Launches March 16 on KVCR PBS TV
The regional travel series, Southwest Stories with Steve Brown, launches Monday, March 16, at 6:30 p.m. on KVCR PBS Television. Southwest Stories takes viewers on road trips from the California deserts into the Southwest, introducing them to fascinating people and destinations in the region.
Brown is an award-winning journalist and publisher of The Sun Runner, The Journal of the Real Desert, a regional desert magazine now in its 21st year in print. He previously had a well-reviewed PBS series in 2013, The Real Desert, with Steve Brown.
“Southwest Stories really picks up where The Real Desert left off,” Brown noted. “We try to give you a real taste of the desert, with a mix of history, culture, travel destinations, and personalities. The music for the show is all from independent musicians from the desert or with ties to the desert, and we feature desert artists, historians, dining, lodging, and attractions. We give you the real thing as we experience it, not like scripted “reality” shows.”
This season begins when Southwest Stories takes viewers to the Ridgecrest, California area where they visit Randsburg, a living ghost town, Ridgecrest, and the fantastic Little Petroglyph Canyon, the largest known concentration of Native American petroglyphs in the western hemisphere. From Ridgecrest, the show then explores the Lake Havasu, Arizona, area and gets airborne during the Havasu Balloon Festival, heads south along the Mexican border to visit the History of Museum in Granite, located in Felicity, California, then visits Yuma, Arizona, and returns to home turf around Joshua Tree, California to share adventures closer to home.
Some of the featured guests for this season include historians Lorraine Blair and Jacque-Andres Istel, artists Snake Jagger and Bobby Furst, and live musical performances where Brown performs with the California Celts and the Gypsy Cowboy String Quartet. Additional music in the show includes work by Randy Godfrey and Bobby Furgo, Glenn Patrik, Jewels and Johnny Nation, Steve Rushingwind, Tim Easton, and There Be Pirates!, Brown’s own band. (Brown is a musician who has toured England twice with There Be Pirates!, and has been an artist-in-residence and classroom teacher of music.) Theme music for Southwest Stories is by Native American Music Award (NAMMY) two-time winner, Steve Rushingwind and the Rushingwind Project, with Brown on percussion.
Southwest Stories takes viewers up in hot air balloons, kayak fishing, hiking, exploring ghost towns, to sacred sites, digging cactus, mechanical bull riding, wine tasting, shopping, dining, and just having fun and meeting new friends, while highlighting travel to the region. This May, Southwest Stories will be shooting new episodes in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
Southwest Stories is produced by The Sun Runner, The Journal of the Real Desert, and Turquoise MultiMedia for KVCR PBS. High resolution photos are available by request. More information can be found at www.southweststories.us.
KVCR PBS broadcasts to 5.8 million households across southern California, including all of Los Angeles and Orange counties, most of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, northern San Diego and southern Ventura counties. More information can be found at www.kvcr.org.
KVCR-DT
Desert Cities Viewers:
Over the Air:
KJHP Channel 18,
K09XW Channel 9
Cable:
KVCR Channel 9
Palm Springs
Palm Desert
Rancho Mirage
Cathedral City
Coachella
La Quinta
Indio
Thousand Palms
Inland Empire Viewers:
Over the Air:
KVCR Channel 24
Cable:
Big Bear – Ch. 19,
Chino/ Chino Hills – Ch. 8,
Colton – Ch. 12,
Compton – Ch. 97,
Cypress – Ch. 43,
La Palma – Ch. 43,
Lake Arrowhead – Ch. 19,
Leisure World – Ch. 52,
Moreno Valley – Ch. 12,
Redlands – Ch. 12,
Rialto – Ch. 12,
Rimforest – Ch. 19,
Yorba Linda – Ch. B14
High Desert Viewers:
Cable: Ch. 19
KVCR is transmitted by both DirecTV and DishTV in their optional local channels packages.
