Texas Country Reporter
Texas Country Reporter is a 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 and was first hosted by John Mclean, then Jeff Rosser, then Bob Philips. 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. Around this time, Dairy Queen became the show's main sponsor, which allowed Phillips to be the chain's spokesman in its ads as he promoted food items at its Texas-based restaurants.
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;[2] 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.[3][4]
Texas Country Reporter posts selected segments to its YouTube page,[5] 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.[2]
The show is sometimes incorrectly confused with the long-running and recently revived The Eyes of Texas, hosted by Ray Miller, which predates TCR by several years, and was produced by KPRC-TV in Houston throughout both the original and newer versions.
Notable TCR segments
- Jay Boy Adams, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
- Johnny Anders, mayor of Stamford and metal artist
- Bud Andrews, retired deejay in Lubbock
- Susan Isabelle Bailey (1923-2008), bait-stand operator, fishing guide, and conservationist in Bridge City, Texas
- Blues Boy Willie, blues musician from Memphis, Texas
- Minnie Lou Bradley, rancher near Childress
- John Bramblitt, blind artist
- 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.[6]
- Jared Charles Calvert, young pilot from Ranger in Eastland County
- Los Ebanos Ferry, historic hand-pulled ferry crossing the Rio Grande at Los Ebanos in Hidalgo County
- Virgil Johnson, retired deejay in Lubbock; formerly with The Velvets
- Longhorn Cavern State Park near Burnet, with tour guide Kaye Barlow, a former teacher
- 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
- Scott Myers, sculptor of some of famous faces at the Professional Football Hall of Fame.
- Post, Texas, historic district with focus on the Hotel Garza
- Myna Potts, historical preservationist from Hardeman County
- The Quebe Sisters Band, young fiddle players from Burleson
- Rosebud Fountain and Grill in downtown Victoria
- Robert E. L. Smith, established Depression Expression Museum in Lamesa
- Robert "Bob" Terry (born c. 1963), owner of Wild West Toys in Azle near the Tarrant/Parker county line, the last American manufacturer of the cap pistol.
- Simon Vega, owner/operator of "Little Graceland" museum in Los Fresnos dedicated to his Army friend, Elvis Presley
- Kees Maarten Verheul (born ca. 1936), owner of Aermotor Windmill Company of San Angelo, the last manufacturer of windmills in the United States
- Roddy Rawls Wiley (1924-2010), owned the Oakwood State Bank in Oakwood, the smallest bank in the United States
- The last high school commencement ceremony held in Spade, which featured a wounded Korean War veteran finally graduating from his school. [1]
- 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.
Notes
- ^ Texas Country Reporter: Showtimes. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
- ^ a b c "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.
- ^ "Faces in the Crowd". Sports Illustrated.com, October 22, 2007. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/scorecard/faces/2007/10/22/. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
Related links