Kentucky Farm Bureau's Bluegrass & Backroads is a television program produced by Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation and Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance Companies based in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

. The half hour program focuses on interesting cultural, historical, and artistic aspects of the Bluegrass State

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. The program is currently hosted and produced by Robert Shrader and Matt Hilton.

Format

The program normally consists of four segments each focusing on different subjects. The segments are usually 4-61/2 minutes in length which begin with intros in the form of on camera standups by Shrader & Hilton.
This is an example of a typical Bluegrass & Backroads segment. This segment deals with local Kentucky Drum Makers as they make, play, and display drums.VIDEO LINK

History

The program was started in 2003 by former producer Todd Eklof, who is now a fulltime minister, with Kentucky Farm Bureau credited as its title sponsor. During the first season the program was also hosted by Eklof, a former WHAS-TV

WHAS-TV

WHAS-TV channel 11 is the ABC affiliated television station in Louisville, Kentucky. Owned by Belo Corporation, the station's transmitter is located in Floyd County, Indiana, near the community of Floyds Knobs...

 reporter. From its inception the program aired on Louisville's WBKI TV, while being simulcast in Lexington, and Bowling Green, Kentucky's three largest markets. Soon after it began airing in Kentucky, the program found a national audience on RFD TV.

After the second season began Eklof was replaced by Farm Bureau radio producer and long-time agri-reporter Mike Feldhaus. Since then the program has also been distributed to a few smaller markets.

Awards and recognition

On July 28, 2009 Bluegrass and Backroads won two first-place awards in the Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Awards administered by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....

. The program won top honors in the general magazine category and videographers Matt Hilton and Bob Shrader won Emmys for their photography in a story about a retirement farm for thoroughbred horses. The program has also won numerous video production awards from the American Farm Bureau Federation

American Farm Bureau Federation

The American Farm Bureau Federation , commonly referred to as the Farm Bureau, is a nonprofit organization and the largest general farm organization in the United States...

The program airs on KET (Kentucky Educational Television), RFD-TV, Rural-TV in Great Britain, and several other Kentucky stations.

Outlets

Bluegrass & Backroads can be seen on the following stations. Nationwide>

Area	Station	Air Time
RFD-TV RFD-TV RFD-TV, or Rural Free Delivery TV, is a United States satellite and cable television channel devoted to rural issues, concerns, and interests. The channel's name is a reference to Rural Free Delivery, the name for the United States Postal Service's system of delivering mail directly to rural patrons...	Wed. 2pm
Louisville, KY/Lexington, KY	WBKI-TV WBKI-TV WBKI-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for the Kentuckiana area of North-Central Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Licensed to Campbellsville, Kentucky, the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter in Raywick, Kentucky...	Sun.
Bowling Green, KY	WBKO-TV	Sun. 11am
Evansville, IN	WEHT-TV	Sat. 5pm
Paducah	WPSD-TV WPSD-TV WPSD-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase, Southern Illinois, and the Missouri Bootheel. Licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Monkeys Eyebrow, Kentucky...	Sat. 5am
Hopkinsville, KY	WKAG-CA WKAG-CA WKAG-CA is a Class A low power television station in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, broadcasting locally on air as channel 43. WKAG is also on cable on NewWave Communications in Christian and Mulenburg counties in Kentucky and on CDE Lightband in Montgomery County , Tennessee...	Sun. 11:30am
Hazard, KY	WYMT-TV WYMT-TV WYMT-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Hazard, Kentucky. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter south of the city in Perry County. Owned by Gray Television, the station is sister to Lexington's CBS affiliate WKYT-TV. Although it identifies...	Sat. Noon

Video

Bluegrass and backroads videos are available here:

https://www.kyfb.com/federation/video/bluegrass-backroads/

http://www.youtube.com/user/kentuckyfarmbureau