns are broadcast nationally on the satellite/cable channel RFD-TV.[1] As of April 2008, Phillips had taped two thousand episodes of the program.[2]
Texas Country Reporter showcases Texas people and places, with an emphasis on rural areas and a style similar to that of Charles Kuralt's "On the Road" reports for CBS News. Originally called 4 Country Reporter, it debuted in 1972 on Dallas television station KDFW, Channel 4. In 1986, Phillips left KDFW and began selling the show in syndication, adopting the Texas Country Reporter name. In the Dallas market, KDFW didn't pick up the syndicated version, but rival station WFAA (Channel 8) picked it up (calling the show 8 Country Reporter).
One of the show's trademarks is Phillips' Texas-flag-styled SUV, seen in the opening credits crossing the Regency Bridge, a small one-lane suspension bridge over the Colorado River between Richland Springs and Goldthwaite, Texas.
The show is independently syndicated, with Phillips retaining half of the ads for regional sponsors[3]; he appears in many of the regional ads, and the sponsors' logos adorn the back of the famed SUV. For twelve years, the show has headlined the Texas Country Reporter Festival in Waxahachie, south of Dallas, with some of the people highlighted on the show in attendance.[4][5]
Texas Country Reporter posts selected segments to its YouTube page[6], and some have been featured on local newscasts. A three-DVD highlights set, Go! Stay! Eat!, was released September 17, 2005.
A national version of the show, On the Road With Bob Phillips, is planned to debut in 2010; Phillips previously did 60 stories in 35 states as part of a "Texas Country Reporter Discovers America" series for the show's 25th anniversary in 1998.[7]
The show is sometimes incorrectly confused with the long-running and recently revived The Eyes of Texas which predates TCR by several years, and was produced by KPRC-TV in Houston throughout both the original and newer versions.
[edit] Notable TCR segments
- Johnny Anders, mayor of Stamford and metal artist
- Bud Andrews, deejay in Lubbock
- Blues Boy Willie, blues musician from Memphis, Texas
- Minnie Lou Bradley, rancher near Childress
- Matt Brown is a football and track and field coach at Idalou High School, who is a gold and bronze winner in the Parapan American Games, He lost his left leg, amputated above the knee, as a result of an industrial accident in December 2005.[8]
- Jared Calvert, young pilot from Ranger
- Virgil Johnson, deejay in Lubbock; formerly with The Velvets
- Gary D. McCaleb, former mayor of Abilene; vice-president of Abilene Christian University; co-founder of the National Center for Illustrated Children's Literature in downtown Abilene
- Myna Potts, historical preservationist from Hardeman County
- The Quebe Sisters Band, young fiddle players from Burleson
- Rosebud Fountain and Grill in downtown Victoria
- Simon Vega, owner/operator of "Little Graceland" museum in Los Fresnos dedicated to his Army friend, Elvis Presley
- Roddy Wiley, owner of Oakwood State Bank in Oakwood, the smallest bank in the United States
- The unusual arrangement between the East Texas high schools of Apple Springs and Hudson. Apple Springs participates in football but has no band program while Hudson has a band but no football team; thus; Hudson serves as Apple Springs' "band" during football games.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Texas Country Reporter: Showtimes. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
- ^ "If It's in Texas, the Texas Country Reporter Has Seen It", The New York Times, April 10, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
- ^ "If It's in Texas, the Texas Country Reporter Has Seen It", The New York Times, April 10, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
- ^ Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter Festival, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
- ^ Waxahachie Downtown: Annual Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter Festival, WaxahachieDowntown.com. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
- ^ Director Page: Texas Country Reporter, YouTube. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
- ^ "If It's in Texas, the Texas Country Reporter Has Seen It", The New York Times, April 10, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
- ^ ""Faces in the Crowd"". Sports Illustrated.com, October 22, 2007. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/scorecard/faces/2007/10/22/. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
[edit] Related links
- Official site, includes information on the people featured, events calendar and guide to Texas dialect.
- Phillips Productions, Bob Phillips' company, which produces the show.
- RFD-TV, features a brief history of the show in Phillips' own words.
