By Tom Rohrer
A national television audience will be given an in-depth look into the history and make-up of Olympia, Washington in February.
C-SPAN is currently on location in Thurston County to shoot footage and interviews for their Cities Tour, which highlights mid-sized cities across the United States.
Video journalists and producers alike from C-SPAN made the cross country journey from Washington D.C., where they explore, film and interview around Washington’s state capital city and the surrounding area.
After deciding on a town to profile, the C-SPAN crew starts planning what they will highlight while in the area.
“The tour is scheduled usually eight months in advance. We reach out to our local cable partners. We contacted Comcast and received recommendations on local people to speak with,” said Adrienne Hoar, video journalist for C-SPAN. “Those initial conversations about where we should go in the city happen a few months in advance and then are solidified as we get closer to traveling. Our most intense research is done a week or two before we arrive and that’s when we really start diving into the stories.”
Earlier this month, C-SPAN aired their Cities Tour profile of Bellingham, one of three cities in the Pacific Northwest (along with Salem, OR.) that will be featured in the series third year.
A local content van is deployed by C-SPAN when visiting the selected city. These vehicles travel around the community to interview area historians, authors and civic leaders and to visit historic and literary sites.
One of those locations C-SPAN visited was the Bigelow House off of East Bay Drive, where Hoar interviewed Shanna Stevenson, from the Washington State Historical Society.
Hoar went into detail about the selection process regarding shooting locations and content. “We want a visual medium. A lot of times in meetings where we decide what we’re going to shoot, who we are interviewing, it’s about telling something and showing something,” said Hoar. “Like we saw at the Bigelow House, I want the subject to point to objects of historical significance. Then they can talk about the object and how it’s relevant. Whether we’re in a house or touring the Capital, we’re always looking for something to visually represent the story.”
In order for viewers to properly understand a specific community, C-SPAN looks into the past and present of a location they film.
“For me, we’re looking to find a way to connect the past with the present,” Hoar says. “Part of planning out the stories has to deal with what happened 100 years would the city.”
Having the opportunity to travel around the country to explore cities and learn new stories is something Hoar does not take for granted.
“It really is an honor to see the places around the country that are significant to our country’s founding,” she said. “We saw a chair that Susan B. Anthony may have sat in today. It’s unexpected surprises that make the job so exciting.”
Hoar believes the Olympia area has historical and present day significance nationally and will resonate with the program’s viewers.
“Our country’s history is very alive in this part of the country, and that history is very rich,” she said. “Major topics like women’s rights and suffrage is very much a part of city. It’s woven into the community’s fabric.”
The produced features from the Cities Tour visit to Olympia will be aired from Saturday, Feb. 1, through Sunday, Feb. 2, on C-SPAN’s non-fiction book channel, BookTV on C-SPAN 2 and American History TV on C-SPAN 3.
For more information, including program times and channel listings, visit http://www.c-span.org/LocalContent/.
