Texas Country Reporter

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Texas Country Reporter is a long-running 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 2,000 episodes of the show.[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. 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).

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[3]; he appears in many of the regional ads, and the sponsors' logos adorn the back of the famed SUV. For 12 years, the show has headlined the Texas Country Reporter Festival in Waxahachie, Texas, featuring some of the show's subjects.[4][5]

Texas Country Reporter posts selected segments to its YouTube page[6], 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 January 2009; 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.[7]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Texas Country Reporter: Showtimes. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
  2. ^ "If It's in Texas, the Texas Country Reporter Has Seen It", The New York Times, April 10, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
  3. ^ "If It's in Texas, the Texas Country Reporter Has Seen It", The New York Times, April 10, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
  4. ^ Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter Festival, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
  5. ^ Waxahachie Downtown: Annual Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter Festival, WaxahachieDowntown.com. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
  6. ^ Director Page: Texas Country Reporter, YouTube. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
  7. ^ "If It's in Texas, the Texas Country Reporter Has Seen It", The New York Times, April 10, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2008.

[edit] Related links

  • Official site, includes information on the people featured, events calendar and guide to Texas dialect.
  • Phillips Productions, Bob Phillips' company, which produces the show.
  • RFD-TV, features a brief history of the show in Phillips' own words.
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