Bill Landry of WBIR's "The Heartland Series"

Bill Landry is narrator, host and co-producer of WBIR Channel 10’s “The Heartland Series” which features the many cultural and historic wonders of the Appalachian region. The show has aired on WBIR for 24 years, and it’s still going strong, covering the diverse territory of Appalachian storytellers, ghosts, scenic parks and animal life.

In addition to his gig at WBIR, Bill is a father and husband, and has also written, directed and acted in his own one-man play. Oh, and he’s won two Emmys, but don’t let that fool you; he’s as down to earth as they come.

Where are you originally from?

Chattanooga, Tenn. I went to Notre Dame High School, and then I went to UTC on a football scholarship.

What position did you play?

Quarterback in high school, then I threw one pass and they moved me to tight end. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I take it football didn’t pan out for you?

I enjoyed it for a couple years, but I wasn’t big enough to play line… maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t good enough. Anyway, I got interested in theater.

What led to that?

We had an All-American quarterback whose brother was a stand-up comedian in Philadelphia. He was going to audition for a Shakespeare play, “As You Like It,” and I thought, “Well that’s cool. If he could do it, I could do it,” so I went with him, and I was in every play since then at Chattanooga. I had great teachers. Chattanooga had a small theater department then, but it was really good. There were really good people there.

What was the first role you played at UTC?

I played Oliver, the oldest son of Rowland de Bois in “As You Like It.” Zack Fine played [Oliver] here [at UTK]. Zack was in a show we did called “The Graying” for The Heartland Series.

How did you end up at WBIR producing, hosting and narrating The Heartland Series?

I did a commercial for State Tech and the cameraman Rod Kirby suggested I come see Steve Dean because Channel 10 was trying to do something to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Smoky Mountain National Park. They didn’t quite know what they were going to do, so they hired me to do two pilot episodes. We were going to call it “The Heritage Series” and it became “The Heartland Series.” Those first two shows turned into 52 shows the first year, 98 the second, 99 the third… we’ve done about 1,900 over 24 years.

Is it ever difficult to come up with fresh and interesting ideas for the series after 24 years of production?

No, I just ask [editor] Sam  [Moore]. Talking is no problem. There are never problems in finding things to talk about; the problem is what are we going to see because this is television. We haven’t run out of interesting things to see.

Do you have a favorite show from “The Heartland Series”?

There better be hundreds of favorite shows. If we don’t have hundreds of favorite shows, you’re in the wrong world. The show you’re working on right now better be your favorite show, because yesterday doesn’t matter.

Do you ever run into any stereotypical hillbillies running moonshine stills while on your adventures with the series?

[sarcastically] Oh sure, all the time. You know, people call us from Los Angeles all the time, looking for locations, asking if we know of any moonshiners, and it’s just offensive because that’s what they think that this region is about.

Are there any issues in the Appalachian region that concern you?

There’s a delicate balance between the environment and people, and we try to show some of that on The Heartland Series, but we only have a limited amount of time to present issues. Run-off that drains into freshwater lakes… I like to fish, so that is something that I’m concerned with.

Is there a town that you’ve visited while doing the series that you really fell in love with? Maybe a town that’s really interesting, but people just don’t know about it?