New Video Series Aims to Help Novice Hunters and Anglers

WCM member Dan Small has released four new videos and made them available for WCM member stations to download and air. The target audience for these videos is adults who want to get started in hunting or fishing. The topics covered are hunting wild turkeys, upland birds, and small game, and stream fishing for trout.

Suzy Limberg, narrator of the turkey video, with a wild turkey bagged on a spring hunt. Photo by John Motoviloff

Small teamed with Paul Zwicker, of OCA Media, Oregon’s PEG access media center, to produce these videos for the National Wild Turkey Federation (www.nwtf.org), a non-profit conservation organization dedicating to maintaining healthy habitat for wildlife and preserving the hunting heritage. John Motoviloff, former recruitment, retention and reactivation coordinator for NWTF, served as executive producer for the series.

The videos follow a similar format, using narrators who, in three cases, came to their respective sport as adults. Each video depicts adult newcomers learning the basics in actual hunting or fishing situations under the guidance of seasoned mentors.

“We wanted to offer novice hunters and anglers a usable reference that covers the basics without diving in too deeply,” Small said. “We designed these videos for adults who want to try out these sports or who want to see what it might be like to hunt grouse, turkeys, or rabbits, or catch trout in a stream.”

Numerous studies have shown that adults of all ethnic backgrounds are interested in finding local sources of nutritional, organic food, including wild game and fish. Accordingly, each video contains a section on preparing the harvest for the table.

The videos were all shot in Wisconsin but depict typical scenes and habitat throughout much of North America. The trout video was shot in the Driftless Region of Vernon County on tributaries of the Kickapoo River. The grouse/woodcock video was shot on county forest land in Florence County. The turkey video was shot in Dane County. The rabbit/squirrel video was shot in Dodge County.

Two anglers fly fish for trout in the trout fishing video. Photo by John Motoviloff

WisconsinEye joins WCM to expand viewership

WisconsinEye has joined WCM as an Independent Producer member to expand its reach through WCM's 53 member media centers. 

"Collaborating with WCM members is an important and exciting step in advancing our common goal of educating and engaging Wisconsinites to participate in their democracy," said Rachel Sanders, WisconsinEye Director of Communications. "WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network is committed to providing citizens with unfettered access to the actions of our state government and to a range of civic and policy forums and events from across Wisconsin."  

WisconsinEye's Rewind: Your Week in Review provides a well-balanced weekly breakdown of the latest news in Wisconsin state politics every Friday featuring WisconsinEye Host and CBS 58 Capitol Reporter Emilee Fannon and WisPolitics.com Editor JR Ross. Look for one of your local PEG access channels to carry the program. See our list of members here.  

Marshfield Now! highlights all things local in a short form format

David Ballerstein hosts Marshfield Now!

Marshfield Broadcasting is ramping up its local coverage of the community to help raise awareness of the people, places and events in the City of Marshfield that don’t get the coverage from other local media outlets. 

The new short program, Marshfield Now! is produced and hosted by City of Marshfield’s Communications Specialist David Ballerstein.  Each week, David highlights something new. The show premieres on Saturdays on cable television channel 989 and the station’s streaming platforms.  As of the end of July, David has produced three new programs for the Marshfield Now! series.   In the first episode, David reports on the Marshfield Amateur Radio Society (MARS) that helped with emergency communications at Farm Tech Days in Loyal, Wisconsin.  The latest program is about Electrocuted Wood, a local business in Marshfield.

This isn’t David’s first crack at a show. He has been involved in local community media since the 1990’s when he was a high school student in Colby, Wisconsin. David has also worked professionally at the broadcast affiliate WSAW Channel 7.   David and Tom Loucks, City of Marshfield Communications Director, worked together previously at Wisconsin Rapids Community Media when Tom was the coordinator there from 2011 to 2019 and David was an intern/volunteer. Then, David was producing the show, “Day Trip in Wisconsin.”

Tom hired David in early spring and he believes David is a huge part of the many successes the station is having now. “I didn’t have the time to run our broadcasting station as a one man band. I needed someone who would work as a team member and have the skills to advance us, and David fit the job perfectly,” said Tom.

There are several new series being produced these days besides Marshfield Now!  including “Heroes,” “Your City at Work,” and “Council Preview.”

To see the programs visit marshfieldbroadcasing.com.