Wyoming Information from Wyoming Personalities
Wyoming Chronicle
The Wyoming Chronicle is an innovative weekly program of interviews with newsmakers, artists, innovative thinkers, and unique Wyoming personalities. The centerpiece of the show is quick-moving conversations between articulate guests and a rotating team of skilled interviewers, led by Executive Producer Geoff O’Gara. Guests will range from well-known figures like Sen. Al Simpson to a storytelling wrangler who gentles wild horses captured in the Red Desert. The interviews will be wrapped round with an introduction and close that puts the topic and guest in context for viewers, and relates the interview, when appropriate, to current events. Our aim is to make the Wyoming Chronicle a weekly ‘habit’ for Wyoming PBS viewers, and a ‘family’ enterprise to which the audience will contribute ideas and comments through the Wyoming PBS website. One week we’ll be talking to a world leader; the following week, your next-door neighbor. Expect lively, informative conversation, with unexpected turns, moments of humor, outbursts of music, and tough questions about tough issues.
Charlie and Derek Craighead - February, 12, 2010
The sons of legendary bear biologists Frank and John Craighead have found new ways to carry on their fathers' research and efforts to protect wildlife and habitat in Wyoming and around the world. John Kerr talks to Charlie and Derek Craighead.
- www.beringiasouth.com
- www.grizzlybear.org
- www.arcticdance.com
- www.wiki.wyomingauthors.org/Charles+Craighead
- www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com
Chuck Box - February 19, 2010
Who's the most prolific and popular writer in Wyoming today? Mystery author Chuck Box, whose novels featuring game warden Joe Picket regularly climb the New York Times bestseller list, talks to producer Geoff O'Gara.
Bob Grady on the Economy - February 26, 2010
Jackson economist Bob Grady served in the White House under President George H.W. Bush and managed U.S. venture and growth capitol for the Carlyle Group, a powerful international capital venture firm. Talking to Laurie Farkas, Grady sizes up Wyoming's efforts at economic diversification and prospects for a prosperous future.
Sen. Alan K. Simpson - March 5, 2010
Sen. Alan Simpson talks about the political climate today, and issues ranging from the Middle East to campaign financing.
Rob DesLauriers - March 12, 2010
The former skiing pro who developed Jackson’s Terra Hotel, talks to Dina Mishev about bringing “green” principles to luxury resort building.
Foster Friess - March 19, 2010
Foster Friess made a fortune investing the Brandywine Fund; now he’s using it to provide health and education in Third World countries.
Encore Presentation of Mary Gibson Scott - April 2, 2010
New Acting Regional Director for the National Parks Service Mary Gibson Scott talked to Dina Mishev last fall about her work as Superintendent at Grand Teton National Park and the ‘glass ceiling’ women have sometimes encountered in the agency.
Equine Prosthetics - April 9, 2010
A broken leg is usually the end for a horse, but Wyoming vet Ted Vlahos has pioneered equine prosthesis – an artificial leg – that gives injured horses a reprieve.
Iraq Veteran - April 16, 2010
On Travis Vendela’s third tour in Iraq, a bomb exploded under his military vehicle, taking both his legs and nearly his life. Vendela, who lives in Cheyenne, talks to Laurie Farkas about his experiences in the war and at home in Cheyenne.
Pete Simpson Jr. - April 23, 2010
Pete Simpson Jr. of New York theater’s “Blue Man Group” returns to the University of Wyoming for a lead role in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Simpson talks about his career, and, who knows, Hamlet’s father’s ghost may appear.
Meeteetse Chocolatier - April 30, 2010
Tim Kellogg rides broncs and makes exotic chocolate treats as the now famous Meeteetse Chocolatier.
Jalan Crossland - May 7, 2010
Jalan Crossland has been called Wyoming's 'trailerpark troubadour.' He brings his left-handed six-string banjo to an interview with Margaret Benson.
Encore Presentation of Marilyn Kite - March 26, 2010
Margaret Benson talks with Supreme Court Justice Kite.
Don Simpson - May 21, 2010
Wyoming state director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management talks with Geoff O'Gara about the challenge of balancing multiple uses including mining, grazing and recreation.
Encore Presentation of Casper Reentry Center- May 28, 2010
Craig Draper was abusing drugs and in trouble with the law from the age of 9, but he turned his life around at the Casper Re-entry Center. Draper talks to host Laurie Farkas about how he pulled himself out of suicidal despair – and points the way for others.
Geoff O'Gara - Lander
Geoff O’Gara is a Senior Producer at
Wyoming PBS, and an author, based in Lander, Wyoming. His books include A Long Road Home
From world leaders to your next door neighbor, Wyoming Chronicle provides the stories you want to hear (Houghton-Mifflin); What You See in Clear Water (Knopf); and a number of travel guides for National Geographic Books, Fodors, and other publishers. He has been a newspaper columnist, an editor of High Country News, a contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler, and a freelance writer for publications ranging from the New York Times to Travel & Leisure. He received a Kellogg Journalism Fellowship at the University of Michigan and the Neltje Blanchan Award for writing about the natural world. At Wyoming PBS, he produces and hosts public affairs programming like Capitol Outlook, and writes and produces documentaries such as "Washakie" and upcoming programs on "Migrations" and Alan Simpson.
Laurie Farkas - Cheyenne
Laurie Farkas has a great deal of media experience with fifteen years of previous producing experience, field reporting and anchor work at KGWN News, Channel Five in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She has served as a main news anchor, in addition to holding several managerial positions. While at KGWN, Laurie also pioneered and secured sponsorships for several extremely popular health franchises in Cheyenne including: "Your Health with Laurie Farkas", "Buddy Check Five" and "The United Medical Minute." Laurie brings vision, experience and unique ideas to the table for Wyoming Chronicle.
John Kerr - Yellowstone National Park
John Kerr brings on-air and production experience as a principal public spokesman, on-air interviewer, host, marketer and fundraiser from one of the largest PBS affiliates in the system, WGBH in Boston, MA. During his tenure at WGBH, John appeared on-air more than any other TV personality in the Boston market. He wrote, scripted, anchored and presented hundreds of highly successful live and taped solicitations on
radio, television and in person. He also found, developed, and coached new on-air talent. Known as "Mr. WGBH" in Boston, John was a frequent community speaker and public representative of WGBH and PBS in the greater Boston area. Currently, John is living his retirement dream as a
seasonal wildlife Ranger in the remote
Lamar district of Yellowstone National Park.
Dina Mishev - Jackson Hole
A graduate of Northwestern University with degrees in Math and Economics, Dina Mishev moved to Wyoming for a year
immediately following college. Dina’s
writing career started shortly after her
arrival in Wyoming when the Jackson Hole News hired her to write a bi-weekly column about 20-something life in the valley. Five years later Dina was interning and writing for Outside magazine. Today she writes about travel, sports, adventure, gear, art, people, and lifestyle topics for Outside, Outside Online, National Geographic
Traveler, National Geographic Adventure, Big Sky Journal, Western Art &
Architecture, Sunset, Cooking Light, United Hemispheres, Wyoming Tourism, Arizona Tourism, and Mobil Travel Guide.
Assignments have taken her from spas in Africa to granite cliffs in Tasmania.
Margaret Benson - Casper
Margaret Benson is the owner of the Wyoming Communication Group. For the past twenty-one years, she has provided her clients consulting services in the areas of strategic planning; vision and mission development; customer relations; presentation and public speaking skills; conflict management; meeting design and facilitation; individual communication skills and leadership development. Margaret’s professional experiences include Producer and Host for New Mexico Public Television; Executive Director and lobbyist for the Wyoming In Stream Flows Committee; Television and Media Specialist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department; Wyoming Press Secretary for U. S. Senator Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyoming); Public Relations Director for First Interstate Bank of Casper and Producer and Host for Wyoming PBS. Currently she is an ongoing consultant on the staff of the Leadership Wyoming program.