The Local Show is designed to highlight artists and entrepreneurs, leaders and overachievers from all walks of life – and in the process, help Kansas Citians discover substantially more about this place we call home.
“The Local Show is really going to allow us to tackle areas of the news that rarely get much television coverage in the metro. At KCPT, we tackle local politics and public policy well, but what about the arts and entrepreneurship, education, health and science? Finally, we have a place to regularly tell those stories.” Nick Haines, Executive Producer, The Local Show
Nick Haines is the show’s host and executive producer. Assisted by Randy Mason (and other guest interviewers from time to time), Nick will sit down for fast-paced chats with people who are making a genuine difference in fields as varied as education, health services, technology, and the arts.
The pilot episode, for example, features Kathleen Collins, retiring this year as president of the Kansas City Art Institute; and Bryan Hansel, whose company, Smith Electric, is manufacturing electric powered trucks right here in Kansas City. KCPT’s The Local Show will also spotlight “difference makers” in the community. In this first program, KCPT goes inside Operation Breakthrough, the nation’s largest low-income daycare facility. More than 600 kids a day are served at the facility on Troost Avenue. But with rising poverty, 1200 children are on the waiting list.
The Local Show will also feature segments showcasing items from the WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial, and from time-to-time, some aptly named “Start-Up Stories.” These profiles will peek behind the scenes at fledgling ventures across the metro, and then with the aid of expert analysts, pinpoint the companies’ strengths and weaknesses.
KCPT President & CEO Kliff Kuehl conceived The Local Show after spending much of his first year on the job meeting business and civic leaders all over town. “I was amazed at how many fascinating stories I heard, and how much of it might not be known by a lot of our audience,” he says.
As The Local Show launches in July and August, each half-hour program will air once a month. Beginning in September, it will have a more frequent presence on KCPT, agile enough to accommodate special editions of Imagine KC and other newsworthy topics as the need arises.
