When you approach 70 years of age and the nationally distributed show you hosted for a decade goes off the air, you'd be excused for considering retirement.
But that's a foreign concept to David Yetman, 69, who hosted "The Desert Speaks," which aired locally on KUAT as well as more than 100 other PBS affiliates around the country. Well before the show concluded its run in May, Yetman developed a new series, "In the Americas With Dave Yetman," which he hopes will go national in December or January.
In the new show, Yetman and a small crew, including director-producer Dan Duncan, travel to little-known parts of North, South and Central America, examining the culture, geography and beauty of each place.
Yetman, who continues to work as a research social scientist at the Southwest Center, filmed 13 episodes, visiting Hawaii, Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Peru, among other locales.
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Yetman said the Southwest Center, which funded the show through a grant, is in final negotiations to decide the fate of the show, and he says he's confident that it will air on as many stations as "The Desert Speaks" did.
"I have an ongoing discussion with my wife, who wants to visit Paris and Italy," Yetman said. "I tell her, 'That's going east. I want to go south.' I have a lifelong obsession with going north and south rather than east or west."
Yetman said the seeds were planted for the new show more than two years ago, when he began patching together episodes on research trips. Now that the vision is close to fruition, Yetman said he hopes the show helps spread his love for his favorite places.
"We want to focus on places in the Americas that aren't widely known and stay away from the more celebrated places, and show viewers what wealth and fascination lies in areas that probably the vast bulk of North Americans won't usually see," Yetman said.
KOLD anchors move to iPad
KOLD 13 is trying to replace printed scripts with iPads. Last week, anchors started using the devices on-air. News director Michelle Germano said the move will save paper, cutting down on costs and clutter.
"We probably won't completely stop printing scripts, but we are cutting down on the amount we print and reducing the number of copies," Germano said by email.
I polled management at other stations, and KGUN 9 and KVOA 4 both said they are looking into using iPads in a similar capacity.
Contact reporter Phil Villarreal, who covers local media for the Star, at 573-4130 or pvillarreal@azstarnet.com