WKU News & Events

May 28, 2002

WKYU-PBS' June Lineup Features
Three Series

Bowling Green, Ky. - Frontier life, walking for exercise and flea markets are three subjects for June on WKYU-PBS, the public television service of Western Kentucky University.

"Frontier House"
After surviving a competitive selection process, a rigorous training program and a dangerous overland wagon trip, three contemporary American families faced 19th-century life in the Montana wilderness for "Frontier House," a six-part "hands-on history" series. The series premiers on WKYU-PBS at 8 p.m. Fridays in two-hour installments, beginning June 14, and repeats Sundays at 11 a.m.

Chosen from more than 5,000 applicants, the Glenn family of Tennessee, the Clune family of California and the Brooks family of Massachusetts headed west in May and resided there until early October, living as 1880s homesteaders, with only the tools and technology of the period at their disposal. Throughout their adventure, the cameras rolled, revealing the families' trials, triumphs, simple pleasures and daily rigors.

"From the early days of 'The 1900 House,' we wanted to take on the stereotypes and myths of the American West," executive producer Beth Hoppe said. "Every step of the way the production team, the participants and the experts have enthusiastically embraced our concept, and 'Frontier House' explores the reality of everyday life in 1883 at a level of detail that exceeded even my expectations. The story of our families' experience is at once dramatic, entertaining and educational."

The drama of this experience - which included a June snowstorm, unanticipated weight loss among the families, encounters with bears and a family sneaking modern cosmetics into their 1883 experience - has also been captured on the series' companion Web site. The interactive site features audio and video excerpts from the homesteaders' adventures, production journal entries, interactive presentations, and historical essays - all of which give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the project.

"We're thrilled to offer such a realistic and multi-faceted look at the past. Through the Web site, the series and the book, viewers will be able to vicariously share in a remarkable experience, and literally be able to see history come to life," Shaw said.

"America's Walking"
"America's Walking" is a new fitness, travel, and lifestyle series on PBS designed to get you moving.

More than 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. Only 20 percent are actually getting the recommended 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day. This lack of physical activity has been associated with heart disease, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, arthritis, breathing problems and psychological disorders such as depression.

Bottom line-Americans are getting fatter, sicker, more lethargic and thoroughly stressed out. What can we do? Take a walk.

Premiering on WKYU-PBS Sunday, June 9 at 8 p.m., "America's Walking" is a 13-part fitness, travel and lifestyle series that offers information and inspiration for those who want to start a daily walking habit and live a more active life. The new weekly PBS series, hosted by Mark Fenton, the country's foremost expert on walking and pedestrian issues, travels around the country interviewing leading experts and regular folks struggling to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle.

Co-produced by Connecticut Public Television and Big Purse Productions, "America's Walking" is not an exercise show, but a motivational lifestyle series that provides viewers with a blueprint for increasing daily activity and creating more walkable communities. Each half-hour episode-set in a different walking environment-is divided into five parts: Personal Health & Fitness, Fuel for the Road, Gear to Go, Travel & Adventure and a Call to Action.

Fenton highlights great walking destinations across the country, provides advice on food and nutrition, presents tips on the best fitness apparel and presents the inspirational stories of individuals who have seen their lives transformed by walking.

So why is there a need for a series on walking-our most basic and natural physical activity? Walking is the solution to many health and community problems and yet very few people are doing it. It's easy, you need no special equipment, and just 30 minutes a day can dramatically improve and extend your life. Walking is often the gateway to a more active lifestyle. In fact, "America's Walking" includes segments on hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, and racewalking.

In addition to telling the inspiring stories of others, the series offers a wealth of practical information that viewers can use right away. In the Gear to Go segments, Fenton explains how to use pedometers, maintain a walking log book, choose the best walking shoe and the 10 essential items for hiking. The Fuel for the Road segments provide advice on portion control, healthy foods that provide energy, the best and worst nutrition bars, and an answer to the age-old question: which is better, water or sports drinks?

Walking is simply the easiest and most natural exercise we possess. As Fenton said, "If we were meant to walk, we'd stand upright and have two legs and opposable thumbs."

"A Flea Market Documentary"
On any weekend, there may be no better place to find out what makes America great than at a flea market. "A Flea Market Documentary," airing on WKYU-PBS Thursday, June 20 at 9:30 p.m., is an unabashed celebration of the unusual people and the enticing things that can be found in parking lots, fairgrounds, drive-ins, sidewalks and wherever else someone has posted a sign saying "Flea Market." It's capitalism mixed with craziness. It's amazing old stuff, great salespeople, the ancient tradition of the open-air market and the possibility of finding a bargain, uniting shoppers across the nation.

"A Flea Market Documentary" takes viewers from the gigantic Rose Bowl Market in Pasadena, Calif., to the busy but modest-sized Eastern Market in Washington, D.C., talking with organizers, vendors, food merchants and shoppers. The program travels down Highway 127 through Kentucky and Tennessee on the long August weekend when it becomes a 450-mile-long collective yard sale that attracts people from near and far. The documentary visits the country's oldest flea market in Canton, Texas, still known as "First Monday" - even though it's now held on the weekend before the first Monday. Just south of Pittsburgh, Pa., at the local racetrack, vendors set up and eager shoppers line up before dawn for first dibs on the amazing merchandise sold at the Antiques Fair at the Meadows.

Although the program features antique toys, rugs from Afghanistan, Breyer model horses and the lure of old glass insulators, it doesn't focus solely on items or their estimated values as much as it illustrates the unpredictable mix of personalities and merchandise that make up an interesting market. And it's not just old things. Amidst the antique merchants at the Fremont Market in Seattle, Wash., a young man named Steven Villegas enthusiastically sells brand new heavy-duty cotton kilts that he designs and markets as "UtiliKilts" for bold working men.

"I was flattered the first day I came to the market," said Villegas, inventor and founder of UtiliKilts. "I sold one. I sold my first UtiliKilt right here, and ever since that I've been coming back. But I couldn't have done it without this place."

In "A Flea Market Documentary," filmmaker Rick Sebak invites viewers to take a closer, fresher look at a part of American culture that may be overlooked or often taken for granted. In an increasingly diverse America, a visit to the local flea market may be one of the best ways to find out what's happening and what's important, as well as what's for sale.

"We wanted to celebrate the people and the places and show how all of us can appreciate the desire to find a bargain, to make a buck, or simply to walk and talk among old lunch boxes, spinning wheels and outrageously expensive cookie jars" Sebak said.

WKYU-PBS can be seen on broadcast channel 24 and on cable television systems throughout Southcentral Kentucky.

For more information, contact Linda Oldham at (270) 745-2400. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.