Beth & Russell

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WBIR's Beth Haynes and Russell Biven. Photo by Eric Foxx.

For over 15 years, I've had regular chats with Beth Haynes and Russell Biven, co-hosts of WBIR's Live@5@4. Probably over 200 chats, all like any such chats between folks who have known each other that long, except our chats have been on live TV.

During that time I've brought along from Ijams, live owls, hawks, falcons, snakes, spiders, frogs, toads, opossums, beetles, spittle bugs, walkingstick bugs, caterpillars, turtles, bird nests and kids in bat suits. (Couldn't find a live bat.)

I've cooked bird suet in their kitchen. Dressed as a pirate squirrel for Halloween. Talked about feeding hummingbirds, chickadees, wrens on their porch. Once dragged on a recently de-decorated Christmas tree into the studio to talk about recycling used trees. I've chatted from a canoe, a cliff, a creek, a cave, a field, a forest, a lake. And, heck, one time we all even ate crunchy Peg cooked cicadas! (May 2004. Deep fried. It's in my first book, page 102.) 

But most of the time, we chatted in comfortable chairs in their studio living room and there is always something good to watch on the TV. It's all very homey except for the bright lights.

My first chat was in March 2000—we talked about Ijams river clean-up. This week we chatted about my Mindfulness Walk coming up this Sunday at Ijams. And the thing is, the warmth and friendliness you see on camera, is the same warmth and friendliness you feel off camera. They're like family.

Thank you producer Lee Ann Bowman for arranging all those chats and Eric Foxx for wiring me for sound and to perky reporter Emily Stroud for chatting with me on location now and again too.
 
Here's a link to our last chat: Mindfulness Walk.

Russell on set

With WBIR's Emily Stroud and owl

With Emily overlooking the city

 

And in two canoes that kept drifting off camera on Mead's Quarry Lake

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