:: View topic - TV Time

Hi all,

I thought I'd pass this info on to the ski builders of the world.

Over the winter at our Wednesday night race league I met another racer who is a camera man (Dave Fraser) at our local public TV station, WGBY, in Western Mass. Word got around I was racing on hand made skis (sounds better than home-made skis

). He was intrigued by the idea of making skis and didn't know it was possible, and neither did I until I came across this forum. So I showed him the skis, briefly told him the process I went through, told him about www.skibuilders.com. People are really surprised that they are made from wood! It blows their minds.

So one thing lead to another and he said he works on a show called "Making It Here" that profiles local businesses, talent, artists, story's of interest, etc. He asked if I'd be interested in filming the making of a ski. I said "Hell Yeah!". So the last few weeks after work, we've been taping segments of ski building, from planing the wood core, layup process, pressing, etc. Yesterday we filmed me skiing on the latest pair. It was a blast! We have 1 more segment to shoot and that's the mounting of the bindings and then an interview part.

He's also working on a story of the history of skiing in Western Mass and may try to work a few shots of ski building into the documentary. We used to have a ton of small ski areas in the 50's, 60's and 70's.

There's no guarantee it will make the show, but he's pretty confident it will work out. They make 11 episodes a season. If the show does make the cut it will air in the fall of 2010. He said they usually post a podcast of the shows on the internet, http://www.wgby.org/localprograms/makingithere/pages/episodes.html

So, I plan on plugging skisbuilders big time, Thanks Kam! and I hope it makes the show. Thanks to everyone in the forum for all their advice and for freely posting their ski building experiences, both good and bad.

BTW- Anyone w/ TV experience? I'll try not to look/sound too dumb and keep the ums and ahs to a minimum

I'll keep you posted about the show and let you know if/when it will air.

Here are the skis we used at yesterdays shoot:

Here's the ski that got the ball rolling. I've been racing on it even though it's not a racing design, but it's fun anyway.

You lucky ba...! I also want to be in the limelight! I really hope you make the show! I will be watching.

The show segments normally run 6-8 minutes. They say everyone gets 15 minutes of fame in thier life time. Now I have to think of something else to make up the remaining 7-9 minutes

SKI ON!

Update:.... The episode about me ski building will be on TV on our local public tv station. It was going to be on a show called "Making It Here" but will now be on a new show called "Connecting Point". It will air Monday Jan 10th at 7:30PM east coast time (USA).

I got an advance copy of the episode over the summer. It's about 5 min. long. It's more about some one who builds skis rather than how to build skis. But we all know how to do that already

So if you're local check it out. If there is a podcast for it I'll post an update. The Public TV station website is http://www.wgby.org/ Nothing about the new show is on the website just yet.

Sooooo, you just might want to mention that your happy to sell a few pair?

yeah, that would be nice!

Man. Those flames are amazing, nice job on both pairs. Awesome. )

tv experience? highschool tv count?

if so then ya.

The episode was taped last season. I tried not to say "like" or "um" too much.

Here's the clip that aired last night on our local PBS station. It was filmed last season. I've made some changes to the press and my layup process since then....

http://vimeo.com/18670920

So cool Steve!

You're a star now!

Very very cool Steve! Awesome video!

That is so cool

But hey, where are your heaters?!? haha

GReat job - looking forward to the next instalment

Thanks everyone! Now I just need the riches

My buddy Steve was also in the video clip, riding up the chair w/ me. He makes Adirondack ski chairs for a hobby. He's my racing partner and FOG extraordinaire.

some day I'll have heat blankets.....

Will we see any report from the races?

Sure. They usually post them at the mtn website ( http://www.skiblandford.org/corp_racing.html ) but they haven't posted last weeks yet.

Last season they were posted here also http://www.live-timing.com/races.php?date=01/05/2011&state=MA It seems IE doesn't display the page correctly, I use Google Chrome. I don't know if they're will be there or not this year.

No racing tonight because of snow! No kidding! We got about a foot of snow today. They don't have time to pack it down for racing so it's postponed. Bummer.

It's always something...

Coming soon - skibuilders league?

At the rate I'm deteriorating, you'll have to enter me in the tubing contest my gut is about as wiggly as grandma's arm flaps ...too much delicious booze

cool idea.... They have a retro category now. Must have big long straight skis, think 70's early 80's style. Style points for day glow clothing (not really). Only problem is once you sign up for that category you have to stay in it all season.

speedo day. don't talk to me unless you're dancing in speedos. It's going to be mandatory in here on thursdays...unless you can win a race. Sucks to work for me haha

WOH! (I need some bleach to wash that image from my brain

) Ain't nobody I want to see in a speedo in my league.