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America's Heartland
Our nation’s agriculture is a truly miraculous
enterprise, a place where only 2% of the
population feeds, clothes, and fuels the other 98%,
along with millions more worldwide. Farmers and
ranchers of all stripes contribute mightily to our
quality of life, and as a result, American
consumers spend less to feed themselves than any
other country in the world. Our nation’s very roots
are in agrarian culture, and over time we’ve lost
the connection between our food and those who
produce it.
America’s Heartland is a new weekly public
television series, hosted by Paul Ryan, which
will celebrate our nation’s agriculture. Profiling
the people, places, and processes of agriculture,
the series will tap in to—and strengthen—the
ties that bind us all together: the love of our
land and the respect for the people who live on
and from it, a national fascination with food,
curiosity about unfamiliar places and ways of
life, and the bedrock American values of family,
hard work and the spirit of independence.
Heartland crews have traveled to nearly 30
states, and the stories are as varied as you canimagine: process stories from Louisiana shrimp
to Vermont maple syrup to Texas sugar cane.
Crop stories that feature Iowa soybeans, Maine
potatoes, Washington cherries, Arizona lettuce
and sweet Georgia carrots. Places like the
world’s largest Aloe Vera farm, an underground
mushroom farm, and a historic Texas cattle
ranch that once employed an entire town. The
series celebrates the diversity of cultures that
tended our agrarian roots, and are still
producing today, ranging from Basque
sheepherders in the far West, the German
“Schmeckfest in South Dakota, Creoles in
Louisiana and the Pennsylvania Amish. Features
include organic farms, seven generations of
homesteaders, and an African-American pig
farmer raising a new breed of hog while
providing leadership for a new generation of
farmers. Popcorn, peanuts, Limburger cheese,
rainbow trout, and old Kentucky bourbon.
America’s Heartland is a magazine-style, half-
hour series produced by KVIE, Sacramento, in
digital widescreen format. Sponsors are the
Monsanto Company and the American Farm
Bureau Federation. The series is a national
evolution of California Heartland, a popular
and critically acclaimed series KVIE produced
for eight years.
Paul Ryan
Host, America’s Heartland
Paul brings more than 35 years’ television experience to
his role as host of America’s Heartland. Most recently,
Paul served as host of the popular travel series,
Experience America. Produced in 2001, the half-hour
series is still widely viewed on PBS stations across the
U.S.
Paul spent his early years in the small farming town of
Wyoming, Illinois and moved with his family to
California in the mid 1950s. He attended San Francisco
State University where he majored in television and
radio production. His strong journalism skills and
natural aptitude for television lead to reporting and
anchoring jobs at WBBM/CBS in Chicago and
KRON/NBC, San Francisco. He was also the host of
PM Northwest; a top-rated nightly half-hour on
KOMO/ABC in Seattle and the face of Rendezvous, a
popular travel series on the Discovery Channel. In
addition, he anchored Travel NewsNow and Holiday
USA, two long-running series on the Travel Channel.
In the early 1980’s, Paul joined News Travel Network in
San Francisco, where he became senior reporter/writer
for a company that produced and syndicated daily
consumer travel reports for more than 75 local
newscasts across the U.S. His duties took him to places
as diverse as Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, Ireland, Portugal,
Thailand and Australia.
Among Paul's awards are seven Emmys. Paul proudly
served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps in its
aviation division.
Patricia McConahay
Senior Reporter/Producer, America’s Heartland
Pat brings more than 25 years television experience to
her role as reporter for America’s Heartland. For the last
nine years, Pat served as co-host and reporter for
California Heartland, the highly successful PBS series
produced by KVIE TV, Sacramento.
A native of Seattle, and a graduate of Pepperdine
University in southern California, Pat’s television career
began at KTVN, the CBS affiliate in Reno, Nevada. She
quickly advanced to a larger television market,
becoming a news anchor and reporter for KXTL, the
Fox affiliate in Sacramento. Pat joined KVIE in 1985 as
a documentary producer, host and reporter for Arts
Alive and other community-based programs.
Pat moved into the public information realm in the
early 1990’s as a media relations specialist for the
California State Office of Criminal Justice Planning and
the California State Employees Association. In 1996 she
returned to KVIE to host and report for California
Heartland. Her outstanding work for Heartland earned
her several Telly and Christopher Columbus awards.
Pat has also produced a number of award-winning
documentaries focusing on the issues and challenges
facing the elderly and their families, including programs
about hospices and the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Contact Information:
America’s Heartland
P.O. Box 6
Sacramento CA 95812
877.4-AG-ONTV
877.4(24.6688)
www.americasheartland.org/ |
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