By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
All seven Barren County magistrates approved a studio production agreement during the Dec. 2 Barren County Fiscal Court meeting.
Viewpoint hosted by Dennis Quaid will produce “a positive educational” segment as part of its television series named “Discover America: Great Places to Live, Visit and Start a Business,” according to an email sent from senior producer Anthony Davis to Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd on Nov. 5. The agreement discussed during the meeting stated the series will be distributed to public television stations in all 50 states.
The segment will include between seven and 10 guests with a few experts who will speak about the county, the email stated.
In addition to the segment, the company also plans to produce a “high end one-minute educational commercial segment” that will be “broadcast once primetime in over 84 million homes via MSNBC, CNBC, Fox Business” and run 400 times “in many of the top 100 Designated Marketing Areas during peak and primetime on networks such as CNBS, CNN, CNN Headline News, Discovery Life, Fox Business Network…and CTV in Canada,” according to the agreement.
All the content produced by Viewpoint will be the property of Barren County, according to the agreement.
Marketing Director for Barren County Brian Pickerel said this provides national exposure, noting that the name of the series puts the county in a positive light.
“[This] is exactly what we want to communicate,” Pickerel said. “We’re going to be able to write the narrative how we want it. We’re going to be able to approve everything before it’s released on national TV.”
“It’s a professional look, a professional feel. This is not just us bragging on us…, but know [the county’s] got someone else saying ‘this is a great place,’” he added.
The production will cost $29,300 — including the $3,400 location fee. At the meeting Byrd said she had gotten private commitments from such organizations as WKU Glasgow and T.J. Regional Health amounting to $24,500. The remaining $5,000, she hoped, would be coming from the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.
“At this point…I have $24,500 committed to Barren County and I’m waiting on an economic grant from the state to finish out the remainder… and if not, I’ll just get the rest privately raised,” Byrd said. “There will be no tax dollars put towards this locally.”
Twenty thousand dollars will be due “upon invoice” with the rest being due in January 2026
The 90-120 day production would be during the spring, Byrd said.
After the meeting, Glasgow News 1 spoke with magistrates Ronnie Stinson and Brad Groce, both of whom spoke positively about the project.
“I think anytime we can get national exposure on our great county it’s a good thing,” Stinson said. “It’s good exposure for our county.”
“It’s free publicity since it’s not going to cost any tax payer money,” Groce said. “So to me that’s a benefit.”
Viewpoint’s agreement can be viewed here.
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