Mary C. Anderson and Nancy Bergman in the WTCO studio
A driver rolled down his window and said, “We can’t wait for the next edition of History Files!” That’s the kind of local attention Mary C. Anderson and Nancy Bergman are getting in Trempealeau County for their homegrown show whose star is Trempealeau County itself. “People stop us at the grocery store or the gas station to give us show ideas,” said Nancy.
Before the pandemic, the two community producers at WTCO (formerly Trempealeau County Community Television) were always out covering events – parades, musical performances, fairs, meetings -- but when the pandemic shut everything down – even the WTCO studio – Mary and Nancy had to get creative. “We decided to make lemon pie out of lemons,” said Mary. They began shooting History Files in March 2020. On those early spring weekends, Nancy and Mary would position a couple of chairs in Nancy’s front yard, set up the camera and tripod, balance a microphone on a jug of vinegar, and after a brief conversation in the kitchen about how the show would go, they’d bundle up, go outside, hit record and start the kitchen timer. Sometimes they’d shoot two shows at a time.
Nancy opens a History Files episode ready to make pigs feet out of an 1890 cook book.
“People can’t believe it, but we’ve never scripted anything,” said Nancy. Nancy has an extensive knowledge of local history and the two old friends never seem to run out of things to talk about. They work closely with the Trempealeau County Historical Society. Last summer, Nancy ran across an 1890 cookbook with recipes in it for headcheese and pigs feet and pigeon pie. They decided to talk about the recipes on the show and they opened it with Nancy standing next to an old cast iron kettle ready with her axe. “We do shows on all sorts of fun topics,” said Mary. The show began to feature field trips to spots around the county. In one episode the duo set off to look for Hawkinson’s School, a one-room schoolhouse that had long ago fell into ruin. “We headed out into the bush and found the remnants of the foundation,” said Nancy. During the winter, the show moved into the kitchen and the women talked about lumberjacks and the lumber industry, the migration west and historic blizzards. They introduced a co-host, Zip, a two-year old border collie that loves to jump on their laps and steal scenes. “He has a huge fan base,” said Nancy.
Zip is angling for more time in front of the camera on History Files.
Then late last fall, they landed on the idea of doing part of the show while driving down county roads. They decided to call the feature “Name that Road.” Trempealeau County is located in the Driftless Area of the state and has a beautiful hilly landscape. “We drive around, talk about the topography and make a special note of landmarks. We might talk about the history of a church or a school or point out a weird mailbox or a rock outcrop and we invite people to tell us what road we’re on. Well, we’ve done about 14 of them so far and it’s turned into this crazy wild show. A lot of people try to figure out what road we’re on.” Mary and Nancy get calls, texts and emails. Older residents in particular love it. “A lot of them don’t get out much and it’s a treat for them to go for a drive with us and test their knowledge of the area. I’m sure it sparks a lot of reminiscing. Residents at one nursing home succeeded in having the show put on their schedule of events!” On one show, they decided to set off to find the highest point in Trempealeau County. “We told viewers straight off that we didn’t know what the highest point was and so we ended up getting a lot of suggestions from viewers. Finally, a man who worked in the land records office contacted us and told us what the highest point was. (They laugh.) We have a blast. Mary and I like to say it gives us an opportunity to get away from our husbands.”
Mary and Nancy met when they were next door neighbors. They each gravitated to WTCO (formerly Trempealeau County Community Television) for very different reasons. Nancy was raising two boys in the 1980s when she became interested in taking camcorder classes so she decided to bring them along. “I thought we could all learn something together,” she said. Mary began taping the meetings of the Coulee Grazers (a local farmer group) in 1993 as a soil conservationist for La Crosse County Land Conservation Department. She set up a lending library to make the recordings available to farmer members who could not attend. “We would pass the tapes around and if you missed seeing the meeting on Cable TV, or you wanted to review an old meeting, you could find it in our library,” said Mary. They began working together on programs of interest to farmers and ultimately produced countless numbers of programs for them.
Mary likes to go out and shoot B-roll for upcoming episodes and for the library at WTCO.
The duo started specializing. Nancy became interested in computer editing about ten years ago and Mary found she enjoyed going out with the camcorder and shooting B-roll for stock footage – shots of deer, rain, ice melting, sunrises, -- that WTCO staff would catalogue for anyone’s use. The two made a point to do a show in the WTCO studio about once a month. “I really enjoy it,” said Mary. “Every time I go in I learn something new.”
Mary also admitted to a competitive streak. “We’ve won a few awards in the WCM [Best of the Midwest] media fest and when you enter, you also get feedback. People are really good about giving you good comments and we use them to improve our shows so we can do even better the next time!” They also like getting a “pat on the back” for a job well done. In 2021, Nancy and Mary received a Best in Show award in the senior category for the History Files program.
Derek Westby, who recently took over as director of WTCO says he’s learned a lot about local history from watching the shows. “It’s always fun to see what they come up with. I’ve been director here for just four months and they’ve already produced 45 billion programs.” he joked. “But seriously, what has amazed me since taking over this position is how aware people are of the local channel here. I went to the bank to open an account and mentioned that I was the new director of WTCO and immediately they said, ‘We know about them! We watch the History Files, the County Board meetings…’ and they went on and on. Here everyone watches. The cable system here, Tri-County Cable Communications Cooperative, is a huge supporter. The first thing they told me when I arrived was that the channel was very important to them and that if I needed anything, to let them know.”
Mary and Nancy are hoping to be back covering events this summer, but they’re also planning to shoot more episodes of History Files with its popular segment, “Name That Road.” “We’ve been getting a lot of different topic ideas from people – real interesting ones, too, and many are more regional in nature,” said Nancy. “We have enough ideas from people to last us for a long, long time,” said Mary.
WTCO is on Channel 18 and in HD on channel 618 in Trempealeau County on the Tri-County Communications Cooperative system, which also serves parts of two other counties. WTCO also has a YouTube Channel.
History Files: From Bread to Milk. March is National Agriculture Month, so Mary and Nancy did a show about farming in Trempealeau County that explored how farmers in the area made the transition from the county’s first big money crop, wheat, to dairy.
