Print
E-mail
|
|
By David Watson Boomerang Sports Writer
It was just a passing thought tossed around over 20 years ago.
The seed for the idea was planted again about four years ago during a casual conversation when two acquaintances were fast becoming good friends while covering a Wyoming high school state soccer tournament in Laramie.
Michael “Mick” Birge, an accomplished longtime television and radio veteran, mentioned to me that after all the years he lived in Wyoming, he always wanted to learn how to fly-fish.
Without hesitation I offered to introduce him to the sport, and from time to time he would slip hints to remind me of his desire to master the art of the cast and try to entice a trout to hit an artificial fly at the end of the line. There was also a possibility he would film the experience.
A couple of years ago, University of Wyoming men’s basketball head coach Heath Schroyer and I were having an informal chat after an interview in his office, and I mentioned that I went fly-fishing during my days off. Schroyer then said that he would like to give it a try sometime.
Uh oh … what did he just say?
Then from out of the blue Birge sent me an e-mail on June 22 that said, “Please call me when you get a chance … it might be time to do a little fishin’ on TV.”
He informed me of his new venture in starting his own broadcast production company called Star Valley Productions (SVP, www.svpros.com), and at 8 p.m. (MST) tonight on The Mtn. (MountainWest Sports Network, 412 Bresnan, 616 DIRECTV) channel, is the premier of The “Other Side of the Mountain.”
“The goal when we founded Star Valley (Productions) was to create television that appealed to those who live in this part of the country,” Birge said. “I always loved Curt Gowdy’s American Sportsman growing up as a kid, and this show has a little bit of Curt’s influence in it.
“When I started forming Star Valley Productions to produce my own shows, and the idea came up to do a fly-fishing episode here in Wyoming, it gave me a great opportunity to give you a call and keep a promise.”
Birge, Schroyer, Ben Rosehart of KGWN-TV in Cheyenne, Birge’s son David and SVP chief videographer Greg Fladager met me at a fly shop in the morning, then for a couple of hours of casting lessons at the UW rugby fields and later at the North Platte River and on top of the Snowy Range in Southeastern Wyoming, and off we went for a memorable day.
“We had a lot of fun the day we videotaped the episode,” Birge said. “I hope our viewers will get a real sense of what fishing in this part of the country is like as well as get to know Coach Schroyer and see him in a surrounding away from the basketball court, away from where you normally see him — thus the origin of the title of our show.”
Birge also said future episodes will feature coaches, players and others associated with all nine Mountain West Conference schools, present and past, with each episode having its own unique setting. New episodes of “The Other Side of the Mountain” will air each month during the year. The show will air several times in its premier month on The Mtn. with encore airings during the spring and summer.
“I thought about doing something like this for 20 years, and in the last year or so the opportunity presented itself to do it,” Birge said.
“I don’t think the effort or the results would have been as good 20 years ago as I think it is going to be now.
“This is actually making my dreams come true too. I’ve always wanted to do shows like these and never had the vehicle to do them before.
“I hope the shows take our viewers along on the adventure as we are just a bunch of people having fun and they are along for the ride.”
David Watson’s e-mail is davidw@laramieboomerang.com
The seed for the idea was planted again about four years ago during a casual conversation when two acquaintances were fast becoming good friends while covering a Wyoming high school state soccer tournament in Laramie.
Michael “Mick” Birge, an accomplished longtime television and radio veteran, mentioned to me that after all the years he lived in Wyoming, he always wanted to learn how to fly-fish.
Without hesitation I offered to introduce him to the sport, and from time to time he would slip hints to remind me of his desire to master the art of the cast and try to entice a trout to hit an artificial fly at the end of the line. There was also a possibility he would film the experience.
A couple of years ago, University of Wyoming men’s basketball head coach Heath Schroyer and I were having an informal chat after an interview in his office, and I mentioned that I went fly-fishing during my days off. Schroyer then said that he would like to give it a try sometime.
Uh oh … what did he just say?
Then from out of the blue Birge sent me an e-mail on June 22 that said, “Please call me when you get a chance … it might be time to do a little fishin’ on TV.”
He informed me of his new venture in starting his own broadcast production company called Star Valley Productions (SVP, www.svpros.com), and at 8 p.m. (MST) tonight on The Mtn. (MountainWest Sports Network, 412 Bresnan, 616 DIRECTV) channel, is the premier of The “Other Side of the Mountain.”
“The goal when we founded Star Valley (Productions) was to create television that appealed to those who live in this part of the country,” Birge said. “I always loved Curt Gowdy’s American Sportsman growing up as a kid, and this show has a little bit of Curt’s influence in it.
“When I started forming Star Valley Productions to produce my own shows, and the idea came up to do a fly-fishing episode here in Wyoming, it gave me a great opportunity to give you a call and keep a promise.”
Birge, Schroyer, Ben Rosehart of KGWN-TV in Cheyenne, Birge’s son David and SVP chief videographer Greg Fladager met me at a fly shop in the morning, then for a couple of hours of casting lessons at the UW rugby fields and later at the North Platte River and on top of the Snowy Range in Southeastern Wyoming, and off we went for a memorable day.
“We had a lot of fun the day we videotaped the episode,” Birge said. “I hope our viewers will get a real sense of what fishing in this part of the country is like as well as get to know Coach Schroyer and see him in a surrounding away from the basketball court, away from where you normally see him — thus the origin of the title of our show.”
Birge also said future episodes will feature coaches, players and others associated with all nine Mountain West Conference schools, present and past, with each episode having its own unique setting. New episodes of “The Other Side of the Mountain” will air each month during the year. The show will air several times in its premier month on The Mtn. with encore airings during the spring and summer.
“I thought about doing something like this for 20 years, and in the last year or so the opportunity presented itself to do it,” Birge said.
“I don’t think the effort or the results would have been as good 20 years ago as I think it is going to be now.
“This is actually making my dreams come true too. I’ve always wanted to do shows like these and never had the vehicle to do them before.
“I hope the shows take our viewers along on the adventure as we are just a bunch of people having fun and they are along for the ride.”
David Watson’s e-mail is davidw@laramieboomerang.com
