‘A Cool Gig’

You know “the season” is starting when a new season of the travel and tourism show Discover Wisconsin begins.

Since it is in its 27th season, perhaps it should be called “the venerable travel and tourism show” because that is a very long time in TV years. The secret to the success of the country’s longest-running show of its kind?

Submitted photo.

“We tell a story that viewers will really fall in love with. That is the formula that has worked for us,” said Mariah Haberman, one of the four co-hosts of Discover Wisconsin.

She calls the format “edutainment,” and it requires the segment hosts to immerse themselves in subjects that many people hold dear – often the subject is their economic livelihood. To do that with the sort of authority that has given longevity to the show, Haberman said, “You have to be kind of fearless and go for anything. It’s definitely a cool gig.”

Haberman, in her second season with the show, hosts a Door County segment in the episode airing Saturday, April 12, at 6:30 pm on WFRV, Channel 5. It’s called “The Home Stretch: Ice Age National Scenic Trail.”

“For this show, we showed a few different segments of the Ice Age Trail. My segment took me to the eastern terminus at Potowatami State Park,” Haberman said. “We touched on a variety of Door County highlights – the 300 miles of shoreline, the 11 lighthouses, the county parks. I talked to Jon Jarosh, director of communications at Door County Visitor Bureau. He’s on camera.”

“This episode was neat because it calls out something I think people aren’t real familiar with right here in Door County, that being the Ice Age Trail. We have the eastern terminus right here in our own backyard,” Jarosh said.

Haberman and her fellow co-hosts Libby Amato, Collin Geraghty and Eric Paulsen split up to discover what makes various sections of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail special. Also featured in “On The Trail: Ice Age National Scenic Trail” are Jason Dorgan and Melanie McManus, both of whom completed the 1,000-mile Ice Age National Scenic Trail. Dorgan ran the trail in its entirety in a little more than three weeks—averaging 50 miles per day. Melanie completed the trail in 36 days and five hours, making her the fastest woman to complete the Ice Age Trail.

“The following weekend we have a show called ‘We’re Thinking Beaches,’” Haberman said. “It’s about Lake Michigan beaches and we actually squeezed eight beaches into this episode, which is a lot. We usually show one to four locations, so this is a very fast-paced episode. My co-host Colin Geraghty was up at Egg Harbor Beach for this show. The focus of this one is really about beach improvement supported by Wisconsin Coastal Management. Colin went out and did a little kayaking with Tim Pflieger, owner of Door County Adventure Center for that one.”

And the third Discover Wisconsin to include Door County is scheduled to air June 21.

“It’s called ‘Local Foods and Finds: Wisconsin Culinary Tour’,” Haberman said.

That particular episode is hosted by current Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett, who spent 18 years as host of Discover Wisconsin.

“We have pretty similar backgrounds,” Haberman said of she and Klett. “We are both Miss Wisconsin Centrals. She went on to win Miss Wisconsin. I didn’t win, but that experience definitely helped me with this job. The pageant instilled confidence in me and it pushed me to get outside of my comfort zone, which is important, I think.”

Discover Wisconsin is a pay-to-play TV show, funded in part by the tourism organizations of the places they visit. For example, the Janesville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau paid $36,000 to be the focus of an entire Discover Wisconsin episode that aired in January.

“We have a few different funding sources, but some of it is through our destination partners,” Haberman said. “We’ll work with them to tell their community story. When I talk to different local markets, I see two different desires. I think people love to see we are in their area filming, but they also like to see different parts of the state for information and ideas on places they may not know about it.”

Haberman said she thought she was an expert on Wisconsin when she took the job.

“But I realized a couple weeks into this job, there is so much more to learn, whether it’s in Janesville, 20 minutes from where I grew up, or in Door County, where I’ve been a few times, I always learn something new, and I think I speak for the entire crew. That definitely is the coolest part of my job, going into something thinking you know it all, and you don’t,” she said.

Discover Wisconsin can be seen statewide on Fox Sports North Saturday mornings at 10 am. For more episode information or the broadcast schedule in other areas visit discoverwisconsin.com. Connect with Discover Wisconsin on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Discover Wisconsin in Door County

 “The Home Stretch: Ice Age National Scenic Trail,” April 12, 6:30 pm, WFRV, Channel 5.

 “We’re Thinking Beaches,” April 19, 6:30 pm, WFRV, Channel 5.

 “Local Foods and Finds:  Wisconsin Culinary Tour,” with former host and now Wisconsin Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett, June 21, 6:30 pm, WFRV, Channel 5.